explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2984: Asteroid News

2024-09-16T11:51:21Z

172.70.91.76:

Not sure!! Maybe it is "2016 AJ193" Found this news https://www.news18.com/news/buzz/nasa-detects-the-1000th-near-earth-asteroid-within-colliding-distance-4171781.html , but I can't find a NASA comment or any reputable source.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.189|172.68.23.189]] 00:10, 12 September 2024 (UTC) WaywardMinstrel

The "DEFINATLY" in the explanation header is intentional, a reference to [[2871]] [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 00:52, 12 September 2024 (UTC)

'''Which asteroid is it?''' The explanation currently points towards the 2024 MK asteroid, which might be the most likely contender in that it is recently discovered and had the potential to do something interesting, but the 2063 line makes me hesitant to declare that it is a comic about that asteroid. Feel free to revert my changes if you have evidence pointing specifically to the 2024 asteroid or a theory explaining the 2063 reference (could 2024 MK return to earth in 39 years??). I haven't been able to find much information on this yet. Another possibility is that it is about a fictional asteroid, inspired by this year's discovery. [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 02:55, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
:Likely to be one of the recently-removed objects on the Sentry list: https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/sentry/removed.html Hard to tell though as Sentry doesn't display impact probabilities for removed objects. You'd need some kind of archive of Sentry from a week ago. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.124.147|172.71.124.147]] 05:07, 12 September 2024 (UTC)

Is there a category for comics involving boredom? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.100|172.70.211.100]] 03:52, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
* [[13: Canyon]]
* [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]]
* [[52: Secret Worlds]]
* [[402: 1,000 Miles North]]
* [[731: Desert Island]]
* [[877: Beauty]]
* [[895: Teaching Physics]] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.9|172.68.22.9]] 04:05, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
:I do not think this is relevant. This is not even about boredom, just mentioning that an event is boring. Also some of those comics mentioned here are not really about boredom, and given that there are several, it is not special in this comic. And I really do not think we need another boring category ;-) Have removed from explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:45, 12 September 2024 (UTC)

Cmon hit the IOF lil asteroid [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.64|172.70.90.64]] 07:00, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
:Not even close. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.241|172.70.206.241]] 07:08, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
::we just gotta believe :) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.183|172.69.79.183]] 07:30, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
:::I tots believe in you <3 [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.8|172.68.22.8]] 07:33, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
::::thanks ig [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.253|172.70.91.253]] 07:42, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
:::::Let's make out. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.145|172.71.147.145]] 07:50, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
::::::Muah! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.207.96|172.70.207.96]] 08:22, 12 September 2024 (UTC)

I don't think it's right to attribute the opinions of the comic to Blondie. Everything she says is quotes from the astronomers- even "so what's the point" is in quotation marks. --[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 09:35, 12 September 2024 (UTC)
:I completely disagree. This is Blondies interpretation of what she is talking about. It is in her line of though that it is exiting and boring. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:40, 12 September 2024 (UTC)

I think the title text is probably referring to [[1291:_Shoot_for_the_Moon]]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.42.82|162.158.42.82]] 14:58, 12 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2977: Three Kinds of Research

2024-09-16T11:03:01Z

172.70.91.76: Signed, having forgotten just now.

Aren't there two missing ones: standard model+standard circumstances (i.e. remembering you have to have something to turn in and it's the night before the science fair) and novel theory+novel circumstances (i.e. what if the universe is actually a seven dimensional tuna salad sandwich?) [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 04:25, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
:ah, but that isn't ''professional'' research. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 06:20, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
::I shall add this to the list: miLcaqq2Zpk {{unsigned ip|162.158.197.157|14:56, 27 August 2024}} (whatever the reason/need was to say this)
::Standard model+standard circumstances, in moderation, is an essential part of science. Repeating an experiment a few times helps show what the real results are. If anything, there tends to be an unfortunate bias to not repeating experiments enough (harder to get them funded/published than it should be). It becomes a standard model and standard circumstances by repetition. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.209|172.70.206.209]] 07:15, 28 August 2024 (UTC)

I originally thought that Hairy was mapping every tree as in like a binary tree, and was covered in plants for some other, possibly related reason. Also, what's this about <blah>? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.50|172.69.22.50]] 20:38, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
:Knowing Randall, this ''was'' a mathematical investigation, but Hairy got a little more "into the (initially mathematical) trees" than intended. Might be worth expanding on this, but it's (intentionally, thus humorously) vague so it could have a lot of different thoughts attached to it.
:As to the other bit:
:*Someone wrote a non sequitur trolling on that subject you mentioned, even though the comic has absolutely nothing to do with it (and the comments weren't exactly a notably intellectual analysis, anyway, even if it had been). Others fed the troll a bit, there was some editing done and then a resurgence (just as poorly done) that you got to see but had left of most of the early 'context' absent.
:*It's all readable in the page history. Not worth reading, IMO, but it's there. But now not ''here''. Bye bye the whole (limited) discussion as a non-executive decision on my part.
:*I would not normally delete/edit others' comments from Talk (especially of regulars), but definitely more smoke than fire and more heat than light so no loss. If established users wish to create a subsection for it, and paste it all back in, they're welcome to and can easily do so. Until then, any other anon-IP or recently created username that starts up with another clear and irrelevent trolling should probably consider themselves fair game to be deleted again (and perhaps by actual named editors/admin), plus any purely troll-feeding replies that had only that relevence.
:HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.90|172.70.91.90]] 23:59, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

Mapping individual trees is an actual thing, and how to do that is a field of research. I had a quick look and saw that it has come a long way since I gave up studying Forestry to become a teacher instead: [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303243420301665 Mapping individual trees with airborne laser scanning data...] [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-023-02000-w Individual structure mapping over six million trees for NYC] [https://woodsapp.com/en/how-to-document-habitat-trees-with-woodsapp/ app for GPS-mapping so-called "habitat trees" that provide ecological niches and thus get special protection to promote biodiversity] Germany seems to be much bigger on this than other countries; anyway I can well remember how this kind of thing was a typical interns' task in my day and obviously [https://www.ls.tum.de/fileadmin/w00bww/ls/download/jobs/240325_praktikum-arboreo.pdf still is]. It's fairly reasonable to assume, though, that this may not have been exactly on top of Randall's mind. [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 08:05, 29 August 2024 (UTC)
:Come to think of it, Hairy doesn't specify a particular area or type of tree, so he may have got carried away after all. [[User:PaulEberhardt|PaulEberhardt]] ([[User talk:PaulEberhardt|talk]]) 08:11, 29 August 2024 (UTC)

What if we apply a novel theory to novel circumstances? ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.83|172.69.71.83]] 18:55, 29 August 2024 (UTC)

The state of California did actually map every tree in the state: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/heres-map-all-trees-california-180955708/

I previously added a paragraph about Hairy's gender which then got removed because it was bloated by further edits. (At least, I hope that was the reason.) I've reintroduced a more concise explanation that should stand the test of time as it is both interesting and important IMHO. Please note that I have deliberately not used the term 'non-binary' as this is not a catch-all term for any gender-diverse individual. I like the term 'gender-expansive' but not everyone knows what that means. :-)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.254|172.70.91.254]] 18:34, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
:Trouble is, the absolutely most likely explanation is that it was a their-plural. Then that it's their-indetermined (by the speaker). The their-otherness (self-proclaimed alternate-gender) option is a valid but still exceptional reason, in comparison. If in doubt about ''which'' decision was made, ''we'' could fall back to number two (if we're aware enough about sensitivity), but only because we're not yet entrusted with the original reason, not knowing about ''their'' knowledge (or otherwise), and attitude, of Hairy's particular scenario. Until someone says "my pronouns are...", you could just as much annoy them by hypercorrecting the common assumptions. (There are certain types I wouldn't mind annoying, because one needn't tolerate intolerance, but there's not just that to consider.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.100|172.70.91.100]] 22:15, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
::I disagree. Given the scale of the endeavour as demonstrated by how dishevelled Hairy looks, it seems to me that the idea is that Hairy made that map *alone*. I guess it's possible that the title text is referring to multiple people, but I never interpreted it like that. The map being a solo project also fits with the comedy of the comic.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.123|172.70.90.123]] 23:55, 15 September 2024 (UTC)
:::Hairy might just be the only (or first) one that got back from the woods with the results, or the ''most'' presentable and/or effusively capable for the task of public speaking. I doubt the other two were sole-authors, either, of their own publications (assumed not an actual doctoral 'viva', which would be more personal and individual) and a double-act (or group) presentation team isn't generally the norm unless you're going for actual theatrics in announcing your (entertaining) results to the world. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.76|172.70.91.76]] 11:03, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2977: Three Kinds of Research

2024-09-16T11:02:14Z

172.70.91.76:

Talk:2983: Monocaster

2024-09-10T09:08:19Z

172.70.91.76:

Unicycles aren't (or at least aren't usually) chain-driven. I might try to fix that if my phone stops being so slow that it feels like I'm using a 90s PC to do this. Maybe a restart will help. Rebooting in 10, 9, 8... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.76|172.70.91.76]] 07:46, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:I just went in and Actual Citation Needed it (seeing lower comment, when editor reloaded this page for me, forcing me to rewrite, that may have changed now).
:*It doesn't look like a chain-drive. Could be hub-geared, but not the same thing.
:*Chain-drive to raise the rider (most of the mass) up higher will ''raise'' the CoG.
:*'Underslung' chain-drive (see 1880s example, [[1673: Timeline of Bicycle Design|here]]?) has problems. Pedals hitting the ground would be one of them, unless your wheel was indeed significantly larger...
:*...and if it is (perhaps for better off-roading?), this intrinsically pushes up the CoG. Perhaps you are trying to lower it slightly, again, then. But you can't bring the saddle (and crotch!) lower than the now higher top of the wheel. ("Timeline of Bicycles" version excepted, assumed assymetric? In [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-4b7d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 some manner]?)
:Add to that a few niggles about the bicycle. Not sure if intended to be a Moulton-style one (wheels maybe the classic 17", frame totally wrong) or a roadbike-style-ish one (frame relatively Ok, as drawn by someone not fully adhering to the design, maybe confused by some MTB variations, but clearly not in the ~27" wheel range, give or take). Of course, wheels are neither concentric nor circular, so depends a bit on which bits of the 'circles' are right for the intended arc and which bits ended up more casually doodled. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.99|172.70.91.99]] 08:51, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Hmm, Randall missed an opportunity to put a Penny-Farthing in there... though I'm not sure how that would have categorised given that it has two wheels of different sizes. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 08:19, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:He has a "Big Wheel Trike" (child's low-rider style thing) in there. On the logarithmic scale, and imprecise reference point (bottom/middle(/CoG,where different)/top of wheel/vehicle/rider/whole?), both the big front wheel and the small trailing wheels colpd be in the right place-ish, although having it slightly inclined could put them in the (place Tandall considers to be) ''exactly'' right place. ((Note also where the 10(?)-wheeler truck-and-trailer is placed horizontally vs the possibly relevent "number of wheels".))
:You could do something similar with the Old Ordinary (i.e. "Penny-Farthing"), either make it roughly right or depict going up a ''marginally'' steeper hill. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.142|172.69.194.142]] 09:04, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Re: unicycles, the COG thing doesn't look right either, but I was distracted by a (thankfully) now-deleted troll comment before and actually fixing the description is beyond my skills, especially on so little sleep.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.184|172.69.43.184]] 08:35, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2983: Monocaster

2024-09-10T09:07:51Z

172.70.91.76:

Unicycles aren't (or at least aren't usually) chain-driven. I might try to fix that if my phone stops being so slow that it feels like I'm using a 90s PC to do this. Maybe a restart will help. Rebooting in 10, 9, 8... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.76|172.70.91.76]] 07:46, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:I just went in and Actual Citation Needed it (seeing lower comment, when editor reloaded this page for me, forcing me to rewrite, that may have changed now).
:*It doesn't look like a chain-drive. Could be hub-geared, but not the same thing.
:*Chain-drive to raise the rider (most of the mass) up higher will ''raise'' the CoG.
:*'Underslung' chain-drive (see 1880s example, [[1673: Timeline of Bicycle Design|here]]?) has problems. Pedals hitting the ground would be one of them, unless your wheel was indeed significantly larger...
:*...and if it is (perhaps for better off-roading?), this intrinsically pushes up the CoG. Perhaps you are trying to lower it slightly, again, then. But you can't bring the saddle (and crotch!) lower than the now higher top of the wheel. ("Timeline of Bicycles" version excepted, assumed assymetric? In [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-4b7d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 some manner]?)
:Add to that a few niggles about the bicycle. Not sure if intended to be a Moulton-style one (wheels maybe the classic 17", frame totally wrong) or a roadbike-style-ish one (frame relatively Ok, as drawn by someone not fully adhering to the design, maybe confused by some MTB variations, but clearly not in the ~27" wheel range, give or take). Of course, wheels are neither concentric nor circular, so depends a bit on which bits of the 'circles' are right for the intended arc and which bits ended up more casually doodled. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.99|172.70.91.99]] 08:51, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Hmm, Randall missed an opportunity to put a Penny-Farthing in there... though I'm not sure how that would have categorised given that it has two wheels of different sizes. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.178|172.68.205.178]] 08:19, 10 September 2024 (UTC)
:He has a "Big Wheel Trike" (child's low-rider style thing) in there. On the logarithmic scale, and imprecise reference point (bottom/middle(/CoG,where different)/top of wheel/vehicle/rider/whole?), both the big front wheel and the small trailing wheels colpd be in the right place-ish, although having it slightly inclined could put them in the (place Tandall considers to be) ''exactly'' right place. ((Note also where the 10(?)-wheeler truck-and-trailer is placed horizontally vs the possibly relevent "number of wheels".))
:You could do something similar with the Old Ordinary (i.e. "Penny-Farthing"), either make it roughly right or depict going up a ''marvinally'' steeper hill. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.142|172.69.194.142]] 09:04, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Re: unicycles, the COG thing doesn't look right either, but I was distracted by a (thankfully) now-deleted troll comment before and actually fixing the description is beyond my skills, especially on so little sleep.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.184|172.69.43.184]] 08:35, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2983: Monocaster

2024-09-10T07:46:20Z

172.70.91.76:

obligatory pro-palestine comment that is ultimately for a good cause but doesn't have much to do with the comic in question aside from the fact that randll s a dumb stupid zionist --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.213|172.69.43.213]] 07:22, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

Ummmmmm... WHAT? In what way, besides not demanding the destruction of Israel, is Randall a Zionist? The loosest possible definition of Zionism might include that, but that's usually not what people mean when they criticize it. More on-topic, unicycles aren't (or at least aren't usually) chain-driven. I might try to fix that if my phone stops being so slow that it feels like I'm using a 90s PC to do this. Maybe a restart will help. Rebooting in 10, 9, 8... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.76|172.70.91.76]] 07:46, 10 September 2024 (UTC)

2725: Sunspot Cycle

2023-01-17T16:04:02Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */ redo edit-conflicts I didn't see I'd squashed.

{{comic
| number = 2725
| date = January 16, 2023
| title = Sunspot Cycle
| image = sunspot_cycle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x503px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Who can forget the early 2010s memes? 'You know you're a 90s kid if you remember the feeling of warm sunlight on your face.' 'Only 90s kids remember the dawn.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NINETIES KID WHO FELT SUN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a reference to the {{w|solar cycle}}, which is a roughly 11-year cycle of changes in the Sun's activity from a period of minimal levels of various related phenomena ({{w|sunspots}}, solar radiation, ejecta, and solar flares) to one of maximum activity in these areas. As the cycle continues, the Sun returns to minimal activity and starts over. Without actually studying the Sun, however, there is no discernable difference to our daily lives here on Earth, and studying the Sun in enough detail is difficult due to its intrinsic and eye-damaging brightness whenever viewed directly.

This comics makes a joke that when the absolute number of sunspots appears to decrease it is not because they disappear, but because they get so crowded that they begin to merge, and thus the number of individual spots decreases whereas the area of the sun covered by sunspots continues to increase to near total 'darkness'. This causes there to be a completely dark Sun after 11 years, at which point any new sunspots are ''bright'' patches, and the next 11-year cycle repeats the process but accumulating bright spots until eventually it is all bright once more, giving a total bright/dark cycle of 22 years.

The curve showing the number of differentiable sunspots in this 22-year cycle would follow the curves for two whole cycles of our normal Sun, as the number of distinct spots (of either kind) decreases down to practically just one Sun-enveloping spot. The change in brightness over the cycle, however, repeats only over the full 22 years, darkening and then being made to shine bright once more as the other type of spot appears and begins to dominate once more.

Below is a graph showing the number of sunspots as a function of time from around 1965 to 2025. Periods where the sun is dark are shown with black under the curve, and in transition periods with lines of darkness getting closer together on the way to 'fully' dark area plus vals of light reinserting themselves in the lightening part of the cycle. Also for clarity the troughs are labeled with the sun being bright or dark. It is always when there are few spots that the sun is either completely free from spots and thus bright, or completely covered and thus dark. The maxima are always during the height of the transition between the two extremes, with a wide swathe of the time around the minima being mostly light or mostly dark, alternating at around a decade of each predominating.

At times, this closely synchronises with the calendar decades. From this curve it can be seen that the Sun was bright across the 1990s, but not in the dark 1980s or the dark time from around 2001 to 2014. This fact is mentioned in the title text (see below). Similarly the 1970s were mostly bright, after the largely dark 1960s, the width of the transition periods covering the marked decade-defining years in slightly offset ways compared to the neighbouring ones. After the darkness began around 2000, the shift was such that it finally got bright again around 2014, with darkness returning around 2024. This is because of the sunspot cycles are 11 years (making the illumination cycle 22 years) and eventually it no longer credibly meshes with the arbitrary decadal cut-offs.

All this would obviously be catastrophic if it happened in our version of the universe, as during a dark phase unsufficient light would be coming from the Sun, and the Earth could freeze if all the energy from the Sun was reduced. If the spots only affect light in the visible spectrum, then Earth would not freeze but plants would have trouble with photosynthesis and other natural processes would be interrupted. In our universe sunspots cool the area of the Sun where they appear, relative to the rest of the surface (50-75% of the nearly 6000K 'norm'), but they are far from being actually dark; [https://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/workbook/sunspot.html NASA says] that each sunspot on its own would glow orange, brighter than the Moon is when it is full (with a typically bright Sun illuminating it). So even in a completely sunspot-covered Sun, the Sun would still be brighter than the Moon ought to be. It would be possible to see it (and see by it) even if the heat delivered were very low and even at noon it would seemn to be {{wiktionary|crepuscular}} by our normal expectations. See more in the title text explanation.

These problems are obviously not a serious threat in the reality of the comic, as the Sun is truly dark and yet people and natural systems have long survived these dark periods and adapted accordingly. This becomes clear in the title text where internet memes indicate that people lived fine through the dark periods, although they obviously did not 'properly' see the Sun, as kids, if they were born during the early start of a 'dark decade'.

The title text indicates the effect on internet memes that the special solar cycle has had. During the 2010s in our universe there were many '90s kid' memes. Those were also popular in this universe, but they reflect that the Earth had at that time been dark since the 2000s, and thus only those born in the 90s and before would remember dawn or the feeling of the warm sun on their faces.

This of course indicates that the Sun is actually dark and gives no warmth. Thus it is a mystery how life on Earth prevails, but given that there were kids from the 1990s that made memes twenty years after, life does work in this strange alternate universe.

==Transcript==
:[This comics shows two graphs, one also with several images of the Sun in different times in the solar cycle. The top graph is much larger than the bottom graph, and above them is a explanation of what the graphs shows:]
:Ever wonder why the sun disappears for about 10 years every other decade? This terrifying period of worldwide darkness is a natural consequence of the 11-year sunspot cycle:

:[A graph is shown with a label above the arrow on the Y-axis and a label written above the left part of the X-axis with an arrow pointing from it to the right (there is not arrow on the X-axis line). The graph shows a sine curve with a dashed line. It starts close to the bottom and then increases, then decreases before i finally slightly increases again. Above the dashed line are eight circles representing the sun with various levels of sunspots, with an arrow between each circle pointing to the next to the right. All circles are just above the dashed curve and the small arrows between them also follow the curvature of the line, so this string makes the same shape as the curve. along the eight representation of the sun there are five labels. The eight Suns will be described below with labels given when relevant.]
:Y-Axis: Sunspot number
:Y-Axis: Time

:[The first Sun's circle is completely white]

:[The second Sun's circle has a few sunspots. A label is written to the left of it:]
:Dark sunspots appear

:[The third Sun's circle has several sunspots. A label is written to the left of it:]
:Sunspot number rises

:[The fourth Sun's circle is half covered in sunspots.]

:[The fifth Sun's circle is mostly black with a few lines of white dots. Between the fourth and fifth circle is a label:]
:Number falls as sunspots merge.

:[The sixth Sun's circle is almost completely black with just a few small white spots. A label is written above it:]
:Sunspots envelop sun, Earth enters years of darkness.

:[The seventh Sun's circle is mostly black with a few light areas.]

:[The eighth Sun's circle is still mostly black but with some larger white areas. A label is written above and left of it:]
:Bright sunspots appear, cycle reverses.

:[Below is a second graph with a label written near the top of the Y-axis which is otherwise not labeled. The X-axis also has no label, but six years are written beneath at equal intervals. The graph shows a similar sine curve as the one above, but with almost five cycles shown. Also each cycle is not close to being a perfect sine curve, but has the property with a peak followed by a trough. The five troughs are labeled. The area beneath the curve alternates from being black and white when there is a trough, with the peak in between having several vertical lines, indicating transfer from black to white and vise versa. There are not same distance between peaks and there are also features on the graphs, for instance the two peaks in the middle has a drop, so they look like volcanoes. And the last full peak has a clear outlier year with many sunspots.]
:Label: History:
:X-axis labels: 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
:Through 1970-1980: Sun is bright
:Through 1980-1990: Sun is dark
:Through 1990-2000: Sun is bright
:Through 2000-2010: Sun is dark
:Through 2010-2020: Sun is bright

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Internet]]

2724: Washing Machine Settings

2023-01-16T09:44:55Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2724
| date = January 13, 2023
| title = Washing Machine Settings
| image = washing_machine_settings_2x.png
| imagesize = 308x524px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I guess the engineers who built my dishwasher MIGHT have some insight into how to load it, but instead of reading the booklet they gave me, it seems easier to experiment for years and then get in arguments so heated that I get banned from Quora.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a GUY ON QUORA TYPING RTF(WM)M - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The comic strip depicts Cueball (possibly [[Randall]]) standing in front of a washing machine, wondering which settings starts to use for his particular wash. He starts guessing which settings would do what from the perspective of an engineer, planning to look up detailed information on what the settings do and when to use them. However, he doesn't realize that all the information he is looking for should be found by looking at his product manual. Most of the time, people don't spend time on viewing product manuals and instead just use whatever settings seem best to them, obviously not going into the depth of thought Cueball has fallen into.

This comic may allude to the fact that product manuals are easy to lose, at which point the person having questions about the product is obliged to find other ways to find out how to use the product.

Settings on appliances with dials or radio-button selectors are often contradictory and arbitrary. In this case Cueball likely is trying to wash something that is both "delicate" and has "colors", but is forced to choose between them, even though there would ideally be a washer setting that includes both. Due to the vagaries of the terminology employed by the interface design team, the "(Light)" ''may'' indicate that the treatment is actually gentle, for this colors-specific setting; but it might just as easily be specifying suitability for either brighter ''or'' more pastel hues, in some manner, or even be there to take over the function of the "half load" control for the quicker and less resource-intensive cycle.

The title text proposes deliberately ignoring the manual for a dishwasher and continuing to use the internet and other people for information on household devices. It references [http://quora.com Quora], a website which allows users to publicly ask questions and answer the questions of others. This website is not typically known for its debates, although the situation in this comic could probably lead to one - when someone who doesn't really understand the subject provides an answer, it could lead to a lengthy and unnecessary argument as multiple parties, at least one of them being incorrect, continue to stand their ground rather than be persuaded. Although Quora moderation is notably inconsistent, being inflammatory (as people tend to be in debates that progress too long) could lead to one's account being reported and banned, like on a typical social network or forum.

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

:[Cueball is standing in front of a large combination washing machine/dryer, holding a coat, wondering.]
:Cueball: Okay, do I want "Colors (light)" or "Delicate"? Does delicate mean less agitation? Or a slower spin?
:Cueball: I should Google, I bet clothing experts have experimented with various settings/clothing combos.
:Cueball: Ooh, someone should make a tool that indexes people's results by washer model, so you can look up what settings to use for a given...

:[Caption below the panel]:
: Every now and then I forget that product manuals exist and spend a while reinventing them.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

2721: Euler Diagrams

2023-01-08T19:26:51Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */ How did that happen? Had to resubmit the prior update after a server error, so..?

{{comic
| number = 2721
| date = January 6, 2023
| title = Euler Diagrams
| image = euler_diagrams_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Things Leonhard Euler created ( most of math ( overlapping circle diagrams ) a cricket bowling machine ) Things John Venn created
}}

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

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is showing a diagram titled "{{w|Venn diagram}}" he made about something to an unseen audience. An off-screen person informs Cueball that it is an {{W|Euler diagram}}, and starts to explain why, prompting Cueball to forestall the interruption and state that {{w|List of things named after Leonhard Euler|many things}} are named for {{w|Leonhard Euler}} (specifically {{w|Euler's constant}} and {{w|Euler's function}}) and he just wants to call the diagram a Venn diagram to give {{w|John Venn}} a more equal share of the fame. His off-screen friend refuses, and mockingly states that numbers are now called "Euler letters".

A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between sets. It shows overlap of items in different categories (sets) by using overlapping circles (or other shapes) to stand in for categories. If an item is within a certain circle, it is in the category the circle represents. So in a Venn diagram of "animals" and "fuzzy things", "cat" would be in the overlap between both circles, "frog" would be inside only "animals", and "kiwifruit" would only be in "fuzzy things". "Crystals" would be outside both
circles.

{{w|John Venn}} was not the first to invent the idea of drawing regions whose overlap shows the intersection of sets -- that was popularized by Euler (although he may not have been the first to do it) and was known as {{w|Euler Diagram}}s. Venn's innovation, roughly 100 years later, was to consistently draw ALL intersections of sets, even those intersections that had no members. In a Venn diagram, all 'circles' must overlap with all other circles, even if there are no items in the overlap. This is easy enough for 2 and 3 sets, but as the number of sets increases, the diagrams can get [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22159-logic-blooms-with-new-11-set-venn-diagram/ rather complicated]. [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wiki/tctianchi/pyvenn/venn6.png This] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Supranational_European_Bodies the relationships between the European countries] is another example. The sets can start looking very non-circular. An Euler diagram is required to depict only the non-empty combinations/sets, and therefore does not have this constraint. The diagram in the comic does not have any overlap between the left and right sections so, while it is an Euler diagram, it is not a Venn diagram.

[[File:Euler Diagrams title text.png|300px|thumb|right|The title text as a Venn (and, simultaneously, an Euler) diagram]]
The title text is an example of a "written" Venn diagram, with Leonhard Euler creating "most of math", John Venn creating a {{w|cricket}} bowling machine, and both of them having created overlapping circle diagrams.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} 
:[Cueball is standing in front of a whiteboard, evidently giving a talk. The title "Venn Diagram of" is visible, along with three partially overlapping circles and various illegible text.]
:Offscreen voice: Actually, that's an ''Euler'' diagram, because-
:Cueball (palms upraised pleadingly): Come '''''onnnn.'''''
:Cueball: '''''Everything''''' is named after Euler. Euler's constant, Euler's function.
:Cueball: Can't we let John Venn have this?
:Offscreen voice: No.
:Offscreen voice: Also, numbers are now "Euler letters."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Euler diagrams]]
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]
[[Category:Sport]]

2721: Euler Diagrams

2023-01-08T19:25:21Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */ Seemed missing.

{{comic
| number = 2721
| date = January 6, 2023
| title = Euler Diagrams
| image = euler_diagrams_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Things Leonhard Euler created ( most of math ( overlapping circle diagrams ) a cricket bowling machine ) Things John Venn created
}}

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

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is showing a diagram titled "{{w|Venn diagram}}" he made about something to an unseen audience. An off-screen person informs Cueball that it is an {{W|Euler diagram}}, and starts to explain why, prompting Cueball to forestall the interruption and state that {{w|List of things named after Leonhard Euler|many things}} are named for {{w|Leonhard Euler}} (specifically {{w|Euler's constant}} and {{w|Euler's function}}) and e hjust wants to call the diagram a Venn diagram to give {{w|John Venn}} a more equal share of the fame. His off-screen friend refuses, and mockingly states that numbers are now called "Euler letters".

A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between sets. It shows overlap of items in different categories (sets) by using overlapping circles (or other shapes) to stand in for categories. If an item is within a certain circle, it is in the category the circle represents. So in a Venn diagram of "animals" and "fuzzy things", "cat" would be in the overlap between both circles, "frog" would be inside only "animals", and "kiwifruit" would only be in "fuzzy things". "Crystals" would be outside both
circles.

{{w|John Venn}} was not the first to invent the idea of drawing regions whose overlap shows the intersection of sets -- that was popularized by Euler (although he may not have been the first to do it) and was known as {{w|Euler Diagram}}s. Venn's innovation, roughly 100 years later, was to consistently draw ALL intersections of sets, even those intersections that had no members. In a Venn diagram, all 'circles' must overlap with all other circles, even if there are no items in the overlap. This is easy enough for 2 and 3 sets, but as the number of sets increases, the diagrams can get [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22159-logic-blooms-with-new-11-set-venn-diagram/ rather complicated]. [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wiki/tctianchi/pyvenn/venn6.png This] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Supranational_European_Bodies the relationships between the European countries] is another example. The sets can start looking very non-circular. An Euler diagram is required to depict only the non-empty combinations/sets, and therefore does not have this constraint. The diagram in the comic does not have any overlap between the left and right sections so, while it is an Euler diagram, it is not a Venn diagram.

[[File:Euler Diagrams title text.png|300px|thumb|right|The title text as a Venn (and, simultaneously, an Euler) diagram]]
The title text is an example of a "written" Venn diagram, with Leonhard Euler creating "most of math", John Venn creating a {{w|cricket}} bowling machine, and both of them having created overlapping circle diagrams.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} 
:[Cueball is standing in front of a whiteboard, evidently giving a talk. The title "Venn Diagram of" is visible, along with three partially overlapping circles and various illegible text.]
:Offscreen voice: Actually, that's an ''Euler'' diagram, because-
:Cueball (palms upraised pleadingly): Come '''''onnnn.'''''
:Cueball: '''''Everything''''' is named after Euler. Euler's constant, Euler's function.
:Cueball: Can't we let John Venn have this?
:Offscreen voice: No.
:Offscreen voice: Also, numbers are now "Euler letters."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Euler diagrams]]
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]
[[Category:Sport]]

2721: Euler Diagrams

2023-01-08T19:23:50Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */ We don't know who he is presenting to. Probably more than just The Voice, alone.

{{comic
| number = 2721
| date = January 6, 2023
| title = Euler Diagrams
| image = euler_diagrams_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Things Leonhard Euler created ( most of math ( overlapping circle diagrams ) a cricket bowling machine ) Things John Venn created
}}

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

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is showing a diagram titled "{{w|Venn diagram}}" he made about something to an unseen audience. An off-screen person informs Cueball that it is an {{W|Euler diagram}}, and starts to explain why, prompting Cueball to forestall the interruption and state that {{w|List of things named after Leonhard Euler|many things}} are named for {{w|Leonhard Euler}} (specifically {{w|Euler's constant}} and {{w|Euler's function}}) and just wants to call the diagram a Venn diagram to give {{w|John Venn}} a more equal share of the fame. His off-screen friend refuses, and mockingly states that numbers are now called "Euler letters".

A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between sets. It shows overlap of items in different categories (sets) by using overlapping circles (or other shapes) to stand in for categories. If an item is within a certain circle, it is in the category the circle represents. So in a Venn diagram of "animals" and "fuzzy things", "cat" would be in the overlap between both circles, "frog" would be inside only "animals", and "kiwifruit" would only be in "fuzzy things". "Crystals" would be outside both
circles.

{{w|John Venn}} was not the first to invent the idea of drawing regions whose overlap shows the intersection of sets -- that was popularized by Euler (although he may not have been the first to do it) and was known as {{w|Euler Diagram}}s. Venn's innovation, roughly 100 years later, was to consistently draw ALL intersections of sets, even those intersections that had no members. In a Venn diagram, all 'circles' must overlap with all other circles, even if there are no items in the overlap. This is easy enough for 2 and 3 sets, but as the number of sets increases, the diagrams can get [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22159-logic-blooms-with-new-11-set-venn-diagram/ rather complicated]. [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wiki/tctianchi/pyvenn/venn6.png This] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Supranational_European_Bodies the relationships between the European countries] is another example. The sets can start looking very non-circular. An Euler diagram is required to depict only the non-empty combinations/sets, and therefore does not have this constraint. The diagram in the comic does not have any overlap between the left and right sections so, while it is an Euler diagram, it is not a Venn diagram.

[[File:Euler Diagrams title text.png|300px|thumb|right|The title text as a Venn (and, simultaneously, an Euler) diagram]]
The title text is an example of a "written" Venn diagram, with Leonhard Euler creating "most of math", John Venn creating a {{w|cricket}} bowling machine, and both of them having created overlapping circle diagrams.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} 
:[Cueball is standing in front of a whiteboard, evidently giving a talk. The title "Venn Diagram of" is visible, along with three partially overlapping circles and various illegible text.]
:Offscreen voice: Actually, that's an ''Euler'' diagram, because-
:Cueball (palms upraised pleadingly): Come '''''onnnn.'''''
:Cueball: '''''Everything''''' is named after Euler. Euler's constant, Euler's function.
:Cueball: Can't we let John Venn have this?
:Offscreen voice: No.
:Offscreen voice: Also, numbers are now "Euler letters."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Euler diagrams]]
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]
[[Category:Sport]]

2721: Euler Diagrams

2023-01-08T19:16:51Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */ Typo. And convey his need to make his strong feelings known.

{{comic
| number = 2721
| date = January 6, 2023
| title = Euler Diagrams
| image = euler_diagrams_2x.png
| imagesize = 370x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Things Leonhard Euler created ( most of math ( overlapping circle diagrams ) a cricket bowling machine ) Things John Venn created
}}

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

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is showing an off-screen person a diagram titled "{{w|Venn diagram}}" he made about something. The off-screen person informs Cueball that it is an {{W|Euler diagram}}, and starts to explain why, prompting Cueball to forestall the interruption and state that {{w|List of things named after Leonhard Euler|many things}} are named for {{w|Leonhard Euler}} (specifically {{w|Euler's constant}} and {{w|Euler's function}}) and just wants to call the diagram a Venn diagram to give {{w|John Venn}} a more equal share of the fame. His off-screen friend refuses, and mockingly states that numbers are now called "Euler letters".

A Venn diagram is a widely used diagram style that shows the logical relation between sets. It shows overlap of items in different categories (sets) by using overlapping circles (or other shapes) to stand in for categories. If an item is within a certain circle, it is in the category the circle represents. So in a Venn diagram of "animals" and "fuzzy things", "cat" would be in the overlap between both circles, "frog" would be inside only "animals", and "kiwifruit" would only be in "fuzzy things". "Crystals" would be outside both
circles.

{{w|John Venn}} was not the first to invent the idea of drawing regions whose overlap shows the intersection of sets -- that was popularized by Euler (although he may not have been the first to do it) and was known as {{w|Euler Diagram}}s. Venn's innovation, roughly 100 years later, was to consistently draw ALL intersections of sets, even those intersections that had no members. In a Venn diagram, all 'circles' must overlap with all other circles, even if there are no items in the overlap. This is easy enough for 2 and 3 sets, but as the number of sets increases, the diagrams can get [https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22159-logic-blooms-with-new-11-set-venn-diagram/ rather complicated]. [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wiki/tctianchi/pyvenn/venn6.png This] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Supranational_European_Bodies the relationships between the European countries] is another example. The sets can start looking very non-circular. An Euler diagram is required to depict only the non-empty combinations/sets, and therefore does not have this constraint. The diagram in the comic does not have any overlap between the left and right sections so, while it is an Euler diagram, it is not a Venn diagram.

[[File:Euler Diagrams title text.png|300px|thumb|right|The title text as a Venn (and, simultaneously, an Euler) diagram]]
The title text is an example of a "written" Venn diagram, with Leonhard Euler creating "most of math", John Venn creating a {{w|cricket}} bowling machine, and both of them having created overlapping circle diagrams.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} 
:[Cueball is standing in front of a whiteboard, evidently giving a talk. The title "Venn Diagram of" is visible, along with three partially overlapping circles and various illegible text.]
:Offscreen voice: Actually, that's an ''Euler'' diagram, because-
:Cueball (palms upraised pleadingly): Come '''''onnnn.'''''
:Cueball: '''''Everything''''' is named after Euler. Euler's constant, Euler's function.
:Cueball: Can't we let John Venn have this?
:Offscreen voice: No.
:Offscreen voice: Also, numbers are now "Euler letters."

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Euler diagrams]]
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]
[[Category:Sport]]

Talk:2720: Biology vs Robotics

2023-01-05T16:04:14Z

172.70.91.76: ...phrasing I meant to add

The Explanation says "'Cueball complains to the robot that biology (And presumably being biological) is annoying/bad, stating "Biology sucks" and "Bodies have all these problems'" but the comic currently says "Biology is *the worst*. Bodies have all these *random* problems." Was the comic updated or is the explanation inaccurate? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.100|172.71.102.100]] 23:29, 4 January 2023‎ (UTC)

As part of building the robot, Cueball (or xer builder, if he didn't build xim) have been drilling holes in xim. Xe doesn't care because xe doesn't have nerve endings. As a result of this conversation, xe discovers that the not-caring would not be reciprocated if xe began drilling holes in humans.{{unsigned ip|172.68.34.215|05:41, 5 January 2023}}
:I think it's not quite that, perhaps just more a passive-aggressive attitude by the robot, who just happens to know that any damage ''they'' suffer is going to need at the very least some form of metalworking handyman to patch the damage up (possibly an engineer). But there's not enough context to reliably narrow it down. For example, does a hole 'hurt' the robot (independently of whether it impairs functionality), or is it just an annoyance (or necessitates a system shut-down) until repairs are completed. Yet obviously they like the idea of having a self-repairing system, without understanding that there are different limitations and consequences...
:''But'', the joke appears to be (to me) that the biological being is bemoaning all the flaws in his body's design, whilst not appreciating how truly remarkable are its many useful features, such as (limited, but not insignificant) recovery from trauma. Something the robot has its own perspective on. Simple as that? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.224|172.70.85.224]] 10:54, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

Very tempted to add in that, if there was a designer/engineer, the problems of biology might be so easily identified and designed out (or never designed in, in the first place). Except that there's often a few 'awkward' (or even unidentified) flaws in an ostensibly finalised project (at least with man-made things) and I also would attract the ire of the YECs/etc who believe there ''was'' a biological 'designer' (despite seemingly having made such errors along the way). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.186|172.71.178.186]] 11:51, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
:The paradox is that there 'is' an intelligent designer of robots, yet they don't have remarkable features like self-healing. While there are lots of problems in biology that would be considered design flaws if there were a designer (the inside-out placement of the optic nerve is the classic example), millions of years of evolution still produced results that are incredibly robust and far more flexible than anything human designers can create. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:19, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
::Yet, while the robot is a fairly new thing (less time to sort out the flaws, or understand how not to even introduce them) presumably created by a human (flawed and fallible, we all can agree), the whole issue of biology is millions of years in continuous test/development cycle (or maybe just ''thousands'', but that's still more than mere years or decades) and that designer is supposed to be Perfect (omniscience, omnipresent ''and'' omnipotent) and should have been capable of resolving any loose ends they somehow allowed to be unresolved in the initially rushed six day period of manufacture and integration.
::Ultimately, the reason our bodies weren't made to be unflawed (either initially or by tweaking further down the line) falls into the same sort of philosophical realm as "why do bad things happen" (indeed, it is one, perhaps with the likes of Methuselah and other antedeluvian lifetimes being deprecated after His watery 'product recall', as well as playing their part in confusing Bishop Usher's estimates).
::Usually, the cover-all of having summarised God's 'plan' as being ineffable plasters over all the logical cracks, so it takes a very determined thinker to imagine they fully understand how it could (or could not) have happened, except by just applying the eponymous Razor and declaring all the unknowables to be irrelevent. (Which mightily upsets those who vehementally disagree, by their own principles.) So let us not go too deep into that, beyond acknowledging the competing ideas involved. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.35|172.71.242.35]] 15:58, 5 January 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2714: Cold Complaints

2022-12-22T14:22:49Z

172.70.91.76:

That study sounds like something that would win an Ig Nobel Prize. But the 2002 prize in medicine went to "Scrotal Asymmetry in Man and in Ancient Sculpture". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:37, 21 December 2022 (UTC)

Also common cold cannot really be cured, just wait and see. http://www.picturequotes.com/proper-treatment-will-cure-a-cold-in-seven-days-but-left-to-itself-a-cold-will-hang-on-for-a-week-quote-272191 [[User:Vdm|Vdm]] ([[User talk:Vdm|talk]]) 20:49, 21 December 2022 (UTC)

Are we sure that's the actual explanation? I thought the panels we see of the telemedicine are fibs to explain why Harry is acting this way. As in, he's pretending a medical professional told him to act like this. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.13|172.69.68.13]] 21:59, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
:The default assumption is that anything depicted, outside of things explicitly called out by e.g. thought/dream bubbles, actually happened in XKCD World. Plus, it would lose a lot of the humour if it were just a fiction he has made up. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.76|172.70.91.76]] 14:22, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

Can the citation be moved to a ref tag instead of just Being There? on a related note, why is the 58 bolded? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.76|172.71.166.76]] 22:32, 21 December 2022 (UTC) [[NonUser:Bumpf|Bumpf]] ([[NonUser talk:Bumpf|shh]])
:We usually don't bother with the cite and just use numbered links, especially in cases like this where the full cite is on the first page of the link. I'll change it. Journal volume numbers are written in bold in APA style. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.79|172.69.22.79]] 00:23, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
::In this case I prefer the full cite showing the counterintuitive quote comes from a pertinent peer-reviewed journal. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.90|172.70.211.90]] 03:38, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

I know far too many people who already follow this course of treatment. And not just for viruses, either. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 23:59, 21 December 2022 (UTC)

Is the accepted explanation for this comic that it is... mocking people who ask for sympathy or help when unwell for being "big babies"? That seems uncomfortably close to, say, making fun of people who seek treatment for mental illness... I understand that there is a disproportionate level of complaint relative to minor discomfort that is ridiculous and maybe even funny, but that doesn't seem to have been established here. I think we should emphasize that, "Hey, it's perfectly fine and even healthy to talk about the disappointment of feeling shitty, but don't take it to this extreme" - even if the original comic arguably doesn't do so. [[User:Notanotherusername|Notanotherusername]] ([[User talk:Notanotherusername|talk]]) 03:01, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
:I feel like the ''Journal of Clinical Psychology'' quote fulfills that purpose somewhat. Kudos to whomever found it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.39|172.71.154.39]]

== Vandalism ==

Some of them are re-uploading the comic image - if there's something that you can't see in the edit history, make sure [[:File:cold_complaints_2x.png]] is OK. [[User:Megan|Megan]] ([[User talk:Megan|talk]]) 04:21, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
:Also check [[Special:RecentChanges]] during any string of vandalism, because e.g. [[591]], [[2222]], and [[2713]] are currently also under attack. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 04:27, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

Some 2 year old appears to have gotten access to a computer and is posting images of themselves in place of the comic. Attempting to undo.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.148|172.68.174.148]] 05:28, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

We're currently actively under attack by CobsonTheGemson. I don't know if any admins will be on for a while, but I've tried to revert the 2x image and that didn't work, so I've created a new copy. I don't know why it's 2x in the first place so...
[[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 05:47, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
:Your reverts work even when they don't appear to. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 05:50, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

Alright, it looks like they aren't a bot. I think I'm going to change a little to make it clearer. Sorry for inconvenience.
[[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 05:51, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
:holy schizo [[User:CobsonTheGemson|CobsonTheGemson]] ([[User talk:CobsonTheGemson|talk]]) 05:53, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
haha knew it~~
[[User:Eelitee|Eelitee]] ([[User talk:Eelitee|talk]]) 05:55, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

I find it amusing, but also kind of sad, that there are people who put in effort just to vandalize something like ExplainXKCD [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.108|172.71.146.108]] 05:58, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

Of all the vandalism, I found [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/f/fb/20221222085847%21the_end_is_not_for_a_while.png] to be the most thought-provoking and meritorious. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 09:02, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

I got quite the surprise when I decided to visit the wiki, so I made an account and tried to help out as best as I could. Right now it seems mostly clear now at the time of posting. [[User:Neerti|Neerti]] ([[User talk:Neerti|talk]]) 09:04, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
: Good work! You're so much faster than me. The only thing I can't figure out is the weird colored image behind [[MediaWiki:Tagline]] which I'm sure wasn't what it is now, and definitely was vandalized into a blue image, so I guess it got reverted to the wrong version. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 09:47, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
:: I'm kinda stumped too. Only thing that comes to mind is that some css got edited but if so I'm not sure where it'd be or if it can be edited by users (I hope not). [[User:Neerti|Neerti]] ([[User talk:Neerti|talk]]) 10:02, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
::: It's definitely an image, because my browser still has the [https://i.ibb.co/V2MrH7p/Screenshot-2022-12-22-2-31-47-AM.png cached vandalized version] which went away (in incognito mode) during when we were both reverting images. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 10:34, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
::: Fixed now. I guess someone figured out which cache to purge. [[User:Liv2splain|Liv2splain]] ([[User talk:Liv2splain|talk]]) 11:32, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

2375: Worst Ladder

2022-12-07T18:01:23Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */ Two add-ons to a couple of interpretations of the situation.

{{comic
| number = 2375
| date = October 21, 2020
| title = Worst Ladder
| image = worst_ladder.png
| titletext = [Six months later] "Well, our 'worst ladder' subscription series was a surprisingly lucrative success, but was completely canceled out by the losses from the disastrous Home Depot merchandising tie-in."
}}

==Explanation==

An always present concern of media industries is consumers shifting tastes or indeed abandoning a medium altogether (such as print newspapers or in-person theaters). This strip depicts one such scenario prompting a meeting to discuss the problem. The other attendees suspect the consumers are simply shifting to an online platform, but Megan reveals they are instead shifting towards image search results.

Of course, during the age of the internet, there are many sources of free entertainment. {{w|YouTube}} and {{w|TikTok}} provide examples of these services, as practically anyone can choose from a tremendous variety of content. Therefore, this abundance of free content hurts services that require money to see their content, particularly when this content does not have any factors that make it inherently more appealing than the free services. The {{w|Quibi}} paid service shut down, just 6 months after it opened, on the same day that this comic appeared.

The joke here is that instead of YouTube or TikTok, possible customers are going to the Google Image search page for [https://www.google.com/search?q=%22worst+ladder%22&source=lnms&tbm=isch "worst ladder"]. Even the meeting participants are entranced by it, so the meeting devolves into everyone showing their favorites to each other, even though everyone there should have a particularly vested interest in their own company's performance.

Searching for images is an unorthodox source of entertainment, frequently only seen when searching for memes (this, in fact, is how {{w|Know Your Meme}} gauges interest in a meme). Depending on your relationship with Google's personalization algorithms, image results may change up between different people or different views, or remain roughly stagnant from day to day (contrasted with other services that contain new posts nearly every second), and the quality of any Google Images page will decline with scrolling. Therefore, an image search results page is not a sustainable source of entertainment{{Citation needed}}, and may be unlikely to compete with the service in this comic.

Search results currently tend to vary widely from person to person, as Google uses the user's search history, IP address, and location to try to find the most relevant result for each person, even if they are not logged in. (For instance, regular readers of xkcd are more likely to see this comic in the search results for "worst ladder".) This provides social opportunities around searching, sometimes exploited by social media posts (which may be how Megan originally found out).

The title text explains that the company actually decided to use the idea, and created a subscription service for these images. The idea was a success and was indeed very lucrative. They then tried selling actual "worst ladders", or "worst ladders"-themed merchandise at a hardware store, thinking that people who enjoy looking at others' mistakes would also enjoy making that mistake themselves, but this tie-in ended up costing them as much money as they made from the subscriptions (if the word "disastrous" is meant literally, there may have been injuries and liability lawsuits involved). Alternately, those who happily consumed this company's new output were put off by the overt commercialism of over-promoting the chain-store and so took their schadenfreude custom somewhere else/back to their original ad hoc sources.

==Transcript==

:[Ponytail, Cueball, Hairy and Hairbun are sitting around a boardroom table. Megan is giving a presentation and pointing to a chart behind her.]
:Megan: Our entertainment division is failing. We can't compete with free content.

:[A frameless panel. Only Megan is shown, with her pointer to her side.]
:Off-panel voice: Where are they going? YouTube? TikTok?
:Megan: No.

:[Zoomed in on Megan.]
:Megan: The Google Images search results for '''''worst ladder'''''.
:Off-panel voice: Huh?
:Off-panel voice: Let me see ...

:[Ponytail and Cueball are looking at one laptop, and Hairy and Hairbun are looking at a second. Megan has her arms out in front of her, frustrated.]
:Ponytail: Yikes, look at this one! The stepladder is balanced on --
:Hairy: Wow, they ''tied'' a ladder to --
:Hairbun: Ooh, check out the --
:Megan: ''No!''

==Trivia==
Searching Google for "worst ladder" at the time the comic was posted allows observing ladders that are comically unsafe or poorly designed (see [https://drive.google.com/file/d/10xQ63VpvSBmz9e1rmKyUbHDKa5jIYPLK/view?usp=sharing sample results from shortly after the comic was posted]). It is worth noting that, while normally it does not undergo much change, the "worst ladder" page will likely now contain a barrage of results related to this xkcd comic, as happened with [[369: Dangers]]. This influence is similar to the {{w|Slashdot effect}}. For reference, at the time of posting (0:00 UTC), the comic was the 30th Google image result. From about 0:20 to 1:15 UTC, it was the 18th result; by 1:30 UTC, it had become the third result. Searching Google for [https://www.google.com/search?q=worst+ladder+-xkcd&tbm=isch "worst ladder -xkcd"] yields better results, but some xkcd is still there.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2707: Astronomy Numbers

2022-12-07T15:21:10Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */ Vet probably doesn't feel a need to verbally report such weights within several ounces, in this scenario. Without quoting decimals (even zeros), the Solar Mass is probably rounded to one significant figure, essentially the same figure.

{{comic
| number = 2707
| date = December 5, 2022
| title = Astronomy Numbers
| image = astronomy_numbers_2x.png
| imagesize = 593x315px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I adopted a cat that weighs 12 solar masses. Laser pointers love chasing it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A WARPED SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Space is big[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv1spjsvu-A] and the things that are in space can also end up being very big themselves. As a result of this, most quantities in astronomy can vary by huge scales. For example, Earth has a mass 10^23 times more than the average human, and the Sun is 10^5 times more than that, which itself is 10^12 times less massive than the Milky Way. The same applies to speeds, distances, and time, which can often be measured in terms of light speed, light-years, and millions (or even billions) of years. Because of this, it's a truly unusual occurrence for anything in space to end up in the fairly narrow range of scales of mass, size, speed, or time that humans can easily grasp.

Ponytail, a scientist apparently researching something related to Earth's orbit, finds that on the next January 1, Earth will be approaching the sun at a velocity of 65 miles per hour—an extremely common and normal-sounding velocity to American ears, often used as a speed limit on highways in the US. Ponytail is clearly a little thrown-off by this, and remarks that she finds it "suspicious" when reasonably human-scaled numbers come up.

She then extends this paranoia to things that should be measured in regular numbers, such as the weight of cats. The vet (Megan) is seemingly used to this problem (perhaps she gets a lot of physicists), so she restates the 12-lb weight of Ponytail's cat in solar masses. Since using this unit yields an ''incredibly'' small number, 3*10^-30 (a three preceded by a decimal point and 29 zeroes), it evidently sounds more plausible to the astronomer. This exact weight is in fact somewhere about 13lb 2oz, slightly heavier than the initial figure given for the cat, but where the precision was kept or lost is debatable.

==Details on the numbers==
Although the Earth's orbital velocity around the Sun is far above any "normal" scales (around 30 kilometers per second or 108,000 kilometers per hour), Earth has a pretty circular orbit around the Sun so most of this speed ends up being tangential (sideways) rather than radial (towards or away from) the Sun, which is the value relevant for Ponytail's calculations. On January 1, Earth's radial velocity is close to its smallest value because we reach our closest point to the Sun in the first few days of January each year (in 2023, {{w|Perihelion|perihelion}} happens on January 4) so by January 1, it's nearly come to a standstill before it starts traveling away from the Sun again. On the other hand, by April 3, 2023, Earth will be receding from the Sun by almost 500 meters per second or 1800 kilometers per hour, a slightly less normal speed for the average person to encounter in everyday life.{{citation needed}}

65 miles per hour is approximately equal to 105 kilometers per hour, although the even more typical scientific value (in {{w|International System of Units|SI}} derived units) would be 29 meters per second. 3 × 10^−30 solar masses is approximately equal to 6 kilograms or 13 pounds (consistent with the 12 pounds, or slightly under 5.5 kilograms, of the original figure) and is normal, if perhaps slightly overweight, for a cat.

==Title text==
The title text suggests that laser pointers "love chasing" a new cat with a weight of 12 solar masses (an inversion of the typical cat behavior of [[729: Laser Pointer|chasing laser pointer dots]]). A 12 solar mass cat would have the dominant gravitation well in our solar system which would let fall everything towards the cat – including laser pointers. Furthermore, all gravitational fields bend light towards their center; a 12 solar mass object would bend quite a lot. A Laser pointer pointed at such a cat would bend towards it or "chase" it. In fact, 12 solar masses, would have a Schwarzschild radius of around 36 kilometers, so a cat with that mass would very definitely be a black hole, drawing all light within 72 kilometers around it into its singularity.

Another interpretation of the title text is that Randall has (presumably) accidentally adopted a distant star instead, which astronomers usually take a liking to pointing laser pointers at during both star parties & normal parties they were unwisely invited to. Assuming Randall's 12-solar-mass cat goes through similar life cycles to a 12-solar-mass star, his cat will probably end up living a violent, short life of just a few million years before expanding into a red supercat and exploding as a feline supernova, which might explain why astronomers are so interested in pointing it out. Or maybe a {{w|Laser guide star}} for a telescope with adaptive optics is being referred to.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a whiteboard writing on it with a pen, while Cueball looks over her shoulder from behind her. On the board is an almost circular ellipse with a cross that centers on a dot towards the left side of it. On the right side there is a small circle on the ellipse's line. There are several lines of wiggles representing unreadable text. To the left of the ellipse there are two lines near the top of and four near at the bottom of the ellipse. Ponytail is writing a fifth line below these almost under the ellipse. At the bottom to the left there is a rectangular frame with a line of text beneath it and at the bottom left corner there is a line forming a half closes rectangle around two dots.]
:Ponytail: …And we need to correct for our elliptical orbit. On January 1st, Earth will be approaching the sun at a rate of ...let's see...
:Ponytail: 65 miles per hour.
:Ponytail: Weird. Okay.
:Cueball: Weird?

:[Ponytail has turned towards Cueball, the pen is no longer in her hand and the white board is no longer shown.]
:Ponytail: I get suspicious whenever I see a normal number in astronomy. We're not supposed to have those. Feels wrong.
:Ponytail: Scales should all be incomprehensible.

:[Megan in a lab-coat raised her hand palm up towards an animal carrier cage standing on her desk. The cage has a handle and five air holes are at the top. Behind two of them something black inside the cage can be seen. Ponytail is standing on the other side of the desk looking at Megan. Above the top of the panels frame there is a panel with a label:]
:Earlier, at the vet:
:Megan: Your cat weighs 12 lbs.
:Ponytail: Ridiculous, nothing weighs "12". You must mean 10-20? Or 1040?
:Megan: Fine. Your cat weighs 3x10-30 solar masses.
:Ponytail: Okay. Better.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Cats]]

2706: Bendy

2022-12-07T09:21:13Z

172.70.91.76: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2706
| date = December 2, 2022
| title = Bendy
| image = bendy_2x.png
| imagesize = 291x209px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Squaring the circle is really easy with some good clamps.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created while BENDING OVER PULLBACKWARDS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Geometry usually represents 2D polygons with simple straight lines. In the comic, the lines are compared to a physical object, and are shown to have the property of bendiness. Randall claims this simplifies geometry as now triangles can have arbitrarily defined side lengths by merely stretching the lines, but it is unclear what benefits this may have over current Euclidean geometry. These lines cannot have Euclidean properties, but other non-Euclidean systems have been invented in the past with non-standard properties.<ref>{{w|Non-Euclidean_geometry}}</ref>

This comic may be a reference to axis breaks in graphs, which shrink large segments and enhance readability and are denoted by a wiggly line on the axis in question.

The title-text talks about "{{w|Squaring the circle}}" (not to be confused with {{w|Tarski's circle-squaring problem|circle-squaring}}), a famous geometry problem based around constructing a square with the same area as a given circle, using a compass and straightedge, which was proven to be impossible (even with more powerful forms of construction, such as marked straightedges or origami) in 1882 as pi is a transcendental number. However, it then goes on to describe a way to literally turn one of these bendy shapes from a circle into a square - namely using clamps.

==Transcript==
:[There are two right triangles. The one to the left is a standard right triangle with the right angle denoted by a small square at that corner. The lengths of the sides are denoted around it, but it has been scribbled out with red lines. The triangle to the right has the same general shape as the first one, but with the legs appearing longer but bent with about three wiggles each near the right-angled corner. As with the first triangle, the side lengths are denoted around it, but they are not the same as for the first. Around this triangle is a red line circling about two times around it.]
:Left triangle: 3 4 5
:Right triangle: 5 5 5

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Huge geometry breakthrough: Turns out those lines we make triangles out of are bendy!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Math]]