explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3086: Globe Safety

2025-05-12T08:18:06Z

172.70.90.4: /* Explanation */ Removed two paragraphs that weren't really explanatory of the comic in any way.

{{comic
| number = 3086
| date = May 7, 2025
| title = Globe Safety
| image = globe_safety_2x.png
| imagesize = 255x448px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Frankly, given their extreme gravitational fields and general instability, even 12-inch globes should probably be banned.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an EARTH MASS BOT THE SIZE OF A REGULAR BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
For any given amount of (stationary) mass, a value can be calculated known as the {{w|Schwarzschild radius}}, which denotes the radius of a spherical volume of space. If the mass somehow is compressed into this volume, it becomes so dense that it forms a {{w|black hole}}. The Schwarzschild radius corresponding to the mass of the Earth is about 0.35 inches (roughly 9 mm, or a diameter of 7/10" or 18 mm), meaning that if you could compress the Earth into a ball that small, it would be a black hole. The object at bottom right in the comic, with a triangular warning sign next to it, is a {{w|Black hole#Observation|depiction of a black hole}}.

{{w|Globes}}, in this context, are miniature re-creations of planet Earth, used to show its features without any of the [[977: Map Projections|typical problems of a flat map]]. [[Randall]] claims that safety standards are in place to ensure that globes are not manufactured at, below, or even close to the Schwarzschild radius of the Earth. The suggestion is that any globe of the Earth shares the same mass as the Earth and hence the same Schwarzschild radius. Such a globe might be made by creating a literal 1:1 replica of Earth and then shrinking it without distortion until it has the required size. This would, of course, give the most perfect maps; however, for each globe like this put on Earth, the Earth's mass would increase by its original amount. In addition, it would be impractical to make globes this way: such small amounts of matter of this density would [https://www.astronomy.com/science/what-if-a-tablespoonful-of-a-neutron-star-was-brought-to-earth/ immediately explode], vaporizing most or all of the Earth, unless the unknown process that produced the shrinking was maintained.

The title text suggests that globes up to 12 inches (30.5 cm) should be banned, due to their extreme density and gravitational field. The surface gravity of an object varies inversely with the square of its radius. Since the globe would have the same mass as the Earth, such a globe would exert massive, catastrophic gravitational forces at its surface. For a 12-inch globe, this would be 1.75 quadrillion times normal Earth gravity. The changes at the Earth's surface caused by these forces would immediately reduce the accuracy of the globe's representation of the area in which it is located. The gravitational effects on objects at a distance would be the same, but adding an Earth mass for each globe would still affect the orbits of satellites, other planets, etc. However, extreme gravity would exist for Earth-mass globes of any size that globes are commonly used for, so the 12-inch cut-off is no less arbitrary than the 4-inch one.

==Transcript==
:[A standard globe of the Earth is shown. It stands on a typical stand which holds it by two arms at the poles, so it can turn around like the Earth does. The Earth is turned so it shows Australia at the bottom and most of Asia, including the entire India to the left. Only the very tip of Alaska can be seen of the Americas. Above the globe there is a double ended arrow that goes to two small lines that align with the edges of the globe (indicating the diameter). The arrow has been split in the middle and two lines of text are written in the gap. Above this text there is another line of text.]
:Remember:
:4 inches minimum

:[Beneath the globe there are two small drawings. The left shows the Earth and to the left of the Earth there is a double ended arrow ending at two lines that indicated the diameter of the Earth going from top to bottom. The distance of this is written in inches to the left. From the Earth an arrow points to another drawing, this time the typical depiction of a black hole, with a "hat" like shape. A triangular warning sign is shown a the top right of the black hole with an exclamation mark inside.]
:7/10"

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The Earth's Schwarzschild radius is about 0.35 inches, which is why safety regulations require desktop globes to be at least 4 inches in diameter.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Maps]]

3078: Anchor Bolts

2025-04-19T09:39:19Z

172.70.90.4: /* Trivia */ )

{{comic
| number = 3078
| date = April 18, 2025
| title = Anchor Bolts
| image = anchor_screws_2x.png
| imagesize = 381x326px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The biggest expense was installing the mantle ducts to keep the carbonate-silicate cycle operating.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The comic was renamed! Finish the [[#Trivia]] section, explaining why "screw" is less correct than "bolt".}}

The comic displays a subduction zone. Tectonic plates are plates that divide the Earth's crust. They slowly move across the Earth's surface at the rate of a few centimeters per year, although the rate is nonuniform across plates. When they collide, the denser plate gets dragged under the less dense plate, in a process called subduction. Earthquakes are common at subduction zones, and subduction can also trigger volcanic activity. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are typically bad for humanity, and thus ways to prevent them happening would reduce economic risks in those areas. An "anti-subduction anchor bolt" would effectively stop the process of subduction and the movement of plate tectonics as a whole.

A round head bolt is screwed in through both the oceanic lithosphere and the continental crust from the bottom up, with a plain washer on either side, and a wing nut tightened at the surface. Washers are present to prevent the bolt and the wing nut from sinking into the crust. There are several concerns not addressed in the comic with such a design. The implication that the bolt is being screwed in from the mantle side would imply that a very large bolt head was operated from inside the mantle. As of the time of posting of the comic, humans have not drilled a hole through a continental crust, still less deployed large vehicles in the mantle. In addition, the presence of wing nuts, fasteners that are designed to be able to be screwed in by hand, implies work done by a larger being that has appendages able to use the wing nut. The bolt itself would be a technological challenge, as well. The temperature of Earth's mantle is around 1000°C near the surface, temperatures at which most commercial stainless steel used to manufacture bolts would experience noticeable strength losses. As such, materials capable of withstanding higher temperatures would need to be utilized. The bolt itself would need to have a length of around 50 km as well. Moreover, as subduction zones move parallel to each other, the construction would have to withstand high shear forces, something that the bolt is rather unsuited to compared to other tools such as rivets. On top of that, ways to alleviate stress must be sought out as if the bolt fails, it could produce a highly amplified earthquake.

The title text references the {{w|Carbonate–silicate_cycle|Carbonate-silicate geochemical cycle}}. Briefly, subduction and subsequent heating of the global crust restores carbon dioxide and silicate rocks to the planetary surface, countering the effects of carbonate deposition and silicate rock weathering. Anchor bolts sufficient to stop plate tectonics would also stop the carbonate-silicate cycle, leading to unexpected, and likely unwelcome, changes in the surface geosphere and biosphere. To restore the cycle by an unknown mechanism, "mantle ducts" have been installed as part of the planet-wide plate anchoring system. It is stated that the mantle duct installation was the "most expensive" part of the project, implying greater intellectual and technical challenges than the already-massive ones associated with anchor-bolt design and deployment.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Needs image description. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Caption below the panel:]
:Good news: Geophysicists are '''''finally''''' installing Earth's required anti-subduction anchor bolts.

==Trivia==
In the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/0/00/20250419063115%21anchor_screws_2x.png original version of the comic], the caption said "anti-subduction anchor '''screws'''" instead of "anti-subduction anchor '''bolts'''". The title of the comic was also changed, from "Anchor Screws" to "Anchor Bolts". The original comic image and title can be seen on an [https://web.archive.org/web/20250419024242/https://xkcd.com/3078/ archived version] of the [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com] site. The fastener illustrated is indeed a {{w|Bolt (fastener)|bolt}} (with a {{w|Nut (hardware)|nut}}), not a screw, though of course both ultimately use a {{w|screw thread}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Subduction]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

3071: Decay Chain

2025-04-04T08:38:40Z

172.70.90.4: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3071
| date = April 2, 2025
| title = Decay Chain
| image = decay_chain_2x.png
| imagesize = 312x595px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you have an old phone in a drawer, and you listen very carefully, you can occasionally hear the occasional tap of an emitted SIM card hitting the side of the drawer as the phone transmutes to a lower-end model.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an iPhone 6 that used to be an iPhone 13 - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a play on nuclear {{w|decay chains}}, the series of radioactive disintegrations that the nuclei of unstable atoms undergo. Example diagrams of such nuclear decay chains can be seen {{w|Decay_chain#Thorium_series|here}}. This comic suggests that as iPhones model iterations get higher (and typically, though not entirely, larger and [https://www.plug.tech/blogs/news/how-much-does-iphone-weigh heavier]), they, similarly to heavier chemical elements, become unstable and susceptible to decay into lesser models. Some isotopes of atoms decay into other isotopes, releasing particles in the process. This process is generally dictated by the number of the positively charged protons in an atomic nucleus, which dictate its chemical identity, and the neutrons, which keep the protons in as stable a clump as possible. Particular isotopes, increasingly so for heavier atoms, are known to be subject to one or more modes of {{w|nuclear decay}} in order to attain a more stable and simpler form, including by several such steps. This comic humorously explores how an iPhone would decay if decaying worked similarly, which is absurd as iPhones are large objects that do not suddenly and drastically change form.{{Citation needed}} (Although, almost all matter on Earth, including iPhones, contain ''some'' atoms that are radioactive and exhibit nuclear decay, mixed with a non-radioactive majority.)

The iPhones in the comic undergo two different types of decay, which mirror two types of nuclear decay:
* In {{w|alpha decay|alpha (''α'') decay}} (vertically downwards, in the diagram) the model number changes from a higher one to a model two steps lower, except for the step involving the iPhone X which apparently exists instead of a "9" model. This is equivalent to the change in {{w|atomic number}} when two protons, together with two neutrons, leave the nucleus in the form of a helium ion (He2+), known as an alpha particle. The atomic number of such atoms reduces by two and the {{w|mass number}} reduces by four (that held by the departing He2+). No evidence is given as to how the respective masses of the phones ''actually'' changes in this analogy.
* In {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_decay#%CE%B2%E2%88%92_decay|beta minus (''β''-) decay}} (a rightward-and-upward step) the iPhones undergo a version upgrade, but also the removal of a brand name modifier (usually denoting additional features included within the same model range), leaving them closer to that new range's most basic model. In elements, the effective conversion of a neutron into a proton and a free electron raises the atomic number by one by transforming a neutral particle to a positive one via emission of a small negatively charged {{w|beta particle}} (an electron), leaving the mass only slightly decreased. The decay step from the iPhone 13 Pro to the iPhone 14 Plus, which is missing a symbol, is clearly one of the ''β''- decay steps.

The specific reason for the decay chain stopping at iPhone '''7''' is unknown. A possible reason for this is because lithium, which is often used in phone batteries, has the stable isotope lithium-7. "Stable" may refer to the usability of the device in terms of whether or not it still receives security updates, but the iPhone 6s also received the [https://support.apple.com/en-us/100100 latest security patch] as of the time this comic was published. Apple has [https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67911517 paid significant compensation] regarding one of their business practices of intentional obsolescence. Alternatively, [[Randall]] may be suggesting that models up to iPhone 7 were highly reliable, but that models beyond that have become ever more problematic - this would mirror the case of radioactive decay, where it is the higher numbered elements that are unstable.

(After alpha or beta decay, atoms may then emit {{w|gamma radiation}} (high-energy photons) as they rearrange their atomic state without changing their composition, but this process does not change the element in any meaningful way. It also will occur when neutron capture and/or atomic fission has occurred, which is generally considered outside the natural decay chain of any such isotope, and can also result from nuclear fusion. Beta decay also requires emission of an antineutrino, but that particle interacts so weakly with matter that it's undetectable except by extremely sensitive experimental equipment.)

The title text suggests that the "alpha particle" of the iPhone is a {{w|SIM card}}, and that alpha-decaying phones will emit one of these with each decay (despite few phones having more than two, and most working ones only having one, but perhaps that's part of the mystery of telephonic {{w|Nuclear transmutation|transmutation}}). The sound of an old phone, sitting in a drawer, ejecting the unnecessary SIM is likened to the slow click of a {{w|Geiger counter}} registering the decay particles ejected from a decaying radioisotope. Radioactive decay is a random and spontaneous process; without the sound, one would never otherwise know if the phone even ''had'' decayed without {{w|Schrödinger's cat|opening the drawer}} to find out.

A similar comparison between smartphones and physics processes (in this case in stars) happened in [[1422: My Phone is Dying]].

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

[A flowchart with arrows leading from a circle with the words "iPhone 16 Pro Max", to circles with other iPhone names, eventually leading to a circle with the words "iPhone 7"]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Physicists believe that an iPhone 16 Pro Max will, if left alone long enough, eventually decay into an iPhone 7, the heaviest stable model.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:3055: Giants

2025-02-25T14:25:10Z

172.70.90.4:

Anyone know why "the Man in the Moon" has square brackets around it? Stylistic choice, or clever reference? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.43|172.71.254.43]] 19:38, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

:I suspect it's to make it clear that it's all one block of text, otherwise it might be read as separate objects on each line. [[User:IntangibleMatter|IntangibleMatter]] ([[User talk:IntangibleMatter|talk]]) 20:01, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
::I thought that too but then Jolly Green should be in brackets as well. I think it's because Man in the Moon doesn't have "giant" after it. The rest all assume "giant" after (gas giant, etc.).[[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.81|162.158.63.81]] 20:07, 24 February 2025 (UTC)Pat
:::I think that the difference between these two cases is just a matter of available space. The space around "Jolly/Green" makes it clear that the two words go together, whereas "The/Man in/the Moon" would be crammed together even if the three lines were supposed to be distinct, unless the font was a lot smaller. The brackets remove that ambiguity. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 21:36, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
:Given how commonly this community makes up answers, and how very little information there is on this, I suspect the correct answer to this question to not emerge here, but maybe somebody can make an argument that is actually convincing. It's certainly notably different and I didn't think much of it until seeing it mentioned. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.28|162.158.63.28]] 20:33, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
:I think it's because unlike all the other entries in the diagram, it is not appropriate to append the word "Giant" to the end of it. Like, it's the full name of a particular giant, rather than a "type" of one as otherwise implied by the title of the chart. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.7.194|172.69.7.194]] 22:38, 24 February 2025 (UTC)

Alas, if only the Norse had referred to Ymir and his descendants as "Ice Giants" instead of "Frost Giants", we might have had another contender for that central space. [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 20:35, 24 February 2025 (UTC)
:Oh, let's not get hung up on what things are correctly named – the renaming of the Iron Man to the Iron Giant has always seemed very clumsy, but, alas, seems to have stuck.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 11:05, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Been a while since Randall's enthusiasm for Buns (rabbits) made an appearance in the comic! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.216|172.70.130.216]] 05:36, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Classifying the Atacama Giant and Cardiff Giant as 'Geological / Planetary' seems pretty dubious - requires an unusually broad interpretation of one or other of those terms.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.109|172.70.163.109]] 09:57, 25 February 2025 (UTC)
:I didn't see this when doing so, but the intro explanation's use of "geological" needed editing ('maybe-quoted') to encompass the MITM's more accurately ''selenological'' nature, and (being lunar) it also really isn't "planetary", either.
:Assuming that "planetary" is the fallback for rock-like stuff that isn't properly Earthly, it's a questionable fallback given that the Moon is... only a moon! At best, it's "a moon of a planet", but then the semantic alternatives are limited (a moon of a ''dwarf-planet'', is the only alternative I can currently think of, until we also see 'moons' of artificial constructs given a planet-like status).
:But I also can't think of a better reduction/refinement (for ourselves, or that Randall might have better used for his current self-selected set), so contented myself with employing minor punctuated vaguity. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.4|172.70.90.4]] 14:25, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Poor André is once again left out [[User:Pmeisel|Pmeisel]] ([[User talk:Pmeisel|talk]]) 14:11, 25 February 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3037: Radon

2025-01-14T11:58:30Z

172.70.90.4:

The sun is a white star. It looks yellow from within the atmosphere because blue light is scattered out of it, the same reason the sky is blue. How did physicist Randall not know that? [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:26, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:Randall is almost certainly a Superman fan, and we all know that Kryptonians get their powers from yellow suns. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:07, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:Wikipedia disagrees; The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V), informally called a yellow dwarf, though its light is actually white. It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.23.87|172.71.23.87]] 20:43, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
::Your quote agrees with me. As @Starstar says below, it might be intentional on his part. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:53, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
::: No "his quote" doesn't?? (Unless I'm understanding your meaning with "his quote") Yes the sun is White. HOWEVER, it is NOT called a "white star". Stars aren't categorized by color but by tempeture. Which I mean I guess it sorta means their catagorized by color but thats being nitpicky. Our sun is 5,772 K, which according to wikipedia means its a class-G star which is known by the not nerds as a yellow dwarf. Being a physicist means Randell is VERY aware of the category of our Sun. Repeat, the Sun is called a "yellow dwarf", therefore is Ponytail said "white star", she'd be talking about a star that is 9000 K and therfor NOT our Sun. Seriously this was like a 5 minute google search. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 21:01, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
::: At any rate, I believe it plays into Ponytail just goofing around more than being precise [[User:Starstar|Starstar]] ([[User talk:Starstar|talk]]) 22:12, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:Perhaps it is intentional? [[User:Starstar|Starstar]] ([[User talk:Starstar|talk]]) 20:36, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Possible trivia: The effect used in the title text for "²³⁸Umbrella" does NOT use html formatting. It uses unicode for the almost-but-not-technically superscripted "238" before "Umbrella." On some systems, this renders with the "23" being larger than and slightly below the level of the "8". Whether Randall knew of this effect or not is a mystery. If he did know, his motivations are a mystery. Maybe the 8 is radioactive and emitted a non-massless particle, thereby making it smaller (less mass != less volume, but go with it here) and more buoyant (less weight) in the presence of the adjacent characters. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.227.105|198.41.227.105]] 21:19, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:You can't use HTML markup in the title attribute, so there's no other way to do super/sub-scripting there. He could have used JavaScript to emulate the title attribute, though. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:38, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

What do people think of Hairstylist Wannabe's near-total rewrite of the explanation? While they added lots of technical details about radon, I think they missed much of the humor. Ponytail's comments are typical of the kind of things a home inspector or repair person will say to the owner, not really "flippant". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:48, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:I like the facts but i changed the joke explantion back. [[User:Apollo11|Apollo11]] ([[User talk:Apollo11|talk]]) 22:07, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:The rewrite has waaaaay too much detail. This site is for explaining what's going on in a comic, not repeating everything you know that's related, however remotely, to the comic. Just add wikilinks to things! Like, do we really need to have repeated here how much 238U the Earth contains? How much radiation one experiences from uranium? I vote to remove a lot of the detail and just explain the comic. [[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 23:45, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

Possible trivia: 238 Umbrella is a common weight for a patio umbrella stand. {{unsigned|TallJason|22:53, 13 January 2025}}

I started to write another paragraph:
:The primary reason why the radon is considered more deadly than the original uranium (and thorium) is its nature as a heavy gas; the earlier states of decay remain stuck in the original rock, interstitially, whereas radon more freely leaches out. This quickly disperses to extremely diluted levels in the open air but, being a gas that is denser than air, it can accumulate to low (but potentially significant) levels in a cellar or basement, having few natural air-currents to drive the heavier gas atoms out of the sump in which the radon sits. Although each atom does not last long in this state, the resulting polonium, bismuth or lead atoms (all being isotopes that are themselves radioactive) ''can'' find themselves drifting as dust particles initially (and, after settling, easily disturbed), with the potential
...but it got out of hand. Was going to edit it down (and correct anything I'd accidentally mispoken/misedited/ispunctuated, in the initial fervour) when I'd finished, but I've got to go somewhere, so leaving it as possible inspiration for someone else to use/ignore/tear part/whatever. Have fun. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.92|172.68.205.92]] 23:50, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:: "possible inspiration for someone else" Good stuff, but surely it already exists (without xkcd context) many other places? Can be just linked? [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:33, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

I thought, the title text was a reference to nuclear umbrella. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.200|172.68.50.200]] 07:45, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

"This process will render the Earth uninhabitable for humans within approximately 5 billion years." That seems very optimistic. Isn't it more like 1 billion years? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 10:05, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

3034: Features of Adulthood

2025-01-07T09:50:49Z

172.70.90.4: /* Events */

{{comic
| number = 3034
| date = January 6, 2025
| title = Features of Adulthood
| image = features_of_adulthood_2x.png
| imagesize = 704x620px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I don't dig pit traps and cover them with sticks and a thin layer of leaves nearly as much as I expected; I find a chance to do it barely once a month.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Unexpectedly created by an adult BOT digging pit traps - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a graph comparing the (mostly) common ideas of adulthood from a young person's perspective with the sad reality of it. The features that are most expected but don't actually come up (quicksand, grappling hooks, crocodiles, and twins switching place) are common tropes in fiction. At the opposite end, some very mundane activities are common but we don't expect them to be important when we're young: deciding what to eat, dealing with weird noises and smells.

It is clear that many of the things that were imagined more likely than they turned out to be are ''direct'' references to fictional scenarios on film or TV, especially with a number of action movie tropes, throughout the 'lower-right triangle'. In contrast, the complimentary 'upper-left triangle' has situations that mostly (though not entirely!) seem to not be portrayed in many fictional depictions.

==Events==

{| class="wikitable"
! Event
! Expected frequency in adulthood
! Actual frequency in adulthood
! Notes
|-
| {{tvtropes|FormalFullArrayOfCutlery|Which fork you're supposed to use for what}}
| 0%
| 0%
| Different types of {{w|forks}} are used to eat different courses of a meal. Usually, cutlery is arranged in a way that makes it easier to understand which is needed. Learning which fork to use may be a lesson in an {{w|etiquette school}} class.
|-
| {{tvtropes|CartoonBomb|Lit fuses}}
| 40%
| 0%
| Explosives with visible lit fuses are commonly seen in movies and TV shows. In reality, explosives are more likely to be remotely detonated or have an {{w|time bomb|unlit}} or concealed fuse (e.g. {{w|grenade}}s). Also, most people don't generally have to deal with explosives anyway.
|-
| {{tvtropes|PalatePropping|Shoving a stick}} in a {{w|crocodile}}'s mouth to wedge it open
| 80%
| 0%
| Placing a vertical stick in a crocodile’s mouth is a popular TV trope to prevent the crocodile from {{w|Crocodile attack|bitting down}} (usually on the stick placer).
|-
| {{w|Quicksand}}
| 100%
| 0%
| Quicksand is {{tvtropes|QuicksandSucks|common in adventure fiction}}, but it's quite rare in real life, and an average person is highly unlikely to encounter quicksand in day to day life.
|-
| {{w|Car chase}}s
| 35%
| 5%
| Car chases are frequently seen in movies and TV shows involving police, including real-life police shows, but unless you're a police officer or criminal trying to evade them, you'll probably never be involved in one. One actual car chase that attracted widespread attention was {{w|O.J.Simpson}}'s white Ford Bronco, which was shown on TV after he was identified as the prime suspect in his wife's murder.
|-
| {{w|Grappling hook}}s
| 100%
| 5%
| A grappling hook is a metal piece that is attached to a rope. If the person is going up a cliff, the “hook” would be thrown or shot at the top of the cliff and would either snag something, or more commonly, would wrap around something like a tree then hook onto itself, thus securing a way up the cliff.
|-
| People offering free drugs
| 30%
| 10%
| Typically refers to illicit drugs. The expectation is that a drug pusher will offer you free samples to get you addicted, then start charging expensive prices.
|-
| {{w|Parachute}}s
| 80%
| 10%
| A large piece of fabric that is tied to you in order to slow a {{w|Parachuting|very high fall}}.
|-
| {{w|Barrels}}
| 95%
| 10%
| Wooden or {{w|Drum (container)|metal}} storage implements, frequently used as concealment, improvised weapons and (sometimes explosive) obstacles in popular media.
|-
| {{w|Middle name}}s
| 15%
| 20%
| A second (or occasionally also third or more) {{w|given name}}, common in some traditions. Sometimes used specifically to honor someone (perhaps the same first name of a grandparent or loved one, occasionally such a person's surname). It can be used as further identification, if one has a common first and last name. In some families, the first name may be traditionally shared with the appropriate parent (and the grandparent, their parent) and reference by the middle name(s), alone, may be more useful to distinguish the person being addressed from within a family situation. In later life, a person may drop the use of middle names (or, conversely, adopt ''only'' them as the name they are known by) and the unwieldy complete set of names becomes less common, as they may be considered unprofessional and unnecessary.
Authors and politicians may most obviously buck this trend, as they have to develop an identity far beyond their immediate personal and professional circles, and perhaps need to be more unambiguously individual and free of confusion from others of similar named as "Firstname Surname", but this might also just reflect that the practice of more formally complete names is a tradition that is being dropped from those of [[Randall]] (Patrick) Munroe's generation, leaving only the generations before (most represented, in the public eye, by elder statesmen and well-read writers) still using them in the way they always did.
|-
| {{w|Food fight}}s
| 50%
| 20%
|
|-
| {{tvtropes|TwinSwitch|Twins switching places}}
| 90%
| 20%
|
|-
| {{tvtropes|PoptheTires|Flat}} {{w|tire}}s
| 10%
| 25%
|
|-
| {{w|Briefcase}}s
| 70%
| 25%
| Frequently used to carry documents and other small office equipment. Often portrayed as {{tvtropes|BriefcaseFullOfMoney|a means to carry a large amount of cash}} or {{tvtropes|BriefcaseBlaster|conceal a firearm}}. The popularity of briefcases has been declining after the 1980s so it's possible that Randall observed grown-ups using briefcases when he was a kid and assumed he would too, only for them to go out of fashion.
|-
| {{w|Martial arts}}
| 95%
| 25%
|
|-
| {{w|Water damage}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Backpack}}s
|
|
| Backpacks of various sizes are a versatile means to carry items. They are almost as popular in real life as in fiction, though the contents may be somewhat different.
|-
| My academic record
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Adhesive}}s
|
|
| Adhesives such as {{w|glue}}, {{w|adhesive tape|tape}} and {{w|epoxy resin}} are used to bond items together, typically for use in arts and crafts. They also have widespread industrial applications.
|-
| {{w|Board game}}s
|
|
| Board games are sometimes used as minigames in video games. The {{w|Mario Party}} franchise is a video game adaptation of the board game formula.
|-
| Tying {{w|knot}}s
|
|
| There are many knots to tie, each with distinct purposes. May also refer to "tying the knot", an expression for {{w|marriage}}.
|-
| {{w|Cable management}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Laser}}s
|
|
|
|-
| Dangerous driving situations
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Pizza}}
|
|
| Often thought of as takeout or delivery food. A favorite of {{w|Spider-Man}} and the {{w|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles}}.
|-
| {{w|Star Wars}}
|
|
|
|-
| Cool toys
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Weather forecast}}s
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Batteries}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Power tools}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Video game}}s
|
|
| Often thought of as a childish pastime, adults frequently play video games.
|-
| Figuring out what to have for dinner
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Heating, ventilation and air conditioning|HVAC}} issues
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Cooking}}
|
|
|
|-
| Secret {{w|password}}s
|
|
|
|-
| Laundry
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Tax}}es
|
|
| One of two inevitable things in life, {{w|Death and taxes|the other being death}}{{cn}}
|-
| Customer service
|
|
|
|-
| Shopping
|
|
|
|-
| Unexplained smells or noises
|
| 100%
|
|-
| Pocket radio communicators
|
| 100%
| Examples include {{w|cell phone}}s, {{w|pager}}s and {{w|walkie-talkie}}s
|-
| Bills
|
| 100%
| Most households have to contend with electricity, water and telecommunication service bills
|-
| Digging {{w|pit trap}}s (title text)
|
|
| Inside the Star Destroyer in [[1608: Hoverboard]] we see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fd/1608_1055x1090y_Trap_covered_with_leaves_and_flying_Ponytail_at_bottom_of_hull.png Cueball cover a pit trap with leaves], so this is something Randall actually thinks about sometimes!
|}

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

:[Shown is a scatter plot:]
:Y axis label: How often it comes up in my adult life
:X axis label: How often I expected it to come up in my adult life

:[first row, comes up very often, from least to most expected:]
:Unexplained smells or noises, customer service, pocket radio communicators, bills, shopping
:Figuring out what to have for dinner, HVAC issues, secret passwords, laundry, cooking, taxes
:Weather forecasts, batteries, video games, power tools
:Cable management, dangerous driving situations, pizza, Star Wars, lasers, cool toys
:Adhesives, board games, tying knots
:Water damage, backpacks, my academic record
:Flat tires, briefcases, martial arts
:Middle names, people offering free drugs, food fights, parachutes, twins switching places, barrels
:[last row, comes up very rarely, from least to most expected:]
:Which fork you're supposed to use for what, car chases, lit fuses, shoving a stick in a crocodile's mouth to wedge it open, grappling hooks, quicksand

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Board games]]
[[Category:Animals]]

3034: Features of Adulthood

2025-01-07T09:49:29Z

172.70.90.4: /* Events */

{{comic
| number = 3034
| date = January 6, 2025
| title = Features of Adulthood
| image = features_of_adulthood_2x.png
| imagesize = 704x620px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I don't dig pit traps and cover them with sticks and a thin layer of leaves nearly as much as I expected; I find a chance to do it barely once a month.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Unexpectedly created by an adult BOT digging pit traps - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a graph comparing the (mostly) common ideas of adulthood from a young person's perspective with the sad reality of it. The features that are most expected but don't actually come up (quicksand, grappling hooks, crocodiles, and twins switching place) are common tropes in fiction. At the opposite end, some very mundane activities are common but we don't expect them to be important when we're young: deciding what to eat, dealing with weird noises and smells.

It is clear that many of the things that were imagined more likely than they turned out to be are ''direct'' references to fictional scenarios on film or TV, especially with a number of action movie tropes, throughout the 'lower-right triangle'. In contrast, the complimentary 'upper-left triangle' has situations that mostly (though not entirely!) seem to not be portrayed in many fictional depictions.

==Events==

{| class="wikitable"
! Event
! Expected frequency in adulthood
! Actual frequency in adulthood
! Notes
|-
| {{tvtropes|FormalFullArrayOfCutlery|Which fork you're supposed to use for what}}
| 0%
| 0%
| Different types of {{w|forks}} are used to eat different courses of a meal. Usually, cutlery is arranged in a way that makes it easier to understand which is needed. Learning which fork to use may be a lesson in an {{w|etiquette school}} class.
|-
| {{tvtropes|CartoonBomb|Lit fuses}}
| 40%
| 0%
| Explosives with visible lit fuses are commonly seen in movies and TV shows. In reality, explosives are more likely to be remotely detonated or have an {{w|time bomb|unlit}} or concealed fuse (e.g. {{w|grenade}}s). Also, most people don't generally have to deal with explosives anyway.
|-
| {{tvtropes|PalatePropping|Shoving a stick}} in a {{w|crocodile}}'s mouth to wedge it open
| 80%
| 0%
| Placing a vertical stick in a crocodile’s mouth is a popular TV trope to prevent the crocodile from {{w|Crocodile attack|bitting down}} (usually on the stick placer).
|-
| {{w|Quicksand}}
| 100%
| 0%
| Quicksand is {{tvtropes|QuicksandSucks|common in adventure fiction}}, but it's quite rare in real life, and an average person is highly unlikely to encounter quicksand in day to day life.{{cn}}
|-
| {{w|Car chase}}s
| 35%
| 5%
| Car chases are frequently seen in movies and TV shows involving police, including real-life police shows, but unless you're a police officer or criminal trying to evade them, you'll probably never be involved in one. One actual car chase that attracted widespread attention was {{w|O.J.Simpson}}'s white Ford Bronco, which was shown on TV after he was identified as the prime suspect in his wife's murder.
|-
| {{w|Grappling hook}}s
| 100%
| 5%
| A grappling hook is a metal piece that is attached to a rope. If the person is going up a cliff, the “hook” would be thrown or shot at the top of the cliff and would either snag something, or more commonly, would wrap around something like a tree then hook onto itself, thus securing a way up the cliff.
|-
| People offering free drugs
| 30%
| 10%
| Typically refers to illicit drugs. The expectation is that a drug pusher will offer you free samples to get you addicted, then start charging expensive prices.
|-
| {{w|Parachute}}s
| 80%
| 10%
| A large piece of fabric that is tied to you in order to slow a {{w|Parachuting|very high fall}}.
|-
| {{w|Barrels}}
| 95%
| 10%
| Wooden or {{w|Drum (container)|metal}} storage implements, frequently used as concealment, improvised weapons and (sometimes explosive) obstacles in popular media.
|-
| {{w|Middle name}}s
| 15%
| 20%
| A second (or occasionally also third or more) {{w|given name}}, common in some traditions. Sometimes used specifically to honor someone (perhaps the same first name of a grandparent or loved one, occasionally such a person's surname). It can be used as further identification, if one has a common first and last name. In some families, the first name may be traditionally shared with the appropriate parent (and the grandparent, their parent) and reference by the middle name(s), alone, may be more useful to distinguish the person being addressed from within a family situation. In later life, a person may drop the use of middle names (or, conversely, adopt ''only'' them as the name they are known by) and the unwieldy complete set of names becomes less common, as they may be considered unprofessional and unnecessary.
Authors and politicians may most obviously buck this trend, as they have to develop an identity far beyond their immediate personal and professional circles, and perhaps need to be more unambiguously individual and free of confusion from others of similar named as "Firstname Surname", but this might also just reflect that the practice of more formally complete names is a tradition that is being dropped from those of [[Randall]] (Patrick) Munroe's generation, leaving only the generations before (most represented, in the public eye, by elder statesmen and well-read writers) still using them in the way they always did.
|-
| {{w|Food fight}}s
| 50%
| 20%
|
|-
| {{tvtropes|TwinSwitch|Twins switching places}}
| 90%
| 20%
|
|-
| {{tvtropes|PoptheTires|Flat}} {{w|tire}}s
| 10%
| 25%
|
|-
| {{w|Briefcase}}s
| 70%
| 25%
| Frequently used to carry documents and other small office equipment. Often portrayed as {{tvtropes|BriefcaseFullOfMoney|a means to carry a large amount of cash}} or {{tvtropes|BriefcaseBlaster|conceal a firearm}}. The popularity of briefcases has been declining after the 1980s so it's possible that Randall observed grown-ups using briefcases when he was a kid and assumed he would too, only for them to go out of fashion.
|-
| {{w|Martial arts}}
| 95%
| 25%
|
|-
| {{w|Water damage}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Backpack}}s
|
|
| Backpacks of various sizes are a versatile means to carry items. They are almost as popular in real life as in fiction, though the contents may be somewhat different.
|-
| My academic record
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Adhesive}}s
|
|
| Adhesives such as {{w|glue}}, {{w|adhesive tape|tape}} and {{w|epoxy resin}} are used to bond items together, typically for use in arts and crafts. They also have widespread industrial applications.
|-
| {{w|Board game}}s
|
|
| Board games are sometimes used as minigames in video games. The {{w|Mario Party}} franchise is a video game adaptation of the board game formula.
|-
| Tying {{w|knot}}s
|
|
| There are many knots to tie, each with distinct purposes. May also refer to "tying the knot", an expression for {{w|marriage}}.
|-
| {{w|Cable management}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Laser}}s
|
|
|
|-
| Dangerous driving situations
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Pizza}}
|
|
| Often thought of as takeout or delivery food. A favorite of {{w|Spider-Man}} and the {{w|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles}}.
|-
| {{w|Star Wars}}
|
|
|
|-
| Cool toys
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Weather forecast}}s
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Batteries}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Power tools}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Video game}}s
|
|
| Often thought of as a childish pastime, adults frequently play video games.
|-
| Figuring out what to have for dinner
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Heating, ventilation and air conditioning|HVAC}} issues
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Cooking}}
|
|
|
|-
| Secret {{w|password}}s
|
|
|
|-
| Laundry
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Tax}}es
|
|
| One of two inevitable things in life, {{w|Death and taxes|the other being death}}
|-
| Customer service
|
|
|
|-
| Shopping
|
|
|
|-
| Unexplained smells or noises
|
| 100%
|
|-
| Pocket radio communicators
|
| 100%
| Examples include {{w|cell phone}}s, {{w|pager}}s and {{w|walkie-talkie}}s
|-
| Bills
|
| 100%
| Most households have to contend with electricity, water and telecommunication service bills
|-
| Digging {{w|pit trap}}s (title text)
|
|
| Inside the Star Destroyer in [[1608: Hoverboard]] we see [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/f/fd/1608_1055x1090y_Trap_covered_with_leaves_and_flying_Ponytail_at_bottom_of_hull.png Cueball cover a pit trap with leaves], so this is something Randall actually thinks about sometimes!
|}

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

:[Shown is a scatter plot:]
:Y axis label: How often it comes up in my adult life
:X axis label: How often I expected it to come up in my adult life

:[first row, comes up very often, from least to most expected:]
:Unexplained smells or noises, customer service, pocket radio communicators, bills, shopping
:Figuring out what to have for dinner, HVAC issues, secret passwords, laundry, cooking, taxes
:Weather forecasts, batteries, video games, power tools
:Cable management, dangerous driving situations, pizza, Star Wars, lasers, cool toys
:Adhesives, board games, tying knots
:Water damage, backpacks, my academic record
:Flat tires, briefcases, martial arts
:Middle names, people offering free drugs, food fights, parachutes, twins switching places, barrels
:[last row, comes up very rarely, from least to most expected:]
:Which fork you're supposed to use for what, car chases, lit fuses, shoving a stick in a crocodile's mouth to wedge it open, grappling hooks, quicksand

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Board games]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:3028: D&D Roll

2024-12-24T13:22:36Z

172.70.90.4:

Dice comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.181|172.69.22.181]] 04:09, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

And in a pinch, d4s can be used as caltrops. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.210|172.71.147.210]] 05:22, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

I am willing to bet good money that every D&D comic that features the game's name inside the title will either [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Admin_requests#RSS_Feed_Broken|break the RSS Feed]] or [[User:TheusafBOT]]. '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 10:17, 24 December 2024 (UTC)
:Ah, that's why we never got a good explanation about the one with the D&D players dialling in over AT&T to roleplay S&M sessions while eating M&Ms and drinking A&W. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.4|172.70.90.4]] 13:22, 24 December 2024 (UTC)

3022: Making Tea

2024-12-10T09:19:21Z

172.70.90.4: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3022
| date = December 9, 2024
| title = Making Tea
| image = making_tea_2x.png
| imagesize = 690x291px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = No, of course we don't microwave the mug WITH the teabag in it. We microwave the teabag separately.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Microwaved by a TEA-MAKING AUTOMATON - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Tea is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpll9l535o decreasingly so]). Virtually every home has an electric kettle as a standard appliance, if not a normal one and a cooker hob, with teapots and other related crockery being found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display. In contrast, tea is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country) and owning separate devices for tea-making is probably far less common than having coffee-makers of various kinds. As a result, when Americans need a cup of boiled water — for tea or otherwise — it is considered normal to put the water in a microwave oven.

British people are stereotyped as taking genuine offense to microwaved water, believing it to be an objectively incorrect way to make tea. Randall mocks this stereotype through exaggeration, saying British people would be less offended by the theft of the {{w|Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom}} than they would be by a cup of microwaved water.

===Methods mentioned===
;Making it in a kettle
:Perhaps an intentional misnomer. Water may be ''boiled'' in a kettle, but the tea itself is made in a separate {{w|teapot}}, with loose or bagged tea-leaves, ready for pouring into any number of {{w|teacup}}s, {{w|mug}}s or {{w|vacuum flask|thermos flask}} as required.

;Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug
:The reverse misnomer, as the boiling water from the ''kettle'', as well as being used to fill any (tea)pot, can be poured straight into an individual mug. Either with a teabag already waiting in it (typical for "{{w|Builder's tea}}", where it may remain for a long while, ''perhaps'' until being fished out by a spoon just before drinking) or into which the teabag will now be dipped (at the personal discretion of the recipient, to taste, thus fine-tuning the time it infuses).

;Making it in a chalice and ampulla stolen from the Crown Jewels
:The most un-British thing about this is the crime against the nation's own heritage. Though many may have considered it, and occasionally {{w|Thomas Blood#Theft of the Crown Jewels|attempted it}}, it would not be taken kindly by many others. And to do so to make tea would be just {{wiktionary|not cricket}}. The precious stone chalice and gold ampulla are also doubtful as being of suitable materials for British tea-making (as opposed to using cast iron, stainless steel, silver-plate, robust ceramics and/or fine china, for various stages of the process) and there'd definitely be some complaints that it does not taste like a proper cuppa.

;Microwaving a mug
:Apparently common in the US, possibly because the standard US home power supply (~120V) is less convenient to power an electric kettle such as the British might use (with ~230V). The microwaving method of heating water is widely mistrusted in the UK, with warnings about generating superheated water that explodes in your face the moment it is disturbed. In general, one doesn't put 'just water' in a microwave; the closest analogue would be something like soup (from a can but now in a microwave-safe bowl), and keeping an eye on it/applying a loose lid to prevent it sputtering and overboiling.
:The title text continues with this theme, by reassuring us that the microwaved mug doesn't have a teabag in it (analogous to the 'boiling tea-kettle' version, together with new uncertainty about sudden nucleation of the water). Instead, it is separately microwaved. As tealeaves (and bag) should normally be dry and receive little to no heating from its own stint in the microwave, the wrongheadedness this invokes does little to dissuade the skeptic's doubts about how utterly perverse this colonial variation on tea-making has become.

==Transcript==
:[A line chart is shown. Above the chart are, from top to bottom, a heading, a subheading, and an arrow pointing right with a label above. On the line there are four labeled tick marks, with the labels written beneath the line. A small curved line is going from each label to below their tick. The first two ticks are close together on the far left side of the graph, the third is approximately in the center, and the fourth is on the far right side of the graph.]
:<big>Ways of Making Tea</big>
:By how angry British people get when Americans do them
:More angry

:Making it in a kettle
:Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug
:Making it in a chalice and ampulla stolen from the Crown Jewels
:Microwaving a mug

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Rankings]]

Talk:2842: Inspiraling Roundabout

2024-11-10T17:24:59Z

172.70.90.4: /* This already exists */ Unsigned. (But... What is? Swindon as a whole? Or wikiledia:Magic Roundabout (Swindon), which isn't what the comic shows.)

First edit. I'm unfamiliar with the road rules in the comic so I just added the transcript in it's most basic form. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 02:00, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

:don't worry, even a wrong explanation is better than no explanation because it tricks people into being correct for you [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 03:15, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
: New here, not sure of the procedure for discussing interpretation: I disagree with the interpretation that this is navigable by entering all the way into the center then driving out in a clockwise direction - that would be driving against traffic, which would be illegal and seem to violate the assertion that this is "technically navigable" (anything is "technically navigable" if you have a big enough vehicle and disregard for other people's property, but I'm assuming that we want to stay legal). I believe that the "correct way" to navigate this would be to signal and change to the right-lane until you get to your exit. The inward spiral may give cars a circuit or two to wait for a clear lane to the right, but the deeper you get, the faster you have to change lanes to get out again? --[[User:Candu|Candu]] ([[User talk:Candu|talk]]) 14:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
::Dangerous, probably, but 'illegal' is kind of out the window here, since Randall has thrown all notions of sensible road design language out of the window. The lanes permit access to the other lanes at the centre, even if it's not a sensible move.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.50|172.70.85.50]] 09:39, 18 October 2023 (UTC)
::This IS Clockwise, look at the arrows. For some reason Randall drew a British roundabout. I assume because North America doesn't really have them but they're famously common in Britain? The thing is, driving clockwise each entering lane ends just at the next exit, meaning Randall conceived of this as a counter-clockwise spiral after all. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:28, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
:::Those aren't directional arrows. They're an "exit line" marking (something similar to the actual UK {{w|File:Give_Way_Road_Marking_UK.jpg|Give Way markings}}?) or the equivalent US {{w|Yield sign}} (I don't see any indication as to what the US paints on its roads for them, but see the {{w|Stop and yield lines|European version}} that is "shark's teeth"), as far as I can tell. You have two 'right-side driving' lanes entering into the spiralabout, from each direction, and one leaving it. (''Part one of three sections by [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.170|172.71.178.170]] 17:57, 29 October 2023 (UTC)'')
::::You should sign your comments (I don't quite know how to post-sign a comment/fix it, so oh well). Such markings aren't used anywhere I've seen in North America, though. So North American drivers would understand them as directional arrows. :) Them being on-road Yield signs makes sense, but I have literally never seen that, only ever seen actual road signs for Yield - which is what I would expect if this was implemented, just that Randall can't draw an overhead version of THAT, :) Not in a way that we'd know what the sign said. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:54, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
:::::*I did sign it. I wrote three paragraphs (excessive!?!), that was just the first...
:::::*What *I* do, to post-sign, is:
:::::*# Go into the edit-history/version comparison. Establish ''what'' was edited in without signing (if indeed it was unsgned, unlike how [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2842:_Inspiraling_Roundabout&diff=327269&oldid=327255 this one] was),
:::::*# Copy the timestamp and ip (or username!) bit that applies,
:::::*# Go into (or back into the tab of) the page editor and add "<nowiki>{{unsigned ip||}}", or just "{{unsigned||}}</nowiki>" if it was a proper user at 'fault', and then shuffle in the IP(/username) between the two verticals and the timestamp after the second.
:::::*# ...or, if it's an established username that I ''know'' knows how to sign things (must have just forgotten), I copy something like "<nowiki>[[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:54, 19 November 2023 (UTC)</nowiki>" from a signed comment and paste in the correct username (three times!) and timestamp and consider it just my good deed for the day!
:::::* When researching the above response (and below, where I mention not being familiar with them), I didn't find ''much'' use of on-road markings, in the US, but they do exist. Not visually good enough pictures to link, as I recall, and maybe rare enough (perhaps nowhere you've been/noticed). I was most struck thst they looked most like European "dragon's teeth" markings than the British "honking big single elongated triangle" standard, but then I'm used to our (emminently sensible!) road-marking/signage being aittle bit adrift of what much of the (non-Commonwealth?) world seems to have decided is their standard.
:::::** e.g., the only "diamond" sign we have, in the UK, is a passing-place one; which actually depects a deliberate point-widening of the road, if you think about it. Though (probably for manufacturing reasons?) even that seems to have changed to be square-set. But none of these yellow-diamond-signs (except in the rear windows of school buses/coaches, the "children" warning, just like a "baby on board" vanity rear-screen 'hanger' that I'm ''sure'' makes people think twice before ramming the car in front(!)... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.244|172.69.194.244]] 16:13, 19 November 2023 (UTC) (Part one of three sections, at this level.)
:::The confusing bit to me (not being familiar with US standard road-markings) is the dotted line acute 'elbow' where the (wrong-direction-)outspiraling hits the (right-direction-)outermost off-lane. It seems not to be a valid lane to enter (anticlockwise) but not be enough like the double-dashed 'give way line' that the UK uses (along with the Give Way 'inverted triangle' painted upon the road). (''Part two of three sections by [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.170|172.71.178.170]] 17:57, 29 October 2023 (UTC)'')
::::Yeah, those lane endings should be solid lines, probably more. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:54, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
:::::In the UK, single dashes (of various lengths/gaps) have certain meanings, double-dashes (at a juntion) are a Give Way (together with the big 'yield' triangle, as noted) and solid lines are either Stop (in that context, but also with painted(+signed) STOP) or "do not cross".
:::::e.g., central hashes (or chevrons, usually at junction merging/diverving) with a solid border indicate no driving into them (if you can help it), often leading up to central bollards, pedestrian-crossing islands and/or division of the road into dual-carriageway where you really do ''not'' want to be on/over the diagonal hashing.
:::::But central hashes on the lead up to a right-turn (cross-traffic, that is) lane-split will have (long-)dashed boundaries, so that those ''intending'' to move into the un-hashed crossing-zone (where short dashed lines separate the new lane from the 'through lane', and again from the opposing through-lane that you'd implicitly Give Way to cross) can, where traffic flow and speeds make it more practical, use a short stretch of the hashed section (but not over the solid line on the side of the opposing lane!) to 'pre-enter' the tirning-meridian. Not, of course, to overtake traffic, going forward, and if anybody is signalling to merge over into the turn (but was not as hot to use the diagonally-hashed area) you'd be cheeky to not let them do so. (Or risk them not realising that you were coming up on their offside as they ''do'' decide to make that manouevre - *crunch*!) See [https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/lines-and-lane-markings-on-the-road.html Rule 130] for the short version... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.244|172.69.194.244]] 16:13, 19 November 2023 (UTC) (Part two of three sections, this level)
:::So I reject the idea that Randall drew a clockwise/UK roundabout(-sort-of). It's still a US one, albeit weird for the reasons given (also, it's titled "''In''spiraling Roundabout", not the "''Out''spiralling Roundabout" that the UK-version-of-Randall would hae had to call it, including spelling change). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.170|172.71.178.170]] 17:57, 29 October 2023 (UTC) (Third and final part!)
::::Oh, the joke requires that this was intended as counter-clockwise, just pointing out the seeming arrows, :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:54, 19 November 2023 (UTC)
:::::Well, 'arrow''heads''', maybe, but not road-arrows as I'd recognise them. {{w|File:UK traffic sign 873+876P.svg|This is just a sign}}, but does depict the style of arrow one ''might'' see painted to accenuate the awareness of which lane goes what direction. As {{w|File:UK traffic sign 521.svg|this one}}, again maybe also depicted upon the road, warns that one is about to re-enter bidirectional traffic (from a multilane dual-carriageway or other one-way traffic system, usually).
:::::But I find all the different approaches to these things interesting.
:::::I've never actually driven abroad. (Technically... I've cycled in Europe. And drove in the Legoland 'Driving School' in Billund when I was a child (cycling in Denmark!) and that Legoland was the ''only'' Legoland in the world. And ''once'' had to be reminded that "You're not in England now..." by the 'instructor' over his loadspeaker who could see me and my Union Jack car-adornment had turned across over to the LHS of the mini road system... ;) )
:::::But I've been a passenger in vehicles, in the US and EU, as well as walked along/across streets and lanes (leafy 'beyond-the-suburbs' ones in PA, for example, having no sidewalks so not really being sure if ''anyone'' in their right mind walked there, so perpetually ready to jump into the undergrowth if anything big/fast came rattling past, and possibly disobeying the US's unusually strong Jaywalking statutes at times).
:::::And, of course, one gets to see the weird mirror-world and distinctly different signage in anything depicting 'foreign' roads (Hollywood on down), whether that's "right turn on red" signs in whatever city it happens to be in the US(/Canada?), or a "Warning: kangaroos" diamond alongside some Aussie outback highway or other.
:::::Given the subtle state-by-state differences, I'm sure you'll know much more (from long exposure) about particular local peculiarities on the roads. Like how red traffic-lights tend to just suddenly appear out of nowhere (i.e. tree branches) if you're driving around Hazzard County, GA (or that their "Bridge Out" signs are considered merely advisary, if your vehicle is orange with a flag on its roof, but ''not'' if it is black-and-white with flashing lights atop).
:::::Though I'm not ''really'' sure what I learnt about US Freeways from The Matrix Trilogy, I must admit. (Certainly nothing about being brief and to the point!) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.244|172.69.194.244]] 16:13, 19 November 2023 (UTC) (Third and final bit of this awkwardly split reply-to-reply. To avoid more confusion than is inevitable.)

added longer explanation [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]][[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]][[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]] 03:05, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Could we create a category for these "traffic" or "driving" related comics? This would include this comic and the previous, and others that relate to driving/cars/traffic. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.37|172.70.211.37]] 04:02, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

in left lane driving countries this would work pretty well as a roundabout
:... Except going clockwise (as the arrows indicate), each entering lane ends at the next exit. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:28, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
::See above, it's not going clockwise. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.170|172.71.178.170]] 17:57, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

I've heard the Spanish and British road authorities are planing to implement this for roads going to France. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.144|172.64.236.144]] 06:39, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Actually, the correct solution is an out-spiraling roundabout, which if properly designed means that if you start in the correct lane, you end up at the correct exit without changing lanes. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Well if it spiralled the other way it would be a great roundabout design.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.28|162.158.203.28]] 08:14, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Out-spiraling roundabouts are getting more popular in the UK - they recently repainted the Wandsworth Bridge Roundabout as an out-spiral, and it's gone from one being one of the worst roundabouts in the area to one of the best. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.153|172.70.90.153]] 10:04, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

An example I designed several years ago... :https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5071913,-3.1457705,18z/data=!3m1!1e3 [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 19:34, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

About driving in circles for hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 11:32, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Uzumaki??? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.99|172.71.22.99]] 12:24, 17 October 2023 (UTC)Bumpf
:You're reading my mind! :) [[User:L-Space Traveler|L-Space Traveler]] ([[User talk:L-Space Traveler|talk]]) 00:44, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

I think the author of the explanation completely misunderstood the design. This is the turbo roundabout, except instead of getting everybody out it pulls everybody into the center, just like the highway supercollider from early xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.239|172.70.242.239]] 12:29, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Alternative ending/version - there is a singularity at the center of the roundabout [[User:Dllahr|Dllahr]] ([[User talk:Dllahr|talk]]) 12:42, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

I think the explanation as currently written is way overcomplicating the situation, it seems clear to me that this roundabout is designed (much like in the recent comic #[[2728]]), to require lane changes for some paths, and the inward spiral is simply to guide anyone that's indecisive or otherwise missing their exist out of the way of other drivers, and forcing them to make a decision rather than circling indefinitely to avoid a collision. The current description of having you go backwards out the spiral after reaching the end seems ridiculously over complicated and doesn't match any of the design elements of the path. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 14:36, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
:I agree. The broken lines indicate that lane changes are intended. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.230.25|162.158.230.25]] 15:42, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

This design has a regulating effect on the traffic mass. (Assuming changing lanes is allowed.) When there is light traffic, cars can easily change on the next lane to reach their destination. When there is heavy traffic, some cars will fail to change lanes quickly enough, and they become trapped in the spiral. When the traffic becomes light again, the outermost cars will be able to leave the spiral. I estimate that up to 50 cars can be temporarily removed from the local traffic this way. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.150.31|172.69.150.31]] 16:57, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Should there be a category for this comic, [[2728: Lane Change Highway]], [[253: Highway Engineer Pranks]], and similar ones? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.253.137|172.68.253.137]] 18:12, 17 October 2023 (UTC)

Why hasn't the next comic been added to explainXKCD yet? I thought a bot posted the comics on explainXKCD. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.228|162.158.90.228]] 04:16, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

== Magic Roundabouts ==

See these two "unusual" roundabouts in England

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Hemel_Hempstead)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)

Actually, they are (no longer) roundabouts, but Ring Junctions. Effectively mini Ring Roads. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)
:Yeah, I've never quite got the mystique of the "Magic Roundabout" - yes, it's kind of pretty and neat to look at, but in terms of usage, it's just a load of mini-roundabouts near each other. And "mini-roundabouts near each other" is just another name for "Britain's road network". [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 20:14, 19 October 2023 (UTC)
:Swindon, I've heard of that place... I wonder if that's the "Roundabout of Roundabouts" I've seen pictures of... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:33, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
::Note that it's one of the four such ring junction {{w|Magic Roundabout}}s shown above, and I'm sure linked somewhere or other up and down this article. Yes, it's (in)famous enough, I'm sure you've heard of it. (Whether you've heard of {{w|Swindon}}, or not might depend upon whether you're a fan of {{w|Jasper_Fforde#Novels|Jasper Fforde}}, as much as anything else... :P ) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.170|172.71.178.170]] 17:57, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

In France at least this design would not create any conundrum because roundabout rules are clearly stated and independent of ground markings. It could still be somewhat confusing.{{unsigned ip|141.101.68.239|10:43, 17 October 2023}}

Pretty sure it isn't a reference to the {{w|Inspiral Carpets}}, but thought I should note them in passing... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.103|172.69.195.103]] 22:17, 18 October 2023 (UTC)

The added link to the hours-long roundabout circling bicyclist is my first edit on this site, let me know if something should be done differently [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.43|172.71.254.43]] 04:40, 20 October 2023 (UTC)
:Looks good, as it is. The sentence in which it is set could be slightly rewritten, perhaps, but that's just a personal reading (and not yet sure how I'd improve it) and doesn't make your workable markup addition at all wrong. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.123|141.101.99.123]] 05:43, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

Uhhh, why did American Randall draw a British roundabout? Look at the arrow indicators, he has drivers driving on the left... I mean, sure, roundabouts are uncommon (almost non-existent in my experience) in North America and notoriously common in Britain, but still... Plus THAT way each entering lane ends at the next exit, meaning Randall meant it as right side driving spiral after all. ??? I feel like something should be said about how roundabouts take skill and experience to flow through smoothly, meaning that in areas where drivers aren't used to them they're actually more dangerous. I mean, imagine a driver who is used to 4-way stops having half a second to align and merge with cars flowing in from the circle? It takes SUCH instant decision making to align, at least with highway entrances you have the on ramp to assess the traffic you're joining to find your gap! My brother lives in a newer area where the local idiots just put in several roundabouts where there used to be straightforward 4-ways before, so I've seen the difference, the new way spikes the adrenaline and triggers anxiety (except, I guess, in people who have been using them every day and got used to them, and I have to think always SOME). To me, needing to get used to them makes them a bad idea. And it's WEIRD! Just 3 days ago I was introducing a new driver to those roundabouts near my brother! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:28, 29 October 2023 (UTC)
:(He didn't... see above. As you had to add multiple related statements in various places in this page, in more or less the same edit, I felt compelled to put a similar number of mostly related responses to them all, to not let anyone thinking you'd been left hanging.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.170|172.71.178.170]] 17:57, 29 October 2023 (UTC)

== This already exists ==

That’s just called Swindon. {{unsigned ip|172.71.167.70|15:26, 10 November 2024‎}}

2990: Late Cenozoic

2024-09-26T16:25:36Z

172.70.90.4: /* Explanation */ Probably a future layer, strictly, albeit being beneath the (future) rubble of whatever Natural History Museum/etc that each might be housed in.

{{comic
| number = 2990
| date = September 25, 2024
| title = Late Cenozoic
| image = late_cenozoic_2x.png
| imagesize = 303x396px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our nucleic acid recovery techinques found a great deal of homo sapiens DNA incorporated into the fossils, particularly the ones containing high levels of resin, leading to the theory that these dinosaurs preyed on the once-dominant primates.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a ONCE-DOMINANT BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A major part of understanding how life-forms existed and operated in the past involves finding fossilized remains, and working out a timeline of when they lived, based on the sediment layers in which they were found (among other factors). Modern paleontology has resulted in many of these fossilized remained being dug up and assembled into complete skeletons, which are frequently put on display in museums and other facilities.

This comic posits a distant future in which the remains of current civilization become buried in sediment. Presumably, this involves humanity either going extinct or losing our dominance over the planet. In this context, life-forms of the future (either aliens or earth organisms that have become unrecognizable) have apparently discovered the reconstructed fossils in the ruins of our museums and presumed that they died in our geological era.

The title of the strip refers to the {{w|Cenozoic}} era, which is the current geological era, so the "the late Cenozoic" is right now, the time in which humans live. The strip also refers to the {{w|Cretaceous}} period, which is the last period of the {{w|Mesozoic}} era, and the last era in which dinosaurs lived. The joke being that, in the distant future, our current era would be studied in the same way that we study ancient geological eras.

The confusion over which era originated dinosaur fossils would present a timeline problem. Dinosaur fossils would presumably be found in layers from the Cretaceous period (ending 66 million years ago), but a significant number of them would also be found in layers from the late Cenozoic (starting no earlier than a hundred years ago, but probably to depend upon when current society breaks down and allows natural sedimentation or debris to build up over the relevent displays), but not in any layers in between. Instead of realizing that these fossils had been dug up, relocated, and reconstructed, the future paleontologists conclude that a small number of these dinosaurs survived the {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event}} lived in small numbers for tens of millions of years, leaving no fossil record, but the once again flourished, leaving complete fossils in our era. This is, of course, laughably wrong based on our knowledge, but future scientists who didn't understand human civilization might consider it to be the most obvious explanation for such apparently contradictory information.

The title text says that a high amount of resin and human DNA has led to them theorizing that dinosaurs ate humans. When reconstructing fossils, resin is often used to recreate missing or incomplete bones, and for other purposes in assembling and displaying a "complete" skeleton. Since this resin is made and mixed by humans,{{fact}} incidental human DNA sources (such as cast off skin cells and hair) almost certainly get mixed in, leading to this misconception.

Dinosaurs, particularly [[:Category:Velociraptors|velociraptors]], eating humans is a recurring fear of Randall's.

A similar museum, misunderstood by people instead of alien beings, is depicted in [[2760: Paleontology Museum]].

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

:[Three squid-like aliens in a classroom; one alien stands in front of a board covered with minute text and a drawing of a T-Rex skeleton. Two aliens sit on stools watching the teacher alien. The teacher alien on the left is on a raised platform and points at the board with one tentacle.]
:Left alien: Species such as triceratops and tyrannosaurus became more rare after the Cretaceous, but they survived to flourish in the late Cenozoic, 66 million years later.
:Left alien: Many complete skeletons have been discovered from this era.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's going to be really funny when our museums get buried in sediment.

==Trivia==
The title text has a typo: "techinques" should be "techniques".

The future beings are presumably ones that took over the far future of the Earth long after the extinction of humans. They are possibly descendents of one or other of the {{w|cephalopod}}s, species widely noted for their intelligence even today, but also bear a passing resemblence to the 'contemporary' [[2572: Alien Observers|alien life-forms]] that [[Randall]] uses for comics set in the current era.

Their relationship with his other [[1747: Spider Paleontology|beings from the future]], seen occasionally, is uncertain. That other form may merely be an 'avatar' presence, made necessary by the time-travel (or visitation) method in use, or else a representative from a [[1450: AI-Box Experiment|predominantly non-biological]] era of the future. 

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Geology]]

2852: Parameterball

2023-11-09T16:50:14Z

172.70.90.4: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2852
| date = November 8, 2023
| title = Parameterball
| image = parameterball_2x.png
| imagesize = 518x371px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The ball's density also varies, but players don't learn the value until after choosing their raquets. The infamous 'bowling ball table tennis' region of the parameter space often leads to equipment damage.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BALL THE SIZE OF A PROTON MOON, AS HEAVY AS A SMALL NEUTRON STAR, FLYING OVER A NET HALF AS TALL AS THE SUN'S ROOM TEMPERATURE CORE, ON A FIELD THE SIZE OF A REGULATION SALIVA POOL [[2852: Parameterball/Incomplete Archive|(previous matches)]]}} 

This comic depicts the game of parameterball, a "raquet" game. This is a creative mis-spelling of the {{w|Racket_(sports_equipment)|sports equipment}} that is [https://www.quora.com/When-do-you-use-racket-and-raquet spelt] "raquette" in French (probably from the Dutch for the action of "striking back"), was adopted into English as "racquet" and later acquired the alternative (and extremely common) form "racket" ([[1010: Etymology-Man|etymologically]] distinct from the noise/"protection racket" use of that word).

There are a number of distinct {{w|List of racket sports|racket sports}}, which generalise to various forms of opposing players hitting a projectile between their respective zones of control. These are usually two-sided (2-{{w|Doubles|or-4}} players) point-scoring games using a delineated court/playing-surface, with a net or {{w|Squash (sport)|markings}} defining either side's control of play. The projectile is often a ball of some kind (or equivalent, such as the {{w|Badminton|shuttlecock}}), which must be hit with a racket(/'paddle' bat). Often, the objective of the game is to hit the ball so that it bounces on your opponent's side, in a legitimate manner, that cannot then be legitimately returned. Two notable examples of this kind of game are {{w|Tennis}} and {{w|Table Tennis}} (also known as Ping-Pong), which demonstrate the potentially different scales of playing area, ball and net.

In this comic, a game called "Parameterball" is proposed, where net size, ball size, and court size are randomized every quarter. There are 4 different instances of [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] playing this game, each in one corner of the comic, so we can assume all four of these were used within the same game of Parameterball. The different examples provide insight into the absurd games that may be played in Parameterball, depending on how mismatched the racket, court, and ball size are.

The title text mentions that the ball's density is also randomized, and refers to instances where the net size, ball size, and court size were similar to that of a Ping-pong match, but with a ball as dense as a {{w|Bowling ball|bowling ball}}, which not only led to equipment damage, but does so regularly. Despite this, the participants ''do not'' learn the density until ''after'' their racket is chosen, meaning that they have no way of determining whether the racket they chose is durable enough until it's already too late. (Conversely, choosing an excessively robust item could be a bad decision when trying to play with a light ball, as it would be detrimental in reacting against rapid volleys by a more aptly-equipped opponent.)

Note that the players can choose their own racket, and can do so after finding out the three parameters given in the main comic. Only the density of the ball is unknown when they choose the racket. Thus this indirectly leads to some randomness in the selection of racket also, as the players try to guess what would be best for a random choice of ball density.

It’s unknown whether the parameters of Parameterball are unlimited or limited to what human players can reasonably work with, although the fourth phase of the game as demonstrated in the comic certainly seems to represent an extreme of both net height and ball size that appears to be causing problems. But if the comic shows the outliers then the [[#Table of limits in the comic|table below]] lists the limits for the parameters.

[[Randall]] may have been inspired by {{w|Pickleball}}, a type of racket sport rising sharply in popularity in the US at the time this comic came out. Pickleball is a middle-ground of tennis and table tennis, with an intermediate-sized ball, court, and net height. Randall may have noticed the distinct parameters of pickleball’s elements compared to its cousin sports and was inspired to imagine a scenario in which such parameters might be randomized.

This comic is reminiscent of [[2663: Tetherball Configurations]], also four different settings for the same sport, that makes it more or less playable. Randall also invented another ball game with [[1507: Metaball]].

===Table of limits in the comic===
Assuming that the comic shows the full breadth of options, here are the approximate, apparent upper and lower limits of the four parameters mentioned:
{|class = "wikitable"
! Parameter !! Apparent Lower Limit !! Apparent Upper Limit
|-
| Ball Size || Ping pong ball || Human hamster “Zorb” ball
|-
| Court Size || Large board game board || NHL ice hockey rink
|-
| Net Height || Screwdriver || Giraffe
|-
| Ball Density || Ping pong ball || Bowling ball
|-
|}

It is unclear what rules, if any, there are about the size below which the court will be elevated on a table.

From what is shown, racket choice appears to be limited to those commonly in use in other existing racket sports.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are playing a game that looks similar to tennis or table tennis in four different settings, one in each quadrant of the comic. Each setting has different settings for three parts of the game, the size of the court, the size of the ball and the height of the net. In each case Megan is on the left and Cueball is on the right.]

:[Top left: The court is much smaller than a normal tennis court, each half slightly wider and deeper than a person is tall, the net, however, is fairly normal height, maybe a bit higher than in tennis. But the ball is much larger, even bigger than a beach ball but with curved 'seam' to it similar to certain types of more robust balls. The ball has just bounced on Cueball's side and he is about to hit it.]

:[Top right: The ball and the net closely match that of a regular tennis game, but the court has a size much like a five-a-side football field. Cueball has just hit the ball, which is currently flying towards Megan's side, but could seem like it will barely make it all the way over to the net. Both players are thus very small, compared with this huge court.]

:[Bottom left: The ball, and net are basically the same as in table tennis, and the rackets also looks like table tennis bats. But the 'court' is a much smaller tabletop. The ball has just bounced back up on Megan's side, and she is poised to smash it back. This is the only case in which the court has been elevated and the players are not standing on it.]

:[Bottom right: The court is slightly larger than the top left, but the net is much taller than the humans, more than double their height, thus much higher than in for instance volleyball. Also the ball is several times larger than a beach ball (with the same curved seam). The ball is larger than Cueball, like a human hamster ball. Cueball is apparently fighting to push the huge ball high enough to get over the net, indicated by movement lines in which he is barely managing to keep the ball on the racket itself, not to mention he has only gotten the ball halfway up the net. Megan is just standing on the other side waiting to see if Cueball manages to get the ball over to her.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Parameterball is a raquet  game divided into four quarters, with ball size, court size, and net height randomized each quarter.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Sport]]

2849: Under the Stars

2023-11-02T11:17:19Z

172.70.90.4: Wikilink template now used, to be tidier. (Someone else also just did this, but only partially...)

{{comic
| number = 2849
| date = November 1, 2023
| title = Under the Stars
| image = under_the_stars_2x.png
| imagesize = 672x258px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you live in Los Angeles (around 33°52'N, roughly the latitude of Hermosa Beach) the black hole in V404 Cygni passes over you each day. On Christmas Day it will be directly overhead around 2pm.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a CONSTELLATION COVERED IN A FEW QUINTILLION GALLONS OF BLUE PAINT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The phrase "under the stars" generally refers to being under a visible field of stars (either real stars visible at night, or representations of stars constructed by people, as in a dance hall). Megan points out that we're always under the stars, they're just obscured ("painted over") during the day by the brightness of the Sun and its interaction with the sky. Of course, this makes the 'under the stars' part of the remark redundant in the first place, because by this definition, sitting outside is always under the stars. Also, since the Sun is itself a star, regardless of whether the other stars exist when it's daytime or not, you would always be under at least ''a'' star. In fact, sitting inside is arguably under the stars as well, since the stars are still there, but just obscured by a roof or other construction. Poetically, though, it could be taken to mean that Megan simply loves to sit and ponder the very existence, vastness, etc. of the stars, even when she can't see them.

[[File:parallel V404 Cygni.png|300px|thumb|If you live on the blue line, the black hole in V404 Cygni is directly over you once a day. Zoomable version [https://rpubs.com/perelopez/Parallel_33_52_02_N here].]]
This is related to the concept of {{w|object permanence}}, which is the understanding that objects continue to exist even though we can't physically sense them. When you close your eyes, the universe doesn't go away even though you can't see it; similarly, when the Sun is shining, the stars are still all there.

In the early days of xkcd, it was common for Randall to publish a comic that was not intentionally funny -- often also featuring Cueball and Megan -- so this is a bit of a return to form.

The title text mentions {{w|V404 Cygni}}, a binary system composed of a 9 solar masses black hole and a star smaller than the Sun. With a {{w|declination}} of +33° 52′ 02.0″, once a day it passes over any point of Earth with that latitude North, like Los Angeles, Atlanta or Beirut.

This comic may also have some subtle reference to the novel {{w|Nightfall (Asimov novelette and novel)|Nightfall}} by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg which takes place on a planet that has so many suns they never have darkness and can never see the stars. In that novel there is an eclipse which occurs roughly every 1000 years, which causes a complete psychological breakdown of everyone on the planet, as they all fear the dark and have no concept of the vastness of space. In this comic the reference to every sky being full of stars being "terrifying" is very reminiscent of that novel.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan and Cueball are sitting in a field under a clear blue sky and bright Sun.]

:Megan: I love sitting out under the stars.

:Cueball: ...It's daytime.
:Megan: Yeah, but the stars are all still up there.

:Megan: Constellations wheel overhead; they're just painted over with blue.
:Megan: Every sky is full of stars.

:Cueball: That's somehow terrifying.
:Megan: It's okay—just look at that sunny sky and tell yourself space isn't real.
:Megan: "Daytime" is us closing our eyes and pretending it makes infinity go away.

== Trivia ==
* The sun and grass are continuously drawn between frames, as if the frames are organized spatially instead of temporally.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Time]]

2848: Breaker Box

2023-10-31T11:15:18Z

172.70.90.4: /* Table of the breakers labels */

{{comic
| number = 2848
| date = October 30, 2023
| title = Breaker Box
| image = breaker_box_2x.png
| imagesize = 560x776px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Any electrician will warn you to first locate and flip the house's CAUSALITY circuit breaker before touching the CIRCUIT BREAKERS one.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HIGH-PITCHED HUM GENERATOR THAT WAS LAST MENTIONED EXACTLY 1258 COMICS AGO - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|Distribution board}}, referred to as a "breaker box" here and commonly referred to as a "fuse box", "breaker panel", "DB box", and many other names, is a metal box inside a building that is attached to a wall, usually in some maintenance area, containing several {{w|circuit breakers}} that let power through to various parts of the building. A circuit breaker is an electrical switch, usually in the form of a small lever, that will physically open if too much power is flowing through, as might be the case if a fault occurs, in order to protect appliances.

In most breaker boxes, each individual breaker is labeled to let the operator know what that specific breaker controls. A breaker will usually control something like the outlets or lights in a certain room, or some large appliance. In houses that have been rewired multiple times(or are poorly wired), this can quickly become overcomplicated with seemingly random connections. The comic satirizes this, with multiple breakers "controlling" arbitrary things that may be impossible to hook a breaker up to, getting progressively more absurd to the point of disabling certain laws of physics as the switches get lower.

The title text is about causality. Turning off the circuit breaker using the circuit breaker may lead to a loop, as the disabled breaker can no longer disable itself, leading to it turning back on, etc. Turning off causality would prevent this loop as causes would no longer have effects.

===Table of the breakers labels===
{|class = "wikitable"
! Label next to breaker !! Explanation !! Label next to breaker !! Explanation
|-
| Kitchen Lights || The lights in the kitchen. || A whirring fan you didn't realize was on until now || The AC in a building usually creates quiet white noise from fans, which people usually do not hear until they become aware that there is a sound.
|-
| Living room lights || The lights in the living room. || Dishwasher || The dishwasher.
|-
| Porch lights || The lights on the porch. || Dishes || At a glance this could pass for a normal thing to be next to a breaker, despite dishes not requiring electricity. This might, however, actually be referring to an array of satellite dishes, but given how the switch for the dishwasher is immediately above this is most likely not the case.
|-
| Bathroom lights and one surprise mystery outlet somewhere || This controls the lights in the bathroom, but also a random outlet. This may be a reference to the unlikely possibility that an electrical engineer may make a mistake during construction and wire up an outlet to the wrong breaker, confusing the homeowner when maintenance needs to be done. || Hallway lights || The lights in the hallway or hallways.
|-
| North-facing appliances || Despite the impossibility of determining which way an appliance is facing, ignoring how you would even define that, without having a magnetic compass inside every appliance, and having all of those appliances be hooked up to one breaker, this apparently routes power to every appliance that faces north. It is unclear how strict this is as well - it could be as lax as northeast to northwest, or even as strict as {{w|Points of the compass#32-wind compass rose|north by east to north by west}}.|| Hallway outlets || The outlets in the hallway or hallways.
|-
| Bathtub drain light || Bathtubs typically do not have drain lights, but this breaker provides power to that and only that. || Hallway floors || This could pass for a normal breaker at a glance, given the two above and in some buildings there are floor outlets. This could also potentially refer to turning off the power for all the hallways on a given floor. Floors in and of themselves do not typically require power, but if they act differently when not powered is unknown. A simpler explanation is this just electrifies the floors, which is not a nice thing to have,{{citation needed}} but may be barely noticeable in this case when considering this breaker has been on the entire time. Unless the hallway is equipped whith electric underfloor heating.
|-
| Appliances whose names contain the letter "F" || Another breaker that could theoretically be done despite the tremendous difficulty in doing so. Electrical systems do not carry data about names, and it is unclear how it would even get this information, if it would change depending on locality, if it uses the common name for something or the full name, how it would work in different languages, and so on. || Social media || All of social media. This may be a reference to [[908: The Cloud]]. Since most social media platforms are a centralized services, it would be theoretically possible to hook up a switch to the main power supply of every server building at once, given some extremely long wires, a breaker capable of handling the abhorrently massive electric load, and agreement from every social media provider(optional).
|-
| Hot water heater || The heater for hot water. || State law || It is unclear which state's laws this controls, but why they require power to operate is unknown. This may just be for enforcement of the laws, instead of nullifying every single one whenever it is turned off. Additionally, since Randall lives in Massachusetts, it's very likely this refers to the same state.
|-
| Regular water heater || The heater for regular water. Presumably, given the above switch, this is for heating lukewarm or cool water, while the above is for keeping it warm and acting as a storage medium. This could just be accomplished with a single water heater with the capacity of two, but it may be useful for getting a lot of adequately hot water quickly when only half a tank's worth is needed. Alternatively, this may imply that this heater is for heating water that is not yet hot, whereas the heater above is, unexpectedly and somewhat pointlessly, for heating water that is already hot.|| Federal law || The ramifications of nullifying every federal law ever are immense, but this may still be for enforcement, like the above.
|-
| Outlets in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in || This controls every outlet in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in. This implies that the living room is not a room it's normal to eat pizza in, since those are on a different breaker. On the other hand, that breaker specifically specifies that it controls the living room '''''lights''''', but disregarding this, it's very likely it may still include the living room, seeing as the other switches fail to have any sort of constraints. Other eligible rooms would probably include the dining room, kitchen, and/or bedroom, but would be dependent on the inhabitants / regular visitors of the house (for example, they may regularly eat their pizza in the bathroom). || Second law of thermodynamics || Turning off a physical law, especially the second law of thermodynamics, would be catastrophic, since the rest of the laws of physics would most likely follow suit once one collapsed unless they are held in place by other laws.

This law of physics was also explored in the What If? article [https://what-if.xkcd.com/145/ Fire From Moonlight]. As explained by Randall in this article, the second law of thermodynamics states that you cannot transfer heat from one location A to make another location B any hotter than location A, unless you expend some form of energy in doing so.
|-
| High-pitched hum generator || Controls a high-pitched hum generator. This is a reference to [[1590: The Source]]. || Friction || Again, turning off a physical law would be catastrophic, but turning off friction may not destroy reality. If it was turned off, however, many things would become incredibly unsafe or useless, while others would have increased efficiency. The benefits, however, would be negligible in comparison to how many systems would collapse instantly, such as ratchets, car tires, standing up, or just things staying still in general. Being in a friction less environment (and a vacuum, as physicist loves...) was the subject of [[669: Experiment]].
|-
| The solution to the cryptogram below: || A cryptogram is a puzzle where a sentence has been encoded using a cipher, usually very simple, and the goal is to determine the cipher used and recover the original sentence from the encoded one. This may be literal, as in the solution is "circuit breaker", but it also may be controlling the ability to know what the solution is or if it can be discovered. || Gravity || If this was turned off, the Earth would explode along with all other celestial objects. Planets and stars have extremely high internal pressure that is constantly in conflict with gravity. Every part would be forced outward at incredibly high speeds, and any object that requires gravity would simply not be able to form. Of course, this might also just make everything in the house weightless, which has much less disastrous consequences and would probably actually be pretty cool.{{citation needed}}
|-
| Bugs || This could either refer to software bugs or actual bugs, both of which do not make much sense to be able to turn off. If this does refer to actual bugs, it may be a reference to [[2753: Air Handler]].|| Circuit breakers || If this was turned off, it would presumably turn off all power in the house since no breaker is supplied or supplying power any more. (Most houses have a main circuit breaker that provides this functionality.) However, if this circuit breaker disables the ability to toggle circuit breakers, you would not be able to turn this circuit breaker back on.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An open breaker box is shown. There are 26 labelled breakers, all of which are on, arranged in a 2 by 13 grid.]
:Kitchen lights / A whirring fan you didn't realize was on until now
:Living room lights / Dishwasher
:Porch lights / Dishes
:Bathroom lights and one surprise mystery outlet somewhere / Hallway lights
:North-facing appliances / Hallway outlets
:Bathtub drain light / Hallway floors
:Appliances whose names contain the letter "F" / Social media
:Hot water heater / State law
:Regular water heater / Federal law
:Outlets in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in / Second law of thermodynamics
:High-pitched hum generator / Friction
:[There are words that are too small to read on the left breaker's label.]
:The solution to the cryptogram below: / Gravity
:Bugs / Circuit breakers

{{comic discussion}}

2821: Path Minimization

2023-08-29T08:46:05Z

172.70.90.4: /* Explanation */ Further refinements. Surely all for now!

{{comic
| number = 2821
| date = August 28, 2023
| title = Path Minimization
| image = path_minimization_2x.png
| imagesize = 562x559px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Of course you get an ice cream cone for the swimmer too! You're not a monster.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by WAITING AN HOUR BEFORE SWIMMING - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, it appears that Cueball, standing on shore, is observing a swimmer who is possibly (but not obviously) in distress. The comic illustrates five potential paths that can be taken to reach the swimmer, each with a different reason to make them viable, in the manner of demonstrating different optimal strategies that can be chosen.

The first path is an angle away from Cueball, straight to the swimmer, which allows for the minimum possible distance to be traveled, some on land and the remainder in the water.

The second path travels more obliquely from Cueball to the water and then at a sharper angle to the swimmer. This path would take the shortest amount of time, presuming that Cueball would move faster on land (covering more of the distance) and slower through the water (but less distance). The exact angles would depend on how much faster Cueball is on land than in the water.

The third path travels at a far more oblique angle to the water such that the subsequent swimming path is entirely perpendicular to the shoreline, maximizing the amount of time spent on land and thus minimizing the time spent swimming. Depending on one's swimming ability versus running ability, this could be the safest path to take.

The fourth path travels nearly parallel to the beach. In fact moving slightly ''away'' from the swimmer but towards an intermediate goal: an ice cream stand. After that, the path turns and aims straight towards the swimmer, as all the others eventually do (although it is not made clear at this point if Cueball will be eating, or just carrying, an ice cream even whilst swimming).

The fifth and final path, barely visible directly above Cueball, is labeled as the path that ''maximizes'' time. This path, presumably, travels around the entire world, likely stopping for many, ''many'' rest breaks. It should be noted that, by the definition given, it is theoretically possible to stretch the maximum time taken out forever by simply walking away and never returning.

You could also fulfil the criteria of reaching the target in finite, but arbitrarily long, time by following a {{w|random walk}}(+swim) or even follow a {{w|space-filling curve}} carefully chosen to be the maximally finite scenario. Or you could simply choose any path, and stop for an arbitrarily long time, or travel at a speed approaching zero. In the comic, however, a requirement for simplicity of path may dictate the use of the opposing {{w|great-circle distance}}, or a variation with maximum swim-time without ''undue'' time-wasting detours, and assume equal speeds of travel on all routes.

The title text adds the stipulation, to the ice-cream path, that you also carry an ice-cream to the target swimmer to 'justify' that choice of route. But how this squares with the reason to rendezvous with the swimmer, or the manner in which this would further complicate the swimming stage, goes unsaid. But it makes it clear that ''not'' doing this isn't considered socially permissable, whether or not he had stopped to eat an ice-cream of his own beforehand.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Path that minimizes distance [A straight line from beach cueball to ocean cueball, bearing about 135]
:Path that minimizes time [A line from beach cueball to the waterline closer to horizontal, bearing about 120, then angling towards ocean cueball, bearing about 150]
:Path that minimizes swimming [A line from beach cueball to the waterline closest to ocean cueball, bearing about 115, then angling toward ocean cueball, bearing 180]
:Path that minimizes time until you get ice cream [A line from beach cueball to an ice cream stand manned by Ponytail, bearing about 90, then angling toward ocean cueball, bearing about 190]
:Path that maximizes time [A line from beach cueball away from the shore, bearing 0, fading and disappearing at the top of the panel, and reappearing at the bottom of the panel directly below ocean cueball]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

2818: Circuit Symbols

2023-08-25T16:34:12Z

172.70.90.4: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2818
| date = August 21, 2023
| title = Circuit Symbols
| image = circuit_symbols_2x.png
| imagesize = 438x362px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = A circle with an A in it means that the circuit has committed a sin and has been marked as punishment.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOT of trolley problems in between overpasses built on top of pogo sticks, experiencing a couple of earthquakes. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic contains several symbols used in circuit diagrams. Each is labeled with a larger object that the symbol looks like a drawing of, rather than the electrical component it actually represents. Randall has previously depicted distorted uses, depictions, and labelling of the standard US-form {{w|electronic symbol}}s in comics such as [[730: Circuit Diagram]].

{| class="wikitable"
! Symbol !! Randall's Description !! Explanation
|-
| {{w|Switch}}
| {{w|Drawbridge}}
| The symbol represents a physical on/off {{w|switch}} in a circuit, but also resembles a {{w|drawbridge}}. A switch functions the exact same as a drawbridge, impeding electrons' flow when it is open. However, the purpose of a drawbridge is to allow crossing traffic that was impeded when the bridge was lowered, while an electric switch has no concept of crossing current.
|-
| {{w|Capacitor}}
| {{w|Overpass}}
| A {{w|capacitor}} is a component that can be used to hold electric charge, but the symbol for it looks a bit like a map depiction for a highway {{w|overpass}} of a main road passing over a more minor track. This may actually be referred to more as an {{w|Tunnel#Underpass|underpass}}, from the perspective of the lesser route, being not usually as obvious a feature when using the upper highway. Again, a capacitor has no concept of a crossing route.
|-
| {{w|Ground (electricity)|Ground}}
| {{w|Pogo Stick}}
| This symbol represents a connection to "{{w|Ground (electricity)|ground}}" or "earth", the common baseline voltage ''or'' safe current sink for various circuits (e.g. against which an aerial signal can be compared). If the horizontal lines are taken as motion lines or a spring, it might look like a stylised {{w|pogo stick}}.
|-
| {{w|Resistor}} (ANSI)
| {{w|Earthquake}}
| A {{w|resistor}} is a component that reduces current flow in a circuit. There are two main symbols used: an IEC-style 'box' or, like here, the ANSI zig-zagged line. In this case, it also looks somewhat like the marks an earthquake makes on a seismograph and/or the 'rucks' of the ground (especially asphalt roads) that might result from underlying tectonic movements.
|-
| {{w|Inductor}}
| {{w|Sheep}}
| {{w|Inductor}}s create a magnetic field when current passes through them, and generally consist of a coil of wire, which the symbol reflects. The symbol seems in this case to be interpreted like the fluffy wool of a sheep.
|-
| {{w|Transformer}}
| Two sheep in love, trapped on opposite side of a fence.
| A {{w|transformer}} consists of two (or more) induction coils, for input and output(s), and a common core to mediate the transfer of power across the gap. The curly loop symbols of the symbol have already been claimed to resemble sheep, and the straight line (which is the core) now represents a fence separating two sheep who nonetheless wish to be together.
|-
| {{w|Electric battery|Battery}}
| Battery
| Not a joke, this is a typical symbol for a {{w|Electric battery|battery}}, or other form of {{w|voltaic pile}}. It's inclusion here is simply as the set-up for the following joke symbols.
|-
| Battery (sorted)
| Baertty
| Randall may have mapped the characters "tt" to the first short line and "er" to the following long line in the original symbol, having had "ba" and "y" assigned to the long and short "T" shapes that form the connections to the rest of the circuit. Rearranging the symbolic verticals as long-long-short-short, as he has done in this (fictional) symbol, thus puts "er" in front of "tt".
|-
| Battery, with far too many short lines
| Battttttttttttery
| The only other fictional symbol. Which, by the same established naming rules, means that the name is spelled with six "tt"s instead of just the single pair.
|-
| {{w|Photodiode}}
| Check out this really cool diode
| A {{w|photodiode}} generates, or allows to pass, a current in response to light. The symbol is related to the standard {{w|diode}} with the arrows pointing at it representing the light which activates its behaviour. In this case, Randall instead pretends that the arrows are pointing at it to draw attention to it because it's "really cool".
|-
| {{w|Electronic oscillator|Oscillator}}
| {{w|Wave Pool}}
| An {{w|Electronic oscillator|oscillator}} generates signals that oscillate at a given frequencies, for use in other circuitry, and one symbol used for one (in reality, built from a number of components in their own right) is this symbol. Waves in water are a type of oscillation that may be more familiar to most people than waves of electricity. A {{w|wave pool}} is in fact the ''result'' of a type of (mechanical) oscillator, and rarely has electricity running through it.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| {{w|Transistor}}
| Trolley Problem
| A {{w|transistor}} will switch on current flow across one pair of connections, depending upon the input from an input one. Thus, it switches electricity similar to the way that the {{w|trolley problem}} switches a trolley track. The symbol also somewhat resembles the usual pictorial depiction of the problem.
|-
| {{w|Ammeter|A circle with an A}} [In the title text]
| The circuit has committed a sin and has been marked as punishment
| Circles with letters are usually some special components, as also with the oscillator's glyph. In this case the "A" stands for ammeter, a device used to measure {{w|electric current}} (an "{{w|ampere}} meter"). This is conflated with the practice of branding the 'guilty', or requiring them to display their crime for a period of penance. For example, in ''{{w|The Scarlet Letter}}'', a historical novel by {{w|Nathaniel Hawthorne}}, the protagonist must wear an ''A'' to mark her as an adulteress.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A chart of various circuit symbols and their (mostly) fictitious meanings based off of their drawings, captioned:] Circuit Symbols
:[Symbol for a switch, labelled:] Drawbridge
:[Symbol for a capacitor, labelled:] Overpass
:[Symbol for a connection to ground, labelled:] Pogo Stick
:[Symbol for a resistor, labelled:] Earthquake
:[Symbol for an inductor, labelled:] Sheep
:[Symbol for a transformer, labelled:] Two Sheep in Love, Trapped on Opposite Sides of a Fence
:[Symbol for a battery, labelled:] Battery
:[Symbol for a battery, sorted, labelled:] Baertty
:[Symbol for a battery, with far too many short lines, labelled:] Battttttttttttery
:[Symbol for a photodiode, labelled:] Check Out This Really Cool Diode
:[Symbol for an oscillator, labelled:] Wave Pool
:[Symbol for a transistor, labelled:] Trolley Problem

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Animals]]