explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3056: RNA

2025-02-26T17:53:34Z

172.71.178.139:

I really hate that feeling when you need an explanation for at least a couple frames but you're too early to read it and too dumb to write it. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.27|172.68.3.27]] 14:34, 26 February 2025 (UTC)
:I know, I really wish I knew about RNA so I could just kinda do it. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 15:48, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

The 2040's guess in the title text is wild, and would be SO cool if we were able to discover that in 20 years.

oh God [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:09, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

1960s: central dogma of molecular biology; 1980s: discovery of catalytic self-splicing RNA; 2000s: genomic sequencing and discovery of diverse array of non-coding RNAs; 2040s: extrapolation of RNA hypothesis, with aside to notion that life may have arisen multiple times (earlier instances extinguished by large impacts) {{unsigned|Jhonts|15:34, 26 February 2025}}
:...or assimilation of function (or extinction by superior RNA, but then we'd not see any signs, whilst maybe there were provable mergers between 'different' original systems. Maybe why there are three shared bases between DNA and RNA, but two unique ones, or other interesting aspects that create puzzles. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.139|172.71.178.139]] 17:53, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

Should the transcript point out the changes in the poster in each frame? Maybe in the later frames those are RNA rather than DNA. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:40, 26 February 2025 (UTC)
:It's unlikely to be RNA, since RNA is usually single stranded. According to a quick search, it can sometimes be double stranded as a secondary structure or in some viruses. [[User:Solid Kalium|Solid Kalium]] ([[User talk:Solid Kalium|talk]]) 15:55, 26 February 2025 (UTC)

2836: A Halloween Carol

2023-10-02T20:10:50Z

172.71.178.139: Yeah, the word 'spoof' was most important, so a bit of a rewrite just for that.

{{comic
| number = 2836
| date = October 2, 2023
| title = A Halloween Carol
| image = a_halloween_carol_2x.png
| imagesize = 639x245px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = [after a minute] "Okay, I think I've got it, thanks. Can I--" "oOOOooOOooo!"
}}

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

In the classic Dickensian story {{w|A Christmas Carol}}, the protagonist of the tale is various ghosts, first that of his old business partner and then (successively) the spirits of Christmases Past, Present and Yet To Come, in order to rehabilitate him from his anti-Christmas ways (and generally improve his humanity and spritual future). In this case, however, three halloween-style ghosts arrive as a spoof of that tale. They represent similar phases of the actual festival of Halloween, but have turned up to pester Cueball in his bed all at the same time. And the 'lesson' they convey to him is far less transformatory in nature.

In the title text, in fact, it would appear that the very simple message has been received and taken on board, but the apparitions feel the need to continue their haunting regardless.

Carolling, though these days almost exclusively associated with Christmas, had long been a term for festive songs and dances, and arguably it is largely through Dickens's use as his story title that we associate it so strongly with this particular annual festival.

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Cueball is half sitting up in bed, his lower body underneath the blankets. He is looking at three ghost flying above him.]
:Middle ghost: ooOOOOOooOOOoo
:[The "ooooo" of the ghosts is written in wavy letters of varying sizes]
:Middle ghost: We are the ghosts of halloween past, present and future

:[Just the middle ghost]
:Ghost: here to teach you the true meaning of halloween!

:[Back to the full scene]
:Left ghost: ooOOOOOOOooo
:Middle ghost: ooOOOOOooo

:[Again, the full scene]
:Left ghost: ooooooOOOooOooo
:Right ghost: ooOoooOOOoooo

==Trivia==
* '''This trivia section was created by a BOT'''
* The [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/a_halloween_carol_2x.png standard size] image was uploaded with a resolution/size larger than the supposed 2x version.
* This may have been an error.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2801: Contact Merge

2023-09-29T06:18:46Z

172.71.178.139: Undo revision 324569 by 108.162.241.126 (talk) Bye spammer.

Same person.
:All three of them...[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 08:32, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Why is he only using John's first name when talking about him, as if Surf King should know who that is, when it's clear they've "never met"?
Shouldn't it be: My phone keeps wanting to merge you with my friend John Smith? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.30|172.71.178.30]] 07:46, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
: Because he's spectacularly unaware, and assumes that everyone that he 'knows' also know each other?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.110|172.70.90.110]] 08:16, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
: Because "my friend John" is perfectly specific enough. It could have (if not for the needs of the joke) just as easily been: My phone keeps trying to merge you with one of my other friends. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.51|172.69.247.51]] 13:40, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::"My friend John" would have been fine, too. The comic just says "John".
::"Weird, my phone keeps trying to merge your contact with John's" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.62|162.158.74.62]] 18:16, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

This is the first XKCD in a long time that I have absolutely no understanding of. Who is Surf King? Even Google doesn't bring anything up (I assumed it was someone well known in the USA but unknown to the few of us that don't live in that country). Please someone post an explanation soon! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.46|162.158.74.46]] 09:06, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:No one in particular. Just someone named John. The short explanation is that his phone figured out that "Surf King" and "John" are the same person/contact while Cueball remains ignorant. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 09:18, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::I see now. I think I was reading too much into it. I usually assume Randall is operating on a level far above my own! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.146|172.69.79.146]] 10:02, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:Came here to say this. I usually understand what he’s talking about whether it’s math, chemistry, physics, astronomy, geology, whateverology, but this time all I could say was “Huh?” and came to explainxkcd for a clue. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.203|172.71.154.203]] 21:08, 14 July 2023 (UTC)

I took the "4 years" thing to mean that Cueball had been chatting with SurfKing for 4 years (not an idle chat, but still actively used), and has somehow missed the fact that it's his friend John he's been talking with the whole time. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.25|172.70.38.25]] 11:51, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, and I think it's probably a group chat. It might not be that unusual for someone to use a nickname in a group chat (maybe because someone else gave them that nickname). The group chat context might also make it more likely that a context would have been established where Cueball might expect that everyone would know who "John" was, though as pointed out above, Cueball is pretty clueless.[[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 11:56, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:: Adding, I think it has to be a group chat because it would be too strange even for Cueball if he started a one-on-one chat with Surf King without knowing who he was, but if some friend added them both to a chat this situation might make sense. [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:05, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::: One more, sorry: This *has* to be a group text because Cueball is @-ing Surf King. You don't need to @ someone if they're the only other person you're talking to. (Also Surf King must be pretty annoyed if he's managed to break out the bold italics in a group text, I don't think most texting services support that.) [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:11, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::(Comment below edit-conflicted by sub-thread thisnisvindented to... Adding this replybafter, but same timestamp.)
::I deliberately left "group chat" unsaid (i.e. leaving it open) because of the lack of correspondants' avatars on the non-self side of the conversation, which seems to be a standard for both actual and xkcdified representation. Though 'tagging' SurfKing might indicate a more broadcast chat, it's as possible/polite to say in a one-to-one (like starting a letter "Dear Aunty Emma", though the envelope it was in was clearly addressed to her). ((This bit written before edit-conflict with Mwphil's triple-indent, above. But answers it anyway, possibly.))
::Anyway, likely possibly its a grouping-agnostic 'chatroom' type thing (or conversation handler) whereby you invite/include at least one other person and it threads all messages with the same full set of contacts together for easy reading (and possible separation from derivative conversations with additions/removals from that set, unless it allows retroactive inclusion/chucking). As said below, I've used many different chat-type methods (though not directly with the "speech bubble" UI as visual theme) and I think we can't pin this down to a particular family of P2P interfaces. But I find the respective thought processes of the two participants (both inside and outside the screenshot shown) more interesting than the more nebulous decisions as to UX/functionality. Strangely for me, being that I'm much more comfortable thinking about code than people where it's just something involving myself.
::But, of course, open to be re-rewritten. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.35|172.70.85.35]] 12:22, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

::To me the chat UI feels sort of Discord-inspired. Discord does not have indentation, but it does display the person's name at the start of each "group" of messages from the same person (as seen here with the grey "Surf King" label above the left-hand messages) and it does have "@" mentions even in 1-to-1 DMs. Personally I sometimes "@" mention someone in a DM at the start of a new string of messages, like if I haven't sent them a message for some time, because this highlights the conversation for them even if their settings disable highlighting/notifications for new regular messages. This could explain why the conversation shown here starts with "@Surf King" even if this is a 1-to-1 conversation with someone that the sender talks to regularly/semi-regularly. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.160|172.70.162.160]] 00:32, 14 July 2023 (UTC)

Done a significant rewrite/expansion to the explanation. My experience of "bubble chats" like the comic is restricted only to screenshots (or illustrations, like this) so I'm extrapolating a lot from all the variations that exist, plus adding extensive IRC/BBS experience which is linked by cross-pollination (pre-web/Web-1.5/etc forming a clear basis for Web2.x and App-based paradigms now handle instant/asynchronous short-form messaging conventions). If I'm totally wrong, I'm sure you'll rip out the bad bits. Wanted also to suggest the possibility that if John hasn't actually been seriously using Surf King for a while (but still has pull-/push-notifications active), it was only Cueball's necro that got him to go back into whatever chat-handler that was set up to handle his surf-dude chat. But it was already very unweildy an Explanation, so I'll only leave this bit of my imagination here - to be more easily ignored/dismissed. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.35|172.70.85.35]] 12:22, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

''The title text implies that Cueball (still unaware of the reality of the sitution) has had second thoughts about the compatability of Surf King/John with himself'' - I disagree with this. I think what the title text is saying that even though Cueball now knows John and Surf King are the same person, he still thinks they wouldn't like each other - this is philosophically confusing to Cueball, and suggests that John has subtle self-hatred issues which only became obvious thanks to Cueball's mistake. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 13:22, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Came here because I didn't understand the comic. Now I am even more confused. It would be great if someone could explain the comic in a clear and understandable way. It is possible that there are multiple interpretations, but at the moment they are intermingled. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.55|172.71.160.55]] 14:18, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
: Cueball is in an ongoing chat (possibly a group chat) with someone whose alias is "SurfKing". He tells SurfKing that the contacts manager on his phone is trying to merge "SurfKing" with his friend, John. This has happened repeatedly, but he doesn't realize the cause: John *is* SurfKing. He says that SurfKing should meet John because they both like to surf. SurfKing is outraged by this because he has been talking to Cueball in this chat for four years, and yet Cueball still is unaware that SurfKing is John. In other words, John has been talking to Cueball for four years and Cueball thinks he is some other guy called "SurfKing" after all of this time and never connected the two.
:This sometimes happens in real life, particularly in group chat. You could be chatting with a group of people, not knowing who they all are behind their aliases, and continue for some time. Eventually, you become friends with people whom you have never seen in real life, not realizing that "SurfKing" was just your friend John who likes to surf. Alternatively, you could meet a bunch of people in real life at a surfing competition, giving out your contact info, and "SurfKing" strikes up a conversation later. You think this is a new person you met at the competition and chatted with for years before you find out that this is just your friend's alias. Randall then comments that he wonders who holds the longest record for having done this.[[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]] ([[User talk:Geek Prophet|talk]]) 16:32, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:: [[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]], that is an excellent, clear, and concise explanation. Perhaps you would care to add it to the article instead of the discussion page. [[User:TV4Fun|TV4Fun]] ([[User talk:TV4Fun|talk]]) 17:48, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:Okay, my real name is Andrew. Let's say commenter Kynde, who I've spoken to a bit on here, knows me in real life as Andrew (he doesn't, this is a HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE. Sorry I feel the need to specify, I've been encountering a few people lately who don't get how examples work) (Funnily enough, my name was in my ExplainXKCD profile, until Kynde mentioned that the stupid wiki site was using Andrew in some stats instead of NiceGuy1). This is like Kynde saying "Hey NiceGuy1, my phone keeps trying to merge you with Andrew", not realizing that his real life friend Andrew is also a commenter on ExplainXKCD, using a username he has spoken to. :) In 4 years, Cueball hasn't connected that SurfKing is the chat alias of his friend John. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:04, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

== three dots ==

I don't think the three dots are Surf King not deigning to respond. Aren't three dots (in some chat things?) what you get when someone is typing but hasn't sent the message yet? So Surf King has started to try to respond to this but is too flabbergasted to finish his comment. [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:03, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:I thought there could be three things they could represent:
:*Surf King "had no words" to Cueball's inane reality-ignoring comment, it's his version of 'eye rolling'. Which Cueball didn't understand (fully/correctly).
:*The "your party is typing" symbol. (Although that shouldn't be still there once further messaging (to and from that party) have been added to the chat-sequence.)
:*It's a conversation-manager indication of time passed.
:**And/or that further messages existed in this spot but that are ellided in this view (leaving intro message, for context, and the current foot of the conversation).
:To me, the first makes most sense (flabberghasted and ''did'' type something). The second looks wrong (reason given). The third is clear from context (the time passing), though there's a problem with the alternate/additional 'third' point being that it doesn't help the joke of this being a four year (mostly no-contact?) conversation where Surf King has seemingly forgotten things while Cueball has no grasp of the temporal dislocation.
:But YMMV. And because I wasn't ''totally'' sure I tried to write what I wrote to cover all three main ideas. (It wasn't really dealt with at all when I started my edit regarding it. Any further informed change is of course perfectly welcome, but at least you now have my half-considered lines of thought about all this.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.153|172.71.178.153]] 12:39, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:...Forgot to mention the fourth (separate) interpretation I also had.
:*It's a response so long that it's been collapsed behind an icon. Though usually that'd be the first bit of it being shown with an "<expand>" or "<read more...>", as a tappable hotspot, this might not be the case here.
:But ''if'' it's a collapsed paragraph of a long "no, they're both me, you know this because when we last met I..." reply, then it seemingly ''also'' went Whoosh==>Cueball's head, at least by the time four further years had passed. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.62|172.70.85.62]] 13:10, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::About the "Your party is typing" message disappearing, I do think that it's within reasonable comics convention to show things that happen in temporal sequence within the same panel within reasonable limits. (https://readgraphicnovels.blogspot.com/2017/04/read-understanding-comics-graphic-novel-chapter-4-page-2.html) So Randall could be depicting the three dots symbol because it had appeared in the chat before, even though not everything in the panel appears at once. I don't know how much he uses this convention though (well I'm pretty sure there are panels in the strip depicting passage of time within a panel, but I don't know if any work this way).
::My take on John/Surf King typing three dots is that that would be a sort of passive-aggressive reaction, and I think John/Surf King is supposed to be a pretty normal person. Albeit one who's friends with Cueball. This is admittedly my interpretation [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.92|172.70.110.92]] 14:09, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:Actually, no, not like this. The "Typing" version goes away after you Submit the message (or if Cueball commented while SurfKing was still typing, the "Typing" dots would move to below Cueball's new comment). The fact that it's ABOVE comments and isn't the bottom thing means that SurfKing ACTUALLY commented 3 dots at Cueball. It basically is a text version of "Uhhhh", to say "I'm speechless". [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:40, 15 July 2023 (UTC)
::I read it more as a shorthand way of typing "Well, yes... think about it - you'll get there...". Except, Cueball being Cueball, he doesn't.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.106|172.70.90.106]] 08:22, 17 July 2023 (UTC)
On reading it, I at least was convinced that this was a conversation taking place today, with John actually typing the three dots. It is true that the "Hey" suggests that this could be a (much) later text, but there is no reason to suppose it is four years later.
:I think this is the only interpretation possible, and the current interpretation is obviously incorrect. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.92.201|172.70.92.201]] 16:58, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

I thought that rather than there being a long gap between the two parts of the conversation, like the current explanation says, that "Surf King"/John was expressing disbelief that Cueball hadn't understood that they were the same person for the four years that they've been chatting.
[[User:Apocolypse101|Apocolypse101]] ([[User talk:Apocolypse101|talk]]) 17:20, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

This reminds me of a picture I've seen of a Tweet or something, a woman saying something to the effect of "I don't get it, for two years there's been this dude at the ticket booth going to work, sometimes we get along great, chatting and stuff, sometimes he's all cold and acts like he doesn't know me. Just found out, it's TWINS working at the same place! TWO DIFFERENT GUYS!! TWO YEARS, GUYS!". (I tried to search my Facebook, to get the exact wording, was a Memory not long ago, but I never comment on it, that's all that can be searched). :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:04, 15 July 2023 (UTC)

Could you protect the page and create my user page? I woke up and found that they're writing nonsense on me. [[User:Contact Merge|2801: Contact Merge]] ([[User talk:Contact Merge|talk]]) 23:40, 24 September 2023 (UTC)
:Why bother? There's nothing 'you' can do about this sort of thing that cannot be caught much quicker by the friendly bot (like it did, just before your request) nor more definitely by the mass of normal editers/readers like the rest of us (should the bot not catch something, or need prodding/replacing). There's no need for dedicated named accounts like yours to claim 'ownership' and control. I suggest the admins ignore you (or that they are doing, already). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.219|172.70.85.219]] 15:06, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

::We're rising together to fight against the spammers. If they keep spamming, even more comic pages will wake up. We already have at least five members and [[User:Python|353: Python]] will join too. [[User:Contact Merge|2801: Contact Merge]] ([[User talk:Contact Merge|talk]]) 23:41, 25 September 2023 (UTC)
:::Madness. Totally unnecessary and will create future problems. Perhaps that's your plan, of course. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.195|172.70.86.195]] 08:02, 26 September 2023 (UTC)

I guess that there are too many skeptics, including the phone if its claim to merge the contacts turns out to be false. [[User:Contact Merge|2801: Contact Merge]] ([[User talk:Contact Merge|talk]]) 23:44, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

2812: Solar Panel Placement

2023-08-08T11:32:57Z

172.71.178.139: /* Transcript */ Details for those that need them (initial descriptive attempt, improvements invited).

{{comic
| number = 2812
| date = August 7, 2023
| title = Solar Panel Placement
| image = solar_panel_placement_2x.png
| imagesize = 506x364px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Getting the utility people to run transmission lines to Earth is expensive, but it will pay for itself in no time.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an underpaid solar panel installer - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Solar panels|Solar panels}} are a relatively common method of supplying/augmenting power for uses from calculators to factories. They work by gathering solar energy reaching the Earth from the Sun and converting it to electricity. More specifically, they absorb vast amounts of photons from the solar rays and use them to knock electrons free. Those electrons produce the flow of electric current around the circuit and convey power onwards to where it is needed.

This comic proposes a solution to the issue of solar panels not generating enough power due to basic physical limitations. Solar panels on Earth have multiple things reducing their efficacy, such as their distance from the Sun (and atmospheric effects) reducing the intensity of light hitting them and the fact that for half of the time they can't generate any power because their position on the Earth is facing away from the Sun. Putting your solar panels in a close orbit above the Sun would eliminate most, if not all, of these issues (and is a partial implementation of the concept of a {{w|Dyson sphere}}, theorised by scientists and used in science fiction). However putting solar panels on the surface of the Sun, as suggested here, introduces many new problems that can negatively impact their energy generating capacity, such as transmission losses and more undesirable effects from their proximity to the Sun, including total destruction of the panels.

The cost-effectiveness of solar panels is a complex topic, involving [https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-performance-and-efficiency efficiency], installation, and even costs of [https://cen.acs.org/environment/recycling/Solar-panels-face-recycling-challenge-photovoltaic-waste/100/i18 recycling at end-of-life]. The comic demonstrates a simplified calculation, where a solar panel of 1m^2 is estimated to return electricity equivalent to around $58/year, using 20% as the efficiency of conversion of sunlight to electricity for an otherwise optimally roof-installed solar panel unit.

To solve this, Randall here proposes a rather more direct solution: place the identical solar panel ''downwards'', towards the Sun, rather than ''upwards'' (upon a suitable equitorially-facing sloping roof), from the surface of the Earth. This gives access to substantially more light energy and would (through naïve upscaling of the power flux available, ignoring a number of technical issues) produce greatly increased amounts of energy for the owner.

The title text acknowledges ''some'' difficulties, but hand-waves them away as being surmountable and entirely worthwhile given the theoretical income generated. This may or may not be true, but is actually extremely unlikely at the end of the economies of scale whereby an individual is expected to make their own best use of a single solar panel. Perhaps in this case a better interpretation of "in no time" is "never".

Given that transmission losses are [https://iea-etsap.org/E-TechDS/PDF/E12_el-t&d_KV_Apr2014_GSOK.pdf around 3% per 1000 km] and the Sun is 150 million km away, the energy reaching the Earth would be 0.97^(150000), a truly negligible amount (10^-1985 of the input energy).

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

:[Heading:] Option A:

:[A stereotypical house with a single solar panel upon its roof and an arrow from a label:] 1 m2 (south-facing)

:[Formula:] ($0.20/kWh)×(4 kWh/m2/day)×(1 m2)×20% = <big>$58/year</big>

:[Heading:] Option B:

:[A short width of the Sun's undulating 'surface', with two solar prominances/flares and at their height (but above a different part of the surface) a solar panel with some attachment upon its upper surface, depicted horizontally aligned to the Sun and with an arrow from a label:] 1 m2 (downward)

:[Formula:] ($0.20/kWh)×(sun luminosity/sun area)×(1 m2)×20% = <big>$22 million/year</big>

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Solar energy tip: To maximize sun exposure, always orient your panels downward and install them on the surface of the sun.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Tips]]

786: Exoplanets

2023-07-22T21:23:25Z

172.71.178.139: /* Trivia */

{{comic
| number = 786
| date = August 30, 2010
| title = Exoplanets
| image = exoplanets_2010.png
| titletext = I'm just worried that we'll all leave and you won't get to come along!
}}

==Explanation==
[[Beret Guy]] runs to wake up [[Cueball]], who is probably under the covers in bed, with his potentially middle of the night revelation that Humankind is discovering "{{w|exoplanet}}s" or planets that exist outside of our solar system. The indication is that these planets are habitable enough for humans, even if just for a visit.

Then Beret Guy takes it a bit further thinking that one of the countries on Earth could restart {{w|Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)|Project Orion}}. As Beret suggests, Project Orion was an early project to produce a spacecraft that would ride the shockwave from a series of nuclear bombs it dropped in order to travel very, very fast. However, the one major downside of Project Orion was the fallout that the launching of any such craft would present on Earth. One could try to boost the Orion spacecraft into orbit with conventional rockets, but Orion spacecraft are heavy — being composed of giant pusher plates and rows upon rows of nuclear bombs, they are hard to lift. On top of this, the {{w|Nuclear Test Ban Treaty}} means that the craft would be flatly illegal to build and launch on Earth, no matter what you did. However, if an asteroid mining project were to be started, the Orion drive spacecraft, the nuclear bombs, and all the infrastructure needed to man, build, and crew it could all be built safely in space, well away from the Earth's fragile biosphere, where little harm could be done. Some commercial spaceflight programs are interested in starting asteroid mining in the future, or even now: For example, see: https://www.planetaryresources.com.

In summary, Beret is very excited that we can see (with the Hubble telescope and other earth-bound telescopes) and find exoplanets. Then with some advances in space technology we can create nuclear propulsion in space to reach these planets, and it will all be happening quite possibly within a few decades. He is thus worried that Cueball will miss all of this ongoing excitement.

Cueball would just rather snooze, as he is not impressed. Beret Guy gives him only one snooze because as is apparent in the title text he is afraid that Cueball will be left behind if he snoozes too long! Giving the fact that he just stated that it may take hundreds of years this is of course silly but fits well with Beret Guy's behavior.

Exoplanets have been discovered starting in 1996, but there are still only a few confirmed {{w|List of habitable planet candidates|planet candidates}} in the habitable zone at a distant star. This did change fast after that time since new ways of finding planets are created — see [[1071: Exoplanets]], which was posted with the same title. At that point, there were exactly 786 Exoplanets confirmed — the number of this comic - probably not a coincidence when it comes to [[Randall]].

Part of the humor of this particular strip is that Beret Guy seems to have a sense of urgency and immediacy about something that is actually occurring at a snail's pace over decades, where Cueball finishing sleeping, or hitting snooze twice, couldn't possibly make one crystalline erg of difference.

[[1624: 2016]] is similar to this comic in that in each case, one character wakes up another character in order to inform that character about an event that is neither immediately relevant to that character nor short/urgent enough that that character could miss it if he slept until the morning.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy runs into a bedroom arms up calling to someone who is in the bed under the covers. Only part of the bed is visible. The person under the covers speaks. Later part of his face can be seen, and it could be Cueball.]
:Beret guy: Wake up! Wake up!
:Cueball (under the cover): What is it?

:[Beret Guy stands with his arms out talking to Cueball hiding under the covers of the bed now completely inside the panel.]
:Beret guy: We're alive during the time when they're first discovering other planetary systems! They're finding them as fast as they can build new instruments to look for them!

:[In this frame-less panel only Beret Guy is shown standing with one arm out and one arm up looking left away from the off-panel bed.]
:Beret Guy: And if one of Earth's cultures advances its space program enough to start enriching uranium on asteroids, we'll lose the main barrier to restarting Project Orion and building nuke-riding city-ships!

:[Beret Guy bends down, hands on his knees, to eye level with Cueball in the bed, who is finally peeking out from the covers, only showing part of his face (so it could be any character, as any hair could be hidden, and the hat could be on the bed stand).]
:Beret Guy: The only known technology capable of fast interstellar travel could be operational within just a few generations, and we're discovering all these destinations to pick from!
:Beret Guy: Come ''on!''
:Cueball: Can I hit "snooze"?
:Beret Guy: Okay, but ''just once!''

==Trivia==
*This was the first time Randall released a comic with the exact same name as a previous comic, in this case [[1071: Exoplanets]], released on June 20, 2012. Since then, he has done so [[:Category:Comics sharing name|a few times]]. When the new comic was released, it caused problems on xkcd as the title of the image file (<code>explanets.png</code>) was the same for the two comics. This was resolved by renaming this comic's image, adding the year of its release to the title: <code>explanets_2010.png</code>.

* The number of this comic ([[786: Exoplanets]]) is the same number of planets featured in the comic [[1071: Exoplanets]] (786 planets) with the same title. It isn't clear whether this is a coincidence or Randall purposefully waited for the number of discovered planets to be the same as this comic's number.

*Cueball is not completely visible in this comic, and the last image only shows a face. Given that almost all characters without a beard have the same face, this could be any character, including one with a hat (which could be hidden or outside of the frames) or hair (several of the usual styles). The comic's official transcript refers to this person as "bed man", meaning it isn't intended to be a female character. As it is easier to explain the comic using Cueball's name, and given that he is the usual guy to draw when no particular features are added, it still makes sense to call him Cueball in this comic.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Exoplanets]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Exoplanets01]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]

Talk:2794: Alphabet Notes

2023-07-02T16:56:51Z

172.71.178.139:

No, we must rid ourselves of the redundant C. Also we need to bring back Ð and Þ. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 19:20, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
:I agree with your second point, but not your first (This is why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chpT0TzietQ) [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 01:04, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
:I agree, as long as we also bring back ᵹ. [[User:PxP|PxP]] 19:57, 28 June 2023 (UTC)
:Cueball may disagree with you. :9 [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:40, 1 July 2023 (UTC)

daMNation, randoMNess, chiMNey, gyMNastics, autuMN are not fancy words [[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.204|172.70.250.204]] 19:43, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
:Autumn is to me! (Fall is the standard, Autumn is fancy) [[User:PxP|PxP]] 19:58, 28 June 2023
:To me "Autumn" is normal. "Fall" only comes from furriners... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.131|172.70.86.131]] 00:46, 29 June 2023 (UTC)

You can't have rUIn without U and I together!

Or UI! [[User:GetPunnedOn|GetPunnedOn]] ([[User talk:GetPunnedOn|talk]]) 22:35, 26 June 2023 (UTC) (Reply to above text)

We need to bring back way more letters: https://youtu.be/wJxKyh9e5_A
--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.246.84|172.71.246.84]] 20:33, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

I would be useful to include the letter frequency table from Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency but we don't appear to have the "bartable" template from wikipedia to display bar charts. It would explain a lot about the haunted letters in particular to have it.

The circled JK is clearly referencing the text-language abbreviation for "just kidding", and the bracketed VW... I'm not sure but, it might have to do with Volkswagen, or the spikiness of the letters, or "why isn't W called double-V or at least next to the U".
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.166|172.70.174.166]] 21:18, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
:I removed the portion claiming that "JK" originated with SMS texting, which simply isn't true at all. Using "JK" as an acronym for "just kidding", goes back even before the rise of Bulletin Board Systems; it may have originated with schoolkids passing notes.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:03, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
:: I feel like it DID start with SMS texting, which has a strict size limit and people used to not have unlimited texting and as such had to keep things brief. I have a long history with computers and internet and technology, including back to BBSs, and it seems like JK and J/K only started showing up 15-20 years ago. I was late to owning a cell phone, and thus texting, so it was in widespread use before I caught what it meant. Remembering that BBSs never had any length limits (none I saw, anyway), so there was no motivation for skipping letters in words (other than lengthening connection time, a difference so negligible it would be measured in picoseconds or lower). SMS is what started - indirectly - charging for writing longer. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:40, 1 July 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not going to claim to be an absolute authority on this by any means, but I have an English & Linguistics degree, have spent a lifetime collecting phrases and idioms out of sheer fascination, and make a living as a proofreader for a huge international company with dozens of offices in the Americas, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Australia. But I'm English, as my handle would probably suggest, and I have now, having read this comic, heard of "JK" to mean "just kidding". So I'm going to suggest that maybe it's rather North American in usage.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 11:04, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

:I think the bracketed V and W is referencing the fact that W is equivalent to two V’s together. (Or the fact that W originated as VV) —[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 23:39, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
: Huh, I always thought "jk" was for "joke". Luckily it doesn't change its meaning... (unlike the person who thought "LOL" was for "Lots of Love" https://www.quora.com/Does-LOL-stand-for-Love-you-loads-or-Lots-of-love ) [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:19, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

:In some languages, such as French, w is called "double v" (or its literal transaltion), which makes more sense. :-) --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 11:28, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

Added the Twinkle Twinkle justification into the existing explanation. But I might be talking out of my hat, as I'm British and only really know the US treatment from imported media. (Sesame Street? No, I can only bring to mind their counting 1-12 song. And "Conjunction Junction".) The UK's "alphabet" recital form, at least when I was that young, is far less musical. And tends to rhyme "Z" with "Drop dead!", naturally. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.183|172.70.90.183]] 22:06, 26 June 2023 (UTC)
: I'm Canadian, similarly using "zed", and we DID use the alphabet song, we just ignored trying to rhyme that letter. :) Makes me wonder if that rhyme is WHY Americans use "zee". [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:40, 1 July 2023 (UTC)

Pretty sure he isn't questioning the position of Q as much as its inclusion. If we wanted to reform English spelling, we could get rid of Q pretty kwiklee.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.207|172.71.26.207]] 23:29, 26 June 2023 (UTC)

: Or maybe it's that old joke about why U doesn't follow Q in the alphabet? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.107|141.101.98.107]] 10:09, 27 June 2023 (UTC) Artinum

I can't be the only one who thinks there's a dirty joke in the line '"D" is solid, at least' [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.140|172.71.150.140]] 00:18, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
:I didn't. I think that joke is simply that D is a simple, enclosed shape. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:27, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
:B is also a simple, enclosed shape. I thought that the 'no heavy hitters' comment might be a reference to 'ETAION SHRDLU', the 12 most common letters in written English arranged in descending order of frequency - since it contains neither B nor C (nor, indeed, F or G).[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.146|172.69.79.146]] 05:12, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
:B has a concave feature so is not so simple a shape as D. D is the only consonant whose [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convex_hull convex hull] maintains the shape of the letter. (Imagine snapping a rubber band around the letter. The vowels I and O also have this property... at least with no serifs on the I, as drawn.) [[User:Davidhbrown|Davidhbrown]] ([[User talk:Davidhbrown|talk]]) 11:49, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
:I feel it is just that Randall finds D to be a "reliable" letter, like a workhorse letter, it does the job while not being flashy (I tend to get his thinking, MANY comics where I feel the same as him, this included, but I can't fully explain this feeling in this case, I just agree with the statement). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:40, 1 July 2023 (UTC)

PxP: I must ask, does this has anything to do with Alphabet Lore by Mike Salcedo? I feel it might be, with Q being weird and all. 12:16, 27 June 2023 (EST)

To quote my latest edit-comment: "Why number-points, anyway? Just *s would make more sense than #s, as there's no need to establish an order in most cases, especially for multi-glyph annotations" (...like the wide spread of vowels(+Y), especially). I see no need for ordinal bullet-points, but (which would have helped my prior edit, that I'd forgotten to Preview first, thus had broken/restarted the numbering) it is a prime candidate for the more traditional wikitable layout. Columns of "Letter(s), Red Comment, Possible Reason(s)" would probably suffice. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.171|172.70.162.171]] 16:43, 27 June 2023 (UTC)

In order for it to BE an 'alphabet', it has to begin with the equivalent letters for 'Alpha' and 'Beta'. Any logographic system that doesn't begin with the local equivalent of A and B (such as Chinese pinyin, or Norse runes) isn't an alphabet, no matter how many times the plebs claim it is...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.214|172.70.91.214]] 03:44, 28 June 2023 (UTC)
:Not necessarily. The name of a word doesn't necessarily correspond 1:1 with its meaning. And even if "alphabet" was originally created with that meaning (which it may or may not have), meanings can change over time. Wikipedia's {{w|Alphabet}} article lists many writing systems that aren't Latin-derived; the accepted meaning of an alphabet is any writing system that associates symbols with sounds. Not that I'm going to convince you of anything of course - your use of the word "plebs" implies that you're not willing to change your mind. [[User:DownGoer|DownGoer]] ([[User talk:DownGoer|talk]]) 05:18, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
::Seconded. Etymology and current meaning are not the same thing. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 10:55, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
: I agree with these two, in current parlance they're all alphabets. I can believe that's the origin of the word, but not that it's the current meaning. I mean, if non-Alpha-and-Beta languages '''''AREN'T''''' "alphabets", then what do you call them instead? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:40, 1 July 2023 (UTC)
: Boy, you're going to be really annoyed when you learn where the words "logograph" and "rune" come from. (To save people a Google search: "instrument or person who writes" and "secret conversation", respectively. So by your logic, the Chinese script - or indeed, any script - cannot be called a logography, and most Norse writing are not runes.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.211.36|172.71.211.36]] 12:43, 1 July 2023 (UTC)

The strong RST cluster could also reference the keys on the colemak keyboard layout where the three stronger fingers (ring, middle, left) of the left-hand sit on those keys
: This doesn't seem likely. Other than international keyboards, usually the only keyboard layout that comes up is the Dvorak. It seems clear to me that he means that they are 3 of the 5 most common letters in the English language, and they happen to be clustered together in the alphabet. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:40, 1 July 2023 (UTC)

None of the latest comics have been added to this site around when they were posted recently. —[[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.166|172.70.174.166]] 14:12, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

What's funny - but I find incredibly common - is that I agree with Randall on all of these points, LOL! I can just see what he means. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:40, 1 July 2023 (UTC)

Why're we using "number-bullets" in this page's markup/composition? Seems a strange choice... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.139|172.71.178.139]] 16:56, 2 July 2023 (UTC)

2791: Bookshelf Sorting

2023-06-22T09:48:03Z

172.71.178.139: /* Explanation */ Removing duplication

{{comic
| number = 2791
| date = June 19, 2023
| title = Bookshelf Sorting
| image = bookshelf_sorting_2x.png
| imagesize = 425x255px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Of course, I sort all my bookshelves the normal way, alphabetically (by first sentence).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOOKSHELF SORTED THE NORMAL WAY. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Some people like to sort their bookshelves by the visible color of the book's spine, for example by hue to create a rainbow effect. This is pleasing to the eye, but may be unhelpful when [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYxmPHLU9oA trying to find a specific book]. Literary enthusiasts (AKA "Book People") frequently dislike this system, because it emphasizes appearance at the expense of making books easy to find. On a philosophical level, treating books as decorations, rather than reading material, upsets many purists. "Book people" are more likely to have a practical system for arranging their books, either by category, genre, title, author name, or some combination of those. For a large library, a more rigorous organizational scheme such as the {{w|Dewey Decimal Classification}} might be used.

Unfortunately, [[Randall]] has found a ''much'' worse method of book organization - instead of sorting the books as discrete units, he has sorted their individual ''pages'' by number. This would require physically separating each book into its individual pages, and then organizing them into groups by page number. This effectively destroys every book, and requires anyone trying to read them to laboriously find each individual page (among many pages of the same number), and then replace it in the correct space after reading. Adding a new book would require individually placing potentially hundreds of pages. Where pages are not numbered, finding their place would be nearly impossible.

He doesn't denote whether he's using any particular sub-method to sort the pages within each page number, and if so, whether this is consistent per book (e.g. alphabetically by the book title), or does each page number sort independently? If the latter (e.g. each group of pages of a particular number is sorted by the first word or words on that page, similar to what is described in the title text), it would be especially difficult to reunite all the pages of a book as each page would be in a different location relative to the other pages.

From the picture, Randall's system appears to work by absolute physical page count, including the front and rear covers as 'pages'. All the front covers are on the left side, then the first internal leaf of each book (counted as the second page), then the second internal leaf, etc. This produces repeating patterns of taller and shorter loose-leaf pages, echoing the proportions of each cover, having gathered together a page of the same position in each different book. The back covers are mixed in to whatever group falls after the last internal leaf from the same book, and so are intermixed with pages from longer books. The left-most front cover matches the right-most back cover, the second front cover matches the 2nd-to-last back cover, etc. with the last of the front covers matching the first of the back covers. At the end, there are only the last pages of the longest book left, now all uniform in size, and its rear cover.

From the number of repeated page patterns, it can be determined that the shortest (inner-most) book contains approximately 28 pages, the next shortest book has about 30, the next around 32, the next around 40, etc. It gets harder to tell as the number of pages in each group gets fewer and fewer. In total Randall's bookshelf contains 11 books.

The caption claims that "book people" get way angrier at this system, likely because it involves physically destroying books, rendering them almost unreadable. People with a strong affinity for books are often upset at volumes being treated with such disrespect.

In the title text Randall claims he sorts his bookshelf alphabetically, but by the first '''sentence'''. He describes this as "the normal way", even though the typical practice is to sort books either by title or author.

Sorting by first line was, in fact, a common sorting method before books had titles, known as {{w|Incipit}}. In modern times, however, that method is wildly obsolete, as books are almost always identified by titles, few people memorize the opening lines of their books, and a film titled ''{{w|The Hobbit|In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit}}'' would not receive any funding.{{Citation needed}} However, {{w|papal encyclicals}} are still named after their first words, and thus would be sorted after their first sentence. For example, the encyclical titled ''{{w|Quanta Cura}}'' begins with "''Quanta cura'' ac pastorali vigilantia Romani Pontifices Prædecessores Nostri, exsequentes [...]".

In somewhat similar fashion, the 114 chapters of the {{w|Quran}} are roughly sorted by their length. American church hymnals list hymns by relatively meaningless numbers, but then index them by tune name, text title, first line and meter.

Some books do have very well-known first lines, so sorting by first line could be used to demonstrate a level of literary sophistication on the part of the bookshelf owner, but could hardly be considered "normal".

==Transcript==
:[A bookshelf hanging on a wall is shown. It is covered almost from left to right but not with ordinary books. To the left there are 11 covers next to each other without any paper between them. They have different heights and shades of gray. After the last of these there follows many leaves of paper of differing heights similarly to that of the covers. The top of the papers thus form a wave shape with more than twenty peaks before they reach another cover. After that there follows similar patterns with paper in different height and then a cover in between more papers. But there is a much shorter distance between the first and second cover than before the first cover, after the initial 11 covers. The next two covers are close to the first, then there is a longer stretch of paper to the fourth, much less to the fifth, and then the next three covers comes very close. There is again quite long distance to the ninth and tenth cover, and here the number of different heights for the paper are clearly less than the previous paper stretches. Finally before the last and 11th cover all the paper, not much of it though, are of the same height, and just a bit lower than the final cover. The 11 covers at the start matches the 11 covers later and they comes in reverse order throughout the paper stretches as they are sorted to begin with, so the first and last cover matches, as does number 2 and the second last etc. There is a caption beneath the panel:]
:Book people hate seeing books sorted by colors, but it turns out they get ''way'' more angry if you sort the pages by number.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2790: Heat Pump

2023-06-17T05:35:56Z

172.71.178.139:

woah! an xkcd with color what was the last one with color? (im kinda new to xkcd) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.48|172.71.122.48]] 21:17, 16 June 2023 (UTC)Erfaniom

I suppose color was needed to show the air temperature. Odd, though, that in summer (in the northern hemisphere), the character is trying to increase the indoor temperature. [[User:Davidhbrown|Davidhbrown]] ([[User talk:Davidhbrown|talk]]) 21:27, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
:He's not. He's moving the hot air from inside to the cooler outside. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:18, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
:::he's actually heating it, the comic is set in winter. It's a reference to the discussion about regulating heating systems in Germany. I added something about that in the explanation, but I don't think I made the citation right (I'm not to editing wikis) [[User:Marta]] ([[User talk:Marta|talk]]) 05:25, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
::::Nearly right. Simple "insert URL" as a 'number' is single []s, or [<url><space>some text] to have it given linking text (preferable).
::::Plus you seem to have not used the four tildes, i.e. [code][nowiki][[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.139|172.71.178.139]] 05:35, 17 June 2023 (UTC)[/nowiki][/code] to sign the above comment (made it correct, for you), plus confusingly replied ''before'' another reply (so I indented you a bit more, as well as it now having that timestamp to make precedence clear).
::::But these are all things you'll pick up, I'm sure, if you're going to be getting [used] to wikis... Welcome! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.139|172.71.178.139]] 05:35, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
::I actully think he's warming the inside, already warmer than outside, by effectively (and literally!) squeezing the heat out of the cooler outdoors air.
::By compressing the cool outdoor air, he increases its temperature (p1v1/t1=p2v2/t2) to warmer than the warm indoor air, creating a squeezebox->room flow of heat energy, then returns to the outside before decompressing and lowering the temperature in his squeezebox below the cool-air temperature in order to create an outdoors->squeezebox flow of energy and repeat. (The comic has the cycle start at roughly half-way through that, and wraps round, but the heat-to-room seemed the most obvious starting place here.)
::Right now, I'd not wish to heat my indoors up (even at 11:30pm, like now), so I agree that it's a funny time of year show heat-adding (rather than heat removing), but it definitely is that. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.154|172.70.86.154]] 22:31, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
:::Assumption(?): Indoors is on the LHS and higher, outdoors on the RHS and lower, door opens outwards and steps down to "outside". He COULD instead be cooling a basement apartment with a door that opens inwards (like mine)... however he seems to make a noticeable difference to the red, not the blue, so... probably not. :-/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.160|172.70.34.160]] 02:36, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Wasnt there a "My hobby is to open my refrigerator and when people tell me that doesnt help, I sneak into their house and use their AC?" Comic? I cant find it, but we should link it in the "how leaving a fridge open doesnt help" section [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.158|172.71.142.158]] 23:36, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

I think it's talking about leaving the door open in general i.e. forgetting to close it when getting groceries, not specifically when he's moving the heat pump [[User:Firestar233|Firestar233]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|talk]]) 23:40, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

I can't think of a good reason to say this, but my new fridge doesn't warm up on the back. It warms on the sides. A bad (and quite a PITA reason) is I had to get a new fridge. Protip: don't panic, and do put the sacks of ice into something that won't leak. First time I've met a fridge that doesn't warm on the back.
Btw, red hot blue cold. Pink? Light blue? A light blue a pink? Shrug. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.31|172.70.43.31]] 23:57, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

How many trips would this take? I'll leave the exact parameters of the calculation up to you. (Nerd sniping attempt.) ~ Megan she/her [[user talk:megan|talk]]/[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 00:20, 17 June 2023 (UTC)
: 42. But stick figures are just lines and have no surface area for heat transfer.
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.236|172.70.134.236]] 01:02, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2783: Ruling Out

2023-06-05T16:46:05Z

172.71.178.139: Moved comment (not in middle of other comments) and giving a reply answer.

Wow. the amount of citation needed tags is excessive. Here's a fun idea, do like that SMBC comic and actually find and give citations. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.72|172.69.70.72]] 19:41, 31 May 2023 (UTC)Bumpf
:Definitely. I fixed one (it should have been ''after'' the comma), during some other edits, but was sorely tempted to remove maybe two of them to just keep the funniest one(s). Whichever that(/they) might be. I expect they'll almost all evaporate in a future edit, though, as there's plenty of editting bound to be done.

::Nice work to whomever on that! Xkcd never fails to make me smile if not LOL, and Explainxkcd never fails to teach cool facts. o7 [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.147|172.69.134.147]] 21:28, 31 May 2023 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure there has been serious scholarship about the habitable zone of some quasars. Let's see.... Here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2364/1/012057/pdf Not absolutely certain, but absolutely '''not''' ruled out. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.24|172.69.134.24]] 20:02, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:I think that Cueball's scientific team did a study to discount the possibilities of quasars in the habitable zone of a star, not of a habitable zone around a quasar.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.249|172.71.166.249]] 20:52, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
::A quasar could exist in the habitable zone of a star, and if it was particularly dim, it wouldn't make the zone inhabitable. There's no minimum brightness for quasars, is there? For example, [https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/728/1/26] defines quasars in terms of relative magnitude, so I don't see why a tiny black hole with a small but sufficient accretion disk in translunar orbit couldn't qualify. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.162|172.69.134.162]] 20:54, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:::Relative to their ''entire galaxy!'' Fixed explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.175|162.158.166.175]] 09:02, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

I don't know how to properly describe the length of time the Moon's orbit of the Earth has been known. If you think that the moon orbits the earth, but you also think the sun, stars, and planets orbit the earth, do you actually have any way to justifiably say that you know that the Moon orbits the Earth? Also, is it worth pointing out the reasons that the moon is such an obvious thing to know about (i.e. its visibility and prominence to the naked eye, its cultural significance,...)?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.183|162.158.174.183]] 20:59, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:Interesting xkcd (sort-of) reference here. Back when What-If questions started being solicited, I sent in something (roughly) like "When trying to justify the original geocentric theory of the solar system, it is said that it had always 'looked like everything went round the Earth'... What would it have looked like if it had always looked like everything, including the Earth, went round the Sun?" ...which I'm pretty sure never got answered. Probably didn't spark enough possible scope for that good old xkcd magic. But I saw plenty of other good stuff, so no regrets on my part. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.251|172.70.162.251]] 23:14, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
::I think your question was particularly difficult to answer in any way other than "Everything ''does'' go around the sun. To see what that looks like, look up." I suppose your question (if I'm understanding what you may be looking for) may be stated otherwise as "How different would the movement of our Solar System need to be in order to make it obvious that everything revolves around the sun (to a layperson observer on Earth)"? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.194|172.70.206.194]] 14:50, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
:::I don't see much difference between the two ways of putting it (unless you think your one means seeing the 'orbital rails' upon which everything encircles things, or something).
:::Maybe, though, a fairly visible (lunar-sized) satellite of Mars/Venus might be on the edge of discernability (not needing Galileo's assisted view of the Saturnian system, just the kind of patience that raw-eyeballing astronomers used with discerning 'close' stars from each other) thus demonstrating non-geocentrism much earlier and easier and somewhat more undeniable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.128|172.71.242.128]] 17:29, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
::::My proposed question was meant to clarify, so it shouldn't be much different :-) I don't know what the answer would be, but my hope was to clear up that the question wasn't simply "What would it look like if the Earth revolved around the sun?" which is what I had originally interpreted the question as before I decided that it probably wasn't the question that was meant to be asked [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.90|172.70.210.90]] 17:40, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
:::::Maybe clunkily given here (really we need to see the original Q, not the half-recalled paraphrasing so many years after) but "in order to make it obvious that everything revolves around the [S]un" doesn't look like what you say you first read it as. So to bad writing (capital 'S'!) perhaps add bad reading, I suspect. But we're all fallible. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.171|172.70.91.171]] 17:57, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

Y'know, I'm not entirely convinced that "tectonically active black holes" is something that we're actually capable of ruling out [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.190|172.68.174.190]] 22:33, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:Even if the black hole is tectonically active, its activity is in one direction only: forward, where you can never catch up to it. The damage is extreme, but it's held safely in the boundary of the singularity. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.203|172.70.130.203]] 01:10, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
:I agree; black holes occupy a non-zero volume. Since the space below the event horizon has depth, I don't see any reason why the arrangement of mass inside could not shift. Indeed, the evidence of gravitational irregularities affecting their accretion discs, seems like evidence of nonhomogeneity within that volume. I think black holes probably ''do'' have "tectonic" activity!
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:27, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
::Counting all the volume within the event horizon (infinite, due to the infinite curvature), the density wouldn't support tectonics. The acretion disc is affected by what is on the verge of falling in (minus what has ''actually'' fallen in which just acts as a hairless 'lump'). Not sure you can call what happens in the disc as 'tectonics'... No pressures from below (the opposite) it's just interactions of decaying orbits. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.137|172.71.178.137]] 18:43, 2 June 2023 (UTC)

Did anyone else see the connection between this comic and the NASA briefing yesterday on UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, their term for UFOs)? In the briefing they discussed that the approach they'd need to take is one of ruling out everything else instead of saying for certain that "this is a UAP". I think that's the entire intent of this joke - to comment on the NASA briefing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.113|162.158.175.113]] 11:50, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

Strictly speaking, the first two classes of object listed couldn't be 'ruled out' by a study, since they're non-existent by definition, and therefore can't be subject to any meaningful proof or disproof.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.87|172.71.242.87]] 15:58, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
:While exoplanets in our solar system are non-existent by definition, ruling out earth-like stars does need some study to prove that earth is neither star nor sufficiently star-like. Note that you CAN find Jupiter-like stars. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:55, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
:I think part of the joke is that the "study" is just a scientist saying "Yup, that can't exist." [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:19, 2 June 2023 (UTC)

I think the entire point of including “habitable-zone quasars” was completely missed so far. It’s not that a quasar can’t have a habitable zone near it, even if that’s unlikely, nor is it that a quasar couldn’t be in a star’s habitable zone. It’s that SO WHAT IF IT IS? You couldn’t inhabit a quasar regardless what ‘zone’ it was in. If you were looking for a new home, you’d look at homes within a price range you could afford (not too expensive, but not TOO cheap). Looking for a quasar in the habitable zone of a star would be like asking a realtor to show you an active volcano within your price range. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.155|172.69.33.155]] 20:13, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
:Well ... "active volcano within my price range" is exactly what traditional Evil Overlord asks for. The smarter ones ask for volcanos which are non-active but can be made looking active. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:55, 1 June 2023 (UTC)
::Volcano?!? Most of us can't even afford a sinkhole. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:31, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
:::You need to up your evil overlord game, Zarquon. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.54|162.158.166.54]] 20:44, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
:::Afford? In Florida, many people get one for free. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 18:43, 4 June 2023 (UTC)

Given the text at the bottom of the drawing, this also sounds like a reference to Hempel's paradox (aka raven paradox) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven_paradox
[[User:Gisbert|Gisbert]] ([[User talk:Gisbert|talk]]) 21:01, 1 June 2023 (UTC)

"has to be brighter than our Sun because it's part of the containing galaxy" (edit comment) - I interpret the spec differently. This makes a quasar far more unbalancingly relative, whereby perfectly valid quasars in the next galaxy over, or further, are considered nothing of the sort for (some/most/nearly all/..?) any residents of the quasar's own galaxy who just 'happen' to be (their equivalent of) 1AU from even a very non-descript star of their own that yet easily outshines their non-quasar galactic centre (at the equivalent time, even direction, of observation). And how does that juustify multi-quasar galaxies, where the output of one may (or may not, it could result in mutual exclusion) outshine the total power of the rest of the galaxy including the other potential one(s). Yet true examples exist, that are not just false bedfellows through near-occluding asterisms. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.127|172.70.90.127]] 10:42, 4 June 2023 (UTC)

Just wondering. What would a rogue planet (clearly an exoplanet) that travels through our solar system be called? [[User:MDwayne|MDwayne]] ([[User talk:MDwayne|talk]]) 12:47, 4 June 2023 (UTC)
:Its page on Wikipedia is {{w|Rogue planet}}, as you named it, though I would gravitate (NPI!) towards the term Nomad. And noting that the category "Exoplanets" tends to exclude planetary-mass bodies unbound to extrasolar stars, so already really something else. (If we get better at studying them, perhaps ejected ones, i.e. "ex-exoplanets", ''might'' be brought into the fold, but any actual "failed sub-brown-dwarf" bodies were never planets to start with.)
:Such an itinerant visitor (unless it is lucky and somehow snags a gravitational reverse-slingshot to try at least a few orbits to try to become a new Solar planet; or we're unlucky enough that it collides with/deflects one or other of the current contingent and causes ourselves problems of some degree or other) would probably zoom through our system and out pretty quickly (in observational terms), and if it was happening frequentlt then the purturbations would probably be identified as aperiodic/randomly-orientated influences, so we're probably not likely to get one to even try to falsify that particular statement. Never say never but, even if you want to argue terminology, you might have to wait a while before seeing a non-solar planet do a "Bronson Beta/Zyra" (When Worlds Collide) and pass through, with or without the damage of the Bronson Alpha/Bellus partner. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.160|172.70.162.160]] 16:58, 4 June 2023 (UTC)

::Interesting response to my mildly sarcastic jab at part of the comic's content. I'm not sure, however, if your thesis statement about the definition of an exoplanet is set. Contradicting the claim that Wikipedia suggests a rogue planet cannot be an exoplanet, NASA suggests it is:[http://exoplanets.nasa.gov/what-is-an-exoplanet/overview/#:~:text=An%20exoplanet%20is%20any%20planet,are%20untethered%20to%20any%20star NASA Exoplanet] - in terms of this type of stuff, I give NASA an edge as a reference.
::With regards to any event that could happen, even if it is rare, still has a non-zero probability of happening. Who conceived we would witness Oumuamua? How much bigger would it have to be to be a planet? So, in the spirit of the topic, maybe it '''COULD''' be a legitimate area of study.[[User:MDwayne|MDwayne.ca]] ([[User talk:MDwayne|talk]]) 18:52, 4 June 2023 (UTC)
:::NASA is all well and good, when it comes to physical rocketry or the associated human-sphere of space, but I'd probably defer to the [https://arxiv.org/pdf/2203.09520.pdf IAU definition] as the (best current, terran) authority on the greater expanses of the universe. (It's hinted at, early on, but section 2.6 deals explicitly with this, then Section 3 Item 3 says it plainly, with possible modifications (that only reinforces this) in Section 4.)
:::That also helps with "how much bigger", re: Oumuamua, I suspect. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.147|141.101.99.147]] 19:22, 4 June 2023 (UTC)

(New comment) I added a cite for Earth not a star [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.219|172.70.90.219]] 19:47, 31 May 2023 (UTC)
:In light of that, I removed the Citation Needed connected to that 'citation'. But I also made the link not include the highlight text bit (you've gone to the top link on a Google search, I imagine?) and also turned it into a much more aesthetic straight text link rather than a [number] thing that did it no favours. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.139|172.71.178.139]] 16:46, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

2782: Wikipedia Article Titles

2023-05-29T20:21:08Z

172.71.178.139: /* Explanation */ Comma clearly in wrong place (e.g. excise the comma-to-comma caveat and it still makes sense)

{{comic
| number = 2782
| date = May 29, 2023
| title = Wikipedia Article Titles
| image = wikipedia_article_titles_2x.png
| imagesize = 402x439px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I would never stoop to vandalism, but I'm not above discreetly deleting the occasional 'this article contains excessive amounts of detail' tag.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by MERYL STREEP'S SECOND SEAGULL. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is a chart reflecting where various Wikipedia articles (real or imagined) might rank in how effectively they would act as {{w|clickbait}} to [[Randall]].

{{w|Meryl Streep}} is a famous and widely acclaimed American actress. Randall apparently has little interest in reading about her. He appears to have slightly more interest in reading about seagulls, which on Wikipedia redirect to the {{w|Gull}} article, because "seagull" is a common colloquial synonym. Two more units down from "seagull" on Randall's scale indicating his increasing interest level, he suggests that a hypothetical Wikipedia link to "Meryl Streep (seagull)", which according to {{w|Wikipedia:Article titles#Precision|Wikipedia article title conventions}} refers to a notable seagull named Meryl Streep, would be more interesting to him.

Streep was a lead actress in a 2001 {{w|Delacorte Theatre}} production of {{w|Anton Chekhov}}'s play, ''{{w|The Seagull}}''.[https://playbill.com/article/the-seagull-opens-its-wings-in-central-park-aug-12-com-98105] A further three units beyond is a hypothetical link to an article about a "Meryl Streep Seagull incident", which while probably not conforming to {{w|Wikipedia:Article titles#Descriptive title|Wikipedia's requirements for sufficiently descriptive article titles}}, might refer to a notable event which occurred during the production of the 2001 play. According to an [https://www.salon.com/2001/08/27/seagull/ August 27, 2001 article in ''Salon''], "a 40-ish man was found dead in the bushes from a single gunshot wound near the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, just yards away from where [Streep's co-star] {{w|Philip Seymour Hoffman}} offs himself with a single gunshot wound every night as Konstantin Gavrilovich in Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull.''" However, there is no hint of any direct connection between Streep and the deceased and, absent any clear evidence reported in {{w|Wikipedia:Reliable sources#News organizations|reliable news sources}} indicating that there is, it is extremely unlikely that Wikipedia editors would create or allow an article with a title suggesting there may be, as that would violate their {{w|Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons|Biographies of living persons policy}}.

Alternatively, such an article could be about an incident in which a seagull notably caused Meryl Streep problems, a time when Meryl Streep notably caused problems for a seagull, both, or other variations occurring in multiple incidents, as the final imagined Wikipedia page is a {{w|Wikipedia:Disambiguation|disambiguation page}} on such topics, depicted as four units even more likely to be more quickly clicked. Disambiguation pages are only necessary when there are multiple notable articles of sufficiently similar names which must be listed with clarifying details to avoid confusion. However, the titles of disambiguation pages rarely appear in links, as you usually reach them as a result of a search for an ambiguous term such as "{{w|go}}".

The title text suggests that Randall is a Wikipedia {{w|Deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia|inclusionist}}, and as such is not above occasionally deleting editorial message boxes claiming that their article contains too much detail.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Chart title:] Hypothetical Wikipedia article titles
:[Chart subtitle:] Ranked by how quickly I would click on them

:[A vertical axis with eleven evenly spaced positions marked along it, without units or magnitudes]
:[An abbreviated arrow to the left of the axis indicates that downwards is:] More quickly
:[Alongside the topmost tick mark:] Meryl Streep
:[Alongside 2nd tick mark:] Seagull
:[Alongside 4th tick mark:] Meryl Streep (seagull)
:[Alongside 7th tick mark:] Meryl Streep seagull incident
:[Alongside 11th, and final visible, tick mark:] Meryl Streep seagull incident (disambiguation)

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1953: The History of Unicode

2023-05-29T18:55:12Z

172.71.178.139: Undo revision 314469 by 172.71.222.84 (talk) Well, the pun is "Independant State" with "Independent senator" like a "Republican state" has a "Republican senator", I presume. So re-adding.

{{comic
| number = 1953
| date = February 9, 2018
| title = The History of Unicode
| image = the_history_of_unicode.png
| titletext = 2048: "Great news for Maine—we're once again an independent state!!! Thanks, @unicode, for ruling in our favor and sending troops to end New Hampshire's annexation. 🙏🚁🎖️"
}}

==Explanation==
An {{w|character encoding|encoding of a character set}} is a mapping from characters to numbers. For example, the letter "A" might be represented by the value 65. A problem was that each script had its own character set. Different characters could be represented by the same value. Some languages, such as Japanese, had several inconsistent character encodings, so before people could send text, they would have to have agreed which character set to use. {{w|Unicode}} was planned as a way of solving this by providing for a single character encoding for all the various characters used in the world's languages.

Unicode is run by {{w|Unicode Consortium|a consortium}} of major technology companies and stakeholders. The founders of Unicode include {{w|Joe Becker (Unicode)|Joe Becker}}, who worked for Xerox in the 1980s. He has a beard and may be the character featured in the first and third panels.

New characters have continued to be added to Unicode, and recently many "{{w|emoji}}" (picture characters) have been added. Emoji were originally added to be compatible with text message encodings in Japan, but after devices in other countries started supporting them as part of Unicode, they caught on worldwide. Now emoji characters are added for their own sake, not just for compatibility.

The [https://emojipedia.org/lobster/ lobster emoji], 🦞, was approved as part of Unicode 11, for release in 2018. This comic was published on February 10, 2018‎.

This comic shows the creator of Unicode talking about how it would change the way we thought about managing text, which could help with incompatible binary text encoding. This seems to have derailed over the next 30 years, as shown in [https://twitter.com/SenAngusKing/status/961331752718557184 a real tweet] from the junior Senator from {{w|Maine}}, {{w|Angus King}}. In the {{w|Twitter|tweet}}, Sen. King writes that he is excited that the system is getting a new lobster emoji, showing that now the Unicode system is used for more frivolous reasons. He even signs using two emoji to form his name. There is a cattle breed called {{w|Angus cattle}}, so the cow emoji, 🐮, stands for "Angus", and the crown emoji, 👑, of course represents "King". Thus Angus King becomes 🐮👑. This is thus not part of the xkcd joke; it just uses the real tweet for comic effect. The tweet was released February 7th, only two days before this comic; the second comment on the tweet posted this comic and asked which came first, but of course the tweet did. A user comments that Senator King should see it as a badge of honor (🎖) to have his tweet included in an xkcd strip...

The title text imagines that Unicode will gain other unexpected roles in the next 30 years. In particular it acts as an armed force, capable of intervening in military disputes, such as an annexation of Maine by its neighbor, New Hampshire. The title text ends with three Unicode emoji: "🙏" code point 1F64F "PERSON WITH FOLDED HANDS", "🚁" code point 1F681 "HELICOPTER", and "🎖" code point 1F396 "MILITARY MEDAL", suggesting that they are thanking them for their effort in the war, sending helicopters and soldiers to aid them against New Hampshire. The phrase "we're once again an independent state" may also be a political pun, as 2048 should be an election year, and King is an Independent senator.

==Transcript==
:[1988:]
:[A bearded man holds a document labeled "Unicode". Most likely he represents Joe Becker.]
:Bearded man: My "Unicode" standard should help reduce problems caused by incompatible binary text encodings.

:[2018:]
:[A tweet from Twitter is shown. To the left of Senator Angus King's name is his avatar (a face with a mustache) and to the right is the blue checkmark used by Twitter to signify a verified user.]
:Senator Angus King‏
:@SenAngusKing
:Great news for Maine - we're getting a lobster emoji!!! Thanks to @unicode for recognizing the impact of this critical crustacean, in Maine and across the country.
:Yours truly,
:Senator 🐮👑
:2/7/18 3:12 PM

:[Cueball and the bearded man (the latter now grey-haired) are looking at a wall with the Unicode standard, labeled "1988", and Senator King's tweet, labeled "2018", posted on it.]
:Cueball: What... what happened in those thirty years?
:Bearded man: ''Things got a little weird, okay?''

==Trivia==
*Initial version of the comic had "1998" in panel 3 instead of "1988" as shown in panel 1. This was fixed later.

*Ironically, [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1953:_The_History_of_Unicode&oldid=152168 the first version of this article] (automatically generated by a bot) had problems with emoji encoding.

*At one time the scenario in the title text wouldn't have been ''quite'' as far-fetched as it sounds. Maine and New Hampshire were for many years involved in border disputes, primarily over {{w|New Hampshire v. Maine|fishing rights}} and whether {{w|Seavey%27s Island|Seavey Island}}, located in the middle of the river that forms the border of the two states, was part of Maine or New Hampshire. The latter issue {{w|Piscataqua River border dispute|was not settled until 2002}}. Neither dispute ever quite rose to the level of a full-on shooting war but [http://nhpr.org/post/legacy-nh-maine-lobster-war-and-why-it-may-wage#stream/0 they got surprisingly close].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Emoji]]
[[Category:Unicode]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

2668: Artemis Quote

2022-09-06T05:08:15Z

172.71.178.139: /* Explanation */ Schwaness is irrelevent. Other link does not even say that "a" is optional as suggested (only "the", with context dependency). Whole sentence debatable and, given it was an admitted error/miscommunication, irrelevent.

{{comic
| number = 2668
| date = September 5, 2022
| title = Artemis Quote
| image = artemis_quote.png
| titletext = Another option: "It is an honor to be the first human to set foot on the moon."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|created by a COLLABORATIVE EFFORT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The {{w|Artemis program}} is a series of planned space missions that will land people on the Moon and begin to set up infrastructure for a permanent crewed presence. People first landed on the Moon in 1969 as part of the {{w|Apollo program}}. They have not been back since 1972.

When {{w|Neil Armstrong}} became the first person to walk on the Moon, he famously said, "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." However, he was intending to say, "That's one small step for '''''a''''' man; one giant leap for mankind [emphasis added]." [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Frase_de_Neil_Armstrong.ogg The audio recording] omits the word "a", making the sentence confusing, as "man" and "mankind" have the same meaning when referring to all people. That it was apparently elided by Armstrong in the excitement, changing the meaning of the historical phrase, is controversial and thus humorous. Subsequently, Armstrong and others have blamed insufficiently tuned {{w|voice activity detection}} hardware circuitry intended to save power in radio voice transmission, but NASA engineers, third-party historians and their hired experts have never been able to corroborate that explanation.[https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a11/a11.step.html][http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003645.html] Armstrong later said he, "would hope that history would grant me leeway for dropping the syllable and understand that it was certainly intended, even if it was not said," and, on p.126 of the June 1982 edition of ''Omni,'' "the 'a' is implied, so I'm happy if they just put it in parentheses."

[[Randall]] suggests that the first Artemis astronaut to set foot on the Moon has a duty to utter an even more confusing quote, saying the sentence, "This is one of my favorite historical quotes — the first words spoken by an Artemis astronaut on the moon," aloud as they step onto the Moon. When quoted by later historians, that would be confusingly self-referential, as if they were alluding to something from the past. This is very unlikely, and funny merely as a recommendation. If it actually happened, it might be both hilarious and scandalous. While the comic's lunar lander has similarities to the {{w|Starship HLS|current plans}} for the Artemis lander,[https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/as-artemis-moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-to-land-next-americans-on-moon] it's a generic drawing, perhaps in homage to classic space science fiction, with the exit portal at an unlikely position near the base of the {{w|SpaceX Starship}} lander.[https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-moon-elevator-nasa-prototype/]

The title text suggests an alternate phrase by which the Artemis astronaut could say being the first (rather than 13th) person on the Moon is a great honor. People hearing this quote in the future could assume that Artemis was the first crewed mission to the Moon. It could feed into contemporary conspiracy theories that the Apollo landings were faked, furthering the confusion.

This comic coincides with the canceled launch of {{w|Artemis 1}}, an uncrewed test mission which will serve as the start of the Artemis program. The mission was intended to launch on 29 August 2022, and later on 3 September 2022, but was repeatedly postponed due to a series of technical problems and will now take place no earlier than late September 2022.

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

:[The surface of the Moon, with typical craters and rocks across a landscape with a subtle but visibly curved horizon. In the foreground, a vertical rocket standing on four deployed legs. A short ladder, or set of steps, leads down from a hatch in the lower part of the rocket body. The figure of an astronaut is shown having just now stepped forward onto the Moon's surface.]
:Astronaut: This is one of my favorite historical quotes — the first words spoken by an Artemis astronaut on the Moon.

:Caption: Neil Armstrong's "man"/"a man" quote created a lot of historical confusion, and I think it's our duty to expand on that legacy with Artemis.

{{comic discussion}}