explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2939: Complexity Analysis

2024-05-31T13:29:14Z

172.71.242.71: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2939
| date = May 29, 2024
| title = Complexity Analysis
| image = complexity_analysis_2x.png
| imagesize = 430x361px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = PERPETUALLY OPTIMISTIC CASE: Early in the execution, our research group makes a breakthrough in proving P=NP.
}}

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

[[Cueball]] is teaching about an algorithm's complexity. The average-case complexity of the algorithm is written in {{w|Big O notation}} as O(''n'' log ''n''), expressing the asymptotic runtime of the algorithm as the number of inputs to it grows larger and larger.

The comic's joke involves taking the terms "best case" and "worst case" far more broadly and literally than intended. Cueball presents not just the best/worst cases for the data input into the function, but also the global environment as a whole, taking in factors such as the United States Congress which should fall ''far'' outside the algorithm's scope.

In particular, the joke regards the analysis of a closed system, which is common in engineering. Recently, technology has become so prevalent and integrated with humanity, that conventionally closed systems are now behaving openly. Results regarding external feedback on engineering choices have been emerging on the world stage. People have been engineering more and more for the larger situation possibly using more {{w|Game theory}} than Big O, but continuing to use the analytical approaches that assume systems are closed produces ridiculous results because living beings and societies are now in the loop.

An algorithm's "best case" is typically its runtime when its inputs have optimal values and it runs in as little time as possible. The joke here is that not only does it run quicker than this by being terminated early because it's 'unnecessary', but its runtime appears to be an hour shorter still because of an act of Congress changing {{w|daylight saving time}}, giving it an end time (in local time) that is an hour less than it would otherwise have been. Potentially this would result in an end time that is less than its start time, and therefore an apparently ''negative'' 'runtime'. Daylight saving time is a [[:Category: Daylight saving time|recurrent theme]] on xkcd, and it is clear that Randall is not a fan, so Congress making surprise DST changes is another way for Randall to mock the concept.

The "worst case" refers to the movie {{w|Groundhog Day (movie)|Groundhog Day}}, in which the same events occur over and over in a sort of time loop. (This movie has been referenced before in [[1076|1076: Groundhog Day]].) If the hardware running the algorithm is stuck in this kind of loop that resets to a previous time before it gets finished, then the algorithm would never terminate. This gives rise to a philosophical question about the movie as to whether the whole world is reset after every day, or just the town where the movie takes place. If it is just the town, and you could still connect to their hardware from outside, then from that perspective the algorithm would appear to be taking an interminably long time to run. If the whole world resets, since people (aside from the movie's main character) do not experience the reset, it would only appear to take as long as it did on the final day when it was completed.

This may be an indirect reference to the {{w|halting problem}}, a famous problem in computer science. The halting problem is {{w|undecidable}}, meaning that no general algorithm can tell whether a given algorithm will halt, but the widely accepted traditional proof of this relies on external action on details of a system considered closed.

The title text refers to perhaps an even more famous problem in computer science: {{w|P versus NP problem|P versus NP}}. This asks whether every problem whose solution can be quickly verified (in nondeterministic polynomial time, {{w|NP_(complexity)|NP}}) can also be quickly solved (in polynomial time, {{w|polynomial time|P}}). The P-versus-NP problem is one of the seven {{w|Millennium Prize Problems}}, and as such has a $1 million prize for its solution. Presumably, the problem discussed here is in NP, so if P=NP, its worst-case runtime would be some polynomial O(''nk)''. However, P vs. NP is a Millennium Prize Problem for a reason; most computer scientists expect that P≠NP, so hoping for a breakthrough in proving P=NP is "perpetually optimistic". This may be a reference to {{w|Optimism bias}} and the {{w|Planning fallacy}}, whereby people tend to assume that the most favourable outcome will be the most likely.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding a presentation pointer stick, pointing to a table behind him that towers above him. The table has a heading above it and then two columns and three rows. the first column is slim and the second much broader.]
:Results of algorithm complexity analysis:
:{| class="wikitable"
|Average case
|O(n log n)
|-
|Best case
| The algorithm turns out to be unnecessary and is halted, then Congress enacts surprise daylight saving time and we gain an hour
|-
|Worst case
|Town in which the hardware is located enters a Groundhog Day scenario, the algorithm never terminates
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

Talk:2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-21T15:39:26Z

172.71.242.71:

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

question 5, planets exist outside the solar system, adding to the ambiguity. [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:15, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:One of the requirements in the definition of a planet is that it orbits the Sun, so no there are no planets outside the Solar system. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 17:50, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

::{{w|NASA}} disagrees. [https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/ Exoplanet Archive] shows 5612 confirmed planets. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:55, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
::: The IAU is the body that defines such things - and they do say that planets have to orbit the Sun...things that orbit other stars are properly called "exo-planets". But still - do we include dwarf planets? Rogue planets? It's definitely a crazy-vague question. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.219|172.70.211.219]] 21:05, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:::: the IAU is one body that claims the authority to define such things, but their authority is not recognized by any of the things they are claiming the right to name. (Except for a very small part of earth, mostly made of humans) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.203|172.69.58.203]] 00:10, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
::::That seems ridiculous, "If it isn't one of ours it don't count"? That'd be like saying "They're only 'cars' if they use North American roads, in other countries using THEIR roads you have to call them exo-cars!". LOL! And every future/space-based fiction calls them planets, just makes more sense not to be so arbitrarily exclusionary. Ours isn't the only sun, we shouldn't pretend it has some aspect that makes it count more than others - outside of that it's the one with us. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:09, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
::::: Correction, the IAU definition explicitly states that it is only about planets within the solar system and has no comment about exoplanets one way or the other. Presumably, to leave some flexibility on all the weird edge cases that are bound to come up with exoplanets. https://www.iau.org/static/resolutions/Resolution_GA26-5-6.pdf [[Special:Contributions/172.68.195.213|172.68.195.213]] 07:55, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

: I think the correct answer is 0: before the solar system formed there were no planets. So, originally, there would have been none. If exo-planets count, going back to the beginning of time gives the same answer: when the universe came into existence during the big bang there were no stars, let alone planets orbiting them. Even religion agrees: in the beginning God created the earth and the heavens, but the sun came later, so technically earth was not a planet since it didn't orbit anything.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.49|162.158.62.49]] 22:23, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

As for question 9, please see the note about the history of Austrailia's capitals at: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_national_capitals#Oceania]]. and the page regarding countries with multiple capitals [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_multiple_capitals]] [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:24, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
: See Also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_capital_cities List of Australian capital cities] - As an Australian, I believe many would also consider the major city in their state/territory to be a capital city, although not the capital of Australia.

About the alt text, London is certainly in Europe. The question itself is malformed because "Europe (or 'the EU')" is not self-consistent: there is a lot of European countries that are not part of the EU. [[User:RedGolpe|RedGolpe]] ([[User talk:RedGolpe|talk]]) 14:32, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:The "Greater London" answer is also tricksy, as the "ceremonial county" of GL {{w|London boroughs|may not include}} the additional area of the City Of London (though it does include the City Of Westminster, which is sometimes the trick answer to certain trick questions that a quizmaster might attempt to pull). The ''administrative'' Greater London is the ceremonial one ''plus'' CoL, however... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.19|172.70.162.19]] 15:04, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
::I would argue London is not in Europe because there is no clear definition for Europe as a geographic area, it really doesn't have an eastern border that is not arbitrary, so the only clearly defined thing Europe can refer to is the EU. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 17:50, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:::London, France is both in Europe and the EU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_France [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.49|172.70.163.49]] 18:00, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:::While the eastern border of Europe is not clearly defined I am not aware that there is any definition of (geographic) Europe that excludes the islands (and subsequently London) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.135|162.158.202.135]] 21:24, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
::::There's "mainland Europe", excluding islands. Or at least any of several possibly island archipeligos and/or island nationstates. e.g. Mont-Saint-Michel might not be (exluded, that is, due to being French and having a (tide-dependant) ground access), Jersey would be (British Crown Territory island), Malta probably (island state), Sicily would depend on your thinking (it being Italian, and much larger than the strait that makes it an island offshoot). Most of Scandinavia might be interestingly included (with Denmark) or excluded (with Iceland), according to context. Even Gibraltar might or might not be, depending upon upon the thinking (or lack of it) behind the use of the term. (But, fiddling around the edges aside, (the English) London is not in "mainland Europe" and hasn't been for maybe a full 10kY before it became "London" in any useful sense.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.49|172.70.163.49]] 23:44, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

::::: The phrase "continental Europe" is also used, and might be implied by a British person saying "I travelled around Europe last year". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.54|172.69.195.54]] 15:01, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

::::: The (semi-)apocryphal headline "Fog In Channel, Continent Cut Off" is perhaps indicative of the {{w|Continental Europe#Great Britain and Ireland}} British collective mindset (of which I must therefore be a component, albeit not at that end of the spectrum). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.71|172.71.242.71]] 15:39, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

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

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

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

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

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

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

I thought the answer to #2 could be 1, because as 3D solids they only have one surface. I would guess the player with the most points outside of a game is the one who's played idlers (like Cookie Clicker) the longest — though I suppose those could be considered "inside of a game" as well. Also, I played the drums. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.254.143|172.70.254.143]] 15:33, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:The answer to #2 is '2 - the in-side and the out-side'.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.242|172.69.43.242]] 15:46, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

Considering the platonic solids explanation lists all the correct answers, could someone include a list of all the members of BTS and their respective birthdays? Bing copilot suggests the following:

1. **Jin (Kim Seok-jin)**:
- Birthday: **December 4, 1992**

2. **Suga (Min Yoon-gi)**:
- Birthday: **March 9, 1993**

3. **J-Hope (Jung Hoseok)**:
- Birthday: **February 18, 1994**

4. **RM (Kim Nam-joon)**:
- Birthday: **September 12, 1994**

5. **Jimin (Park Ji-min)**:
- Birthday: **October 13, 1995**

6. **V (Kim Tae-Hyung)**:
- V's birthday is **December 30**, but the year is not mentioned in the provided information.

7. **Jungkook (Jeon Jungkook)**:
- Jungkook's birthday is **September 1**, but the year is not mentioned in the provided information.
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.19|172.70.162.19]] 15:48, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

: I'm not opposed to adding BTS birthdays, but I think it should be done by someone more knowledgeable about the band than me. Birthdays can be a surprisingly nuanced subject.[[User:Comatoran|Comatoran]] ([[User talk:Comatoran|talk]]) 15:59, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:Wikipedia says {{w|V_(singer)|'95}} and {{w|Jungkook|'97}} respectively[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.37|172.70.162.37]] 16:04, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

London is both a City (London) and a City within a City (The City of London) and an Area (Greater London)
There are also many more places named London than the one that is the Capital of the UK .. Serbia, France, Canada (Which is larger and the one in the UK), 10 in the USA, and one on Kiribati 17:56, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:Are you saying London, Ontario, Canada is BIGGER than the more famous London, England??? That's a country capital! Is that seriously true? I'm Canadian, I don't know London, ON as being THAT big... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[7User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:52, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
::It's very unlikely to be larger in population terms than the (common!) wider definition of the main UK London, as that would make it larger than any other city in Canada by a large margin. In terms of area, London ON is very likely to be larger than the City of London (which is surprisingly small). More widely, the definition of what actually is a "city" is more complex than it appears to be at first glance; administrative areas (what official statistics are collected for) are often quite different from where the bulk of people are. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 07:20, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
:::Some wikipedia figures, for reference:
:::*{{w|London, Ontario}} = 168.76 sq mi, Population 422,324
:::*{{w|City of London}}, subset of Capital of UK = 1.12 sq mi, Population 8,618
:::*{{w|London}}, administrative/etc capital of UK = 606.96 sq mi, Population 8,799,800
:::*{{w|London, Belgrade}} = a 'neighbourhood' (<1 sq mi?), Population unknown
:::*{{w|London, France}} = 'a small agricultural village'
:::*...
:::*{{w|List of minor planets: 8001–9000#837|8837 London}} = 1.5 mi diameter (~28s q mi, ~14 cu mi?), Population... some of the {{w|Clangers}}?
:::I skipped a few of the others (e.g. the various US ones: cities, townships, communities)... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.230.46|162.158.230.46]] 18:10, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

I'm surprised there were no phishing-type questions (i.e. "what are the last four digits of your social security number", "what are the three numbers on the back of your debit card", etc).22:33, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

The only correct answer(s) to "who played the drums" would be "the drummer", or "twelve drummers", but I would accept Phil Collins, Alex Van Halen, or Ringo Starr for half a point each [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.100|108.162.241.100]] 02:40, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

I asked my Mom these questions & she said the answer to #7 so flatly: ''Boeing ''
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 02:44, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

On the Capital of Australia: Melbourne hosted parliament before Canberra was built, and Jervis Bay was part of the ACT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jervis_Bay_Territory

Are there people outside of the USA that are surprised to learn that Washington D.C. is the capital of the USA, rather than New York, Los Angeles, Chicago etc. due to its relatively small population? ("only" ~670000 in 2024) [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 06:50, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

I came here all prepared to say that the Title Text should have Ontario, Canada as a (likewise correct) answer, but I see somebody already put that into the table, LOL! I feel like the "More Reasonable" version of the planet question should NOT mention Pluto, it should be the question IMPLIED in the comic whose answer is 9 (such as "How many planets were originally in our Solar System", but without the ambiguity of "originally". Basically a question whose answer is 9, pushing people to include Pluto, while allowing people the mistake of saying the current answer of 8, but mentioning Pluto would ruin that/the question). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:52, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

There could also be a person Named "London" who is located somewhere, perhaps in the same bar (or not) -- [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.71|172.70.46.71]] 12:13, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_%28name%29 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.31|172.70.42.31]] 16:27, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

I thought I knew the minimum size of a lake by definition, at least in the US, but I just found different authorities asserting 1, 10, and 20 acres as the distinction between a lake and a pond. Two non-metric distinctions are that a lake has an aphotic (dark) zone, or a lake is fed and drained by a river, but they don't help here. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.53|172.70.43.53]] 16:22, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

For the love of god can we stop saying that Pluto was "demoted" to a dwarf planet? It didn't have its category changed, it had its category defined (for the first time!). It was a founding member of a newly named category. And it's not like planets are better than dwarf planets, they're just different. (I'm going to die on this hill, ain't I?)
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.16|172.68.34.16]] 01:35, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

For the planet question there's also Theia, which is theorized to have been a planet prior to smashing into proto Earth and forming the moon and modern larger Earth. So there used to be at least nine planets by the current definition in our solar system.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.20|162.158.155.20]] 03:50, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

For question #8, it's not that mathematicians were idling around. A lot of partial results were made, see Wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.33|172.71.160.33]] 08:22, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

2916: Machine

2024-04-10T09:07:15Z

172.71.242.71: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2916
| date = April 5, 2024
| title = Machine
| image = machine_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x740px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Credible Machine
}}
* To experience the interactivity, visit the [https://xkcd.com/2916/ original comic].

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WELL OILED ROBOT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This is the 14th [[:Category:April fools' comics|April fools' comic]] released by [[Randall]]. The previous April fools' comic was [[2765: Escape Speed]] from 2023, which was released on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.

Once again an April Fool's Day Comic came out late, as Randall did not release this on April 1st, even though April 1st did fall on a Monday, a normal release day. It first came four days later with the Friday release on April 5th. That this is to be considered an April fools' comic, in spite of the later release, was confirmed on the xkcd Facebook page, see the [[#Trivia|trivia section]] below.

This is a spin on the game {{w|The Incredible Machine}}. The title text explicitly references this, albeit in a linguistic reversal.

Upon loading the page, you are presented with marbles being added to a box by geared wheels, with a button to open a “tool panel”. You are encouraged by Cueball to direct the marbles into a little “output” gear, and told that marbles have a lifespan of 30 seconds to reduce clutter. There are large and small boards available for use, as well as some gimmicky stuff like prisms (which deflect marbles) and fans (which blow marbles around).

The comic starts in a main screen where the user can create a {{w|Rube Goldberg machine}} in a "Cell" where the goal is to route a constant stream of colored balls from an input on the ceiling or a wall to outputs of a matching color on the walls or floor. After the comic is first opened a window pops up over the machine where Cueball in a lab coat tells you to route the balls from the inputs to the outputs. If any balls are left in your cell for more than 30 seconds, they fade away. The first time a ball fades away another popup informs you that the balls are removed for security reasons. When you have built a machine which succeeds in routing enough balls to the output, a popup will prompt you to submit your cell to be added to the public machine. Typically, inputs and outputs only accept balls of a single colour, and any balls of another colour which pass through an output will reduce the completion counter. However, some outputs accept multiple colours, indicated by a double arrow, and some inputs produce multiple colours. When the player is designing their 'machine', this will involve multiple full streams merged into one (supplied by a double-exit on the adjacent submission). Machines now working in the full grid may, however, find that their sources now contain stray balls of other types that were not handled properly, but there is no way to force a re-edit of the machine to alter its behaviour to account for this.

<gallery heights="200" widths="150">
File:2916_popup_intro.png|Introduction popup
File:2916_popup_time.png|Time limit popup
File:2916_popup_submit.png|Submission popup
</gallery>

The button in the bottom right corner brings you to a page where you can drag around to view all of the machines that have been submitted, with a title for each in the upper left corner. In this view you can see that all of the outputs are also inputs for another cell, except for the top row where the inputs come from off screen and the lowest row which output through a launcher of some kind to a set of four colored-coded containers far below. Any empty cells are marked off by yellow tape with the words "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" as well as "DJIA ↑ 31415" once in each cell. "DJIA" stands for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with "DJIA ↑ 31415" indicating that it rose to 31415 points, 31415 being the first five digits of pi, without the period.

Whenever balls reach the bottom of the grid, they are directed towards four containers, one of each color. Most balls are accurately sent to their appropriate container, though there are some misfires. These containers are above a pit, and periodically dump their contents. If no balls are directed towards the containers, the pit will be empty. If one or two streams of balls are making it, Cueball and Megan sit in a small boat named the USS Buoyancy, and when sufficient balls are being deposited, the boat begins to float and move. More streams of balls are likely to add more changes. Balls which miss or overspill the pit fall out of the bottom of the frame.

Under construction cells will feed balls of the appropriate colour into neighbouring cells so long as you are not looking at them. Once you scroll to look at them, the supply of balls stops and subsequent cells in the chain will not receive any; scroll away from them again and the supply will resume.

When you press submit, you will see your creation placed on the grid. However if you refresh that cell will likely be under construction or replaced with someone else's machine. However, other people's machines are consistently placed, so it appears that there is some moderation process selecting a machine for each cell out of the machines submitted by users. If your newly submitted creation is placed in the lowest row of cells, balls will be dispensed through the exit at the bottom, but there will be no launcher to propel them towards the pit, and they will vanish as they leave the exit.

The grid is 12 cells wide, and grows in height. The largest size observed so far is 12x50, for a total of 600 cells. The machine's height is determined by the lowest cell; This can be either your submitted cell, or a cell created by another user.

===Toolbox items===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ List of objects
|-
! Description !! Effect !! Image
|-
| Plank || Static || [[File:2916_plank.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Hammer || Static || [[File:2916_hammer.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Sword || Static || [[File:2916_sword.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Hinged scoop || Rotates around its hinge, tries to stay horizontal with a springy effect || [[File:2916_scoop.png|frameless|upright=0.25]] [[File:2916_scoop_mirrored.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Anvil || Static || [[File:2916_anvil.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Brick || Static || [[File:2916_brick.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Fan || Blows away balls in front of it. Different colors are affected by differing amounts (yellow balls are lightest, and can be levitated above an upward-facing fan).|| [[File:2916_fan.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Pillow || Balls will not bounce if they hit it || [[File:2916_pillow.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Round bumper || Bounces balls away at significantly higher speed || [[File:2916_round_bumper.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Triangle bumper left || Bounces balls away at significantly higher speed || [[File:2916_bumper_left.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Triangle bumper right || Bounces balls away at significantly higher speed || [[File:2916_bumper_right.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Attractor/Black Hole || Pulls balls toward center, can be resized || [[File:2916_attractor.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Repulsor/White hole || Repels balls away from center, can be resized || [[File:2916_repulsor.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Prism || "Refracts" balls as they enter and exit, causing them to curve to follow the color of the ball as much as possible || [[File:2916_prism.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Wheel || Spins depending on arrow keys [right/left] pressed while selected (default:anticlockwise), deflects balls, can jam with enough resistance (e.g. glut of balls or against other elements). || [[File:2916_wheel.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| "Good job" trophy || Static || [[File:2916_trophy.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Glass cup || Static || [[File:2916_cup.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cat || Swats away balls in front of themself (was added later) || [[File:2916_cat_new.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Characters
|-
! Description !! Image
|-
| Ponytail with raised arms || [[File:2916_ponytail_arms.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Ponytail standing || [[File:2916_ponytail.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cueball with raised arms || [[File:2916_cueball_arms.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| White Hat || [[File:2916_whitehat.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Knit Cap sliding, resting, or floating? || [[File:2916_knitcap_resting.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Knit Cap || [[File:2916_knitcap.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Helmet? || [[File:2916_helmet.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Probably Deterministic sign || [[File:2916_deterministic.png|frameless|upright=0.25]]
|-
| Squirrel || [[File:2916_squirrel.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| [[1682: Bun|Bun]] || [[File:2916_rabbit.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|-
| Cat || [[File:2916_cat.png|frameless|upright=0.125]]
|}

=== Color routing ===
The different ball colors have different physical properties. Red balls are more bouncy than other balls, green balls are heavier, and yellow balls are lighter and slightly bouncy. The following values were extracted from the code:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Color
! Mass
! Density
! Restitution (bounciness)
! Linear damping (drag)
|-
! data-sort-key="00F" | Blue
| 0.08
| 1
| 0
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="F00" | Red
| 0.08
| 1
| 0.8
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="0F0" | Green
| 0.75
| 9.325
| 0
| 0
|-
! data-sort-key="FF0" | Yellow
| 0.024
| 0.3
| 0.6
| 2
|}

For certain combinations of inlet and outlet 'gates', it is necessary to 'cross the streams'. e.g. to direct righthand-entry balls to a lefthand-exit and vice-versa. It is possible to just construct the field to send two (or more!) sets of balls to fly across a common gap, to land on an appropriate reception area that leads to the chosen exit. But, though this is not {{w|Proton pack#Crossing the streams|completely inadvised}}, the timing of the balls cannot be guaranteed to be in sync (or, rather, anti-sync) with each other and collisions ''will'' occur, especially under the variations of delivery that might significantly alter the ballistic path across the gap. Even if the trial machine works, in isolation with a steady stream of all balls entering the field of play, once submitted it will inevitably be fed by a more chaotically-routed preceeding construction.

In order to maintain sufficient correct arrivals at exits, it may be necessary to add a method of filtering the hues.

This could just mean introducing a 'wrong hue trap' beyond any crossing point(s) that send the occasionally wrong ball back to the cross point (or let them time-out in a dead-end, relying upon few enough failures from the rest of the balls, along with all colliding balls that subsequently missed ''any'' chance of reaching an exit). Alternatively, two (or more) feeds of marbles could be fed through a deliberate 'sorter' that does a sufficiently reasonable job of separating the combined sets out towards their intended target-exits.

The various physical qualities of the balls suggest a number of methods for redirecting separate hues to separate onward journeys. This can be done by isolating a hue from every other hue, then passing on (if necessary) to a setup extracting a different one from the remainder, and perhaps also a third time. It may also be possible to merge 'arrangements' of sorting mechanics to efficiently distribute straight into three ''or even four'' onward tracks towards the desired outputs, but that is left as an exercise to the reader.


{| class="wikitable"
! style="background-color:black; color:white" | To separate !! style="background-color:lightblue" | Blue !! style="background-color:lightgreen" | Green !! style="background-color:yellow" | Yellow !! style="background-color:red" | Red
|-
! style="background-color:red" | Red
| *R/B* | '''Use 'bounce''''
The sole difference is how much balls will rebound from objects. Well managed and constrained ricochets should allow a sorting action.
| *R/G* | '''Use mass or 'bounce''''
Green balls cannot be levitated by a vertical fan. An incline across any such fan(s) will levitate only non-Greens. Green, like Blue, rebounds differently to Red. Green balls are also affected by black holes much less than all other balls.
| *R/Y* | ''See Y/B''
| *R/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
|-
! style="background-color:yellow" | Yellow
| *Y/B* | '''All methods'''
Yellow, alone, exhibits high drag against any unforced motion. It is also unique in all other ways; e.g. can be levitated highest, against all other hues (though most profoundly against Green).
| *Y/G* | ''See Y/B''
| *Y/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *Y/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | ''See Y/B'' 
|-
! style="background-color:lightgreen" | Green
| *G/B* | '''Use mass'''
Green balls cannot be levitated by a vertical fan. There is also a not so marginal difference in density that might be exploited, such as by using black holes, which only minimally effects green.
| *G/G* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *G/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | ''See Y/B'' 
| *G/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See R/G
|-
! style="background-color:lightblue" | Blue
| *B/B* style="text-align: center; background-color:black; color:white" | n/a
| *B/G* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See G/B
| *B/Y* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See Y/B
| *B/R* style="text-align: center; background-color:gray" | See R/B
|}

Even when not strictly necessary for one's own submission, once submitted into the full playing grid the player's own contribution may find itself working with less 'pure' delivered ball-streams (from an imperfectly separating feed-in contribution). It is possible that this more interactive disruption can make the new setup behave erratically or even entirely incorrectly.

It might be thought good practice (but not ''necessary'') to deliberately combine any or all inputs and do a full job of splitting them again, just in anticipation of possibly having to deal with such cross-contamination and being able to 'clean up' the onward stream(s) for the benefit of others. This would of course be particularly difficult if the isolated building-phase does not provide all four hues to 'test' against, so any speculatively added filtering would have to be added 'blind' (and only on the offchance that any anticipated incorrect balls will actually enter the arena) and without any legitimate exits to which such rejects could be shunted (therefore could accumulate, up until any 'time out' that might apply to any ball once operational as part of the combined grid).

Single-input/single-output designs might not particularly require ''any'' sorting mechanism, in theory, though the unexpected 'contamination' of the system with balls of different masses/etc could perhaps introduce malfunctioning passage from the added chaos it might succumb to.

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

:[The placeholder image shows four balls, colored red, green, yellow and blue, bouncing on top of three white blocks. Text in the center: "[visit xkcd.com to view]"]

:[Cueball with lab coat, intro popup]
:Cueball: Balls falling into your cell should be routed to the outputs at a steady rate.

:[Cueball with lab coat, warning popup]
:Cueball: For security reasons, balls that remain in your device for more than 30 seconds will be removed and destroyed.

:[Cueball with lab coat, submit popup]
:Cueball: Congratulations! Your contraption has passed all tests. Press [submit button] to submit it to be added to the machine!

==Trivia==
*Randall acknowledges the people who helped him create this comic in a [[Header_text#Machine|comic-specific header text]].
**With 11 different involved apart from Randall this is by far the comic with most people involved.
*There are some secret key combinations hidden, here are a few of them
**ctrl+alt+b -> follow balls
**ctrl+option+shift+d -> debug overlay
*When Randall posted a [https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD/posts/pfbid0Cs97awQZi1ZiaEXouAex9tXrwAS3qJV3RmAiuCq5uvZQwqZVMgDmcqJ7JU9LYodYl link to this comic] on his [https://www.facebook.com/TheXKCD Facebook feed], he directly wrote that it was a late April Fools' Day!
**MACHINE
**Happy Belated April Fool's Day!
*This thus ends any discussion of whether this should be seen as an April Fool's comic or not.
**It just came out 4 days late. This has also happened several times since [[Garden]].
[[File:2916 Machine Facebook April fools' confirmation.png]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:April fools' comics]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Knit Cap]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Squirrels]]
[[Category:Buns]]
[[Category:Cats]]

Talk:2914: Eclipse Coolness

2024-04-02T16:30:04Z

172.71.242.71:

Awww :(. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.222.143|162.158.222.143]] 03:39, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
:Awww :(? Yeaa :)! I _despise_ the Fool. It's hard enough for me to tell when people are serious as is.
:i agree. [[user talk:lettherebedarklight|youtu.be/miLcaqq2Zpk]] 07:18, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

This comic is contributing to the extremes of eclipse tourism, by telling people only the total eclipse counts.
Now, a week before the eclipse it will be very hard, and expensive, to secure transportation and accommodation
in the path of total eclipse. They are recurring phenomena, don't fall for it. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.215|172.71.122.215]] 05:42, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
:I'm in my 60's, this could be the last one for me, since the next one in the continental US will be in 20 years. It's going to be 93% here in eastern Mass, and they're predicting clear skies. I could drive 7 hours to Buffalo, but they're currently forecasting 40% cloud cover. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:34, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

I don't think "along the path" is correct, doesn't the x-axis show the distance "away from the path?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.131|172.70.114.131]]

What? No April Fool's? Why? [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)] 08:47, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

Randall's title text overstates the coolness of both total and partial eclipses. A cool sunset is way cooler than a partial eclipse, and probably cooler than a total eclipse, especially if the eclipse happens on a day that's cloudy to start with.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.30|172.70.163.30]] 09:22, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
:The only eclipse I was under totality for (in '99), I was also unfortunate enough to put myself on a hill that found itself under cloud at the time. But it was still atmospheric, much moreso than the partials that I subsequently happened to be near. Even ''not seeing'' the Sun being entirely not visible (I had caught glimpses of 'on the way' partiality, before, and again after) was more profound than seeing (safely, of course) the partial effects that were as good as I could get on later occasions.
:Sunsets (and -rises, especially with the [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-68403553.amp right weather]) are indeed visually stunning. But I'd argue that, barring perhaps the fleetingly transient '{{w|green flash}}' or rather specific {{w|Manhattanhenge|landscape effects}}, the novelty is smeared around. Both during the event and, unless you're only rarely at the time and place (and awake/attentive) these things happen, across all possible occasions.
:Being on the Moon (once you get over "I'm on the Mooon!!") would make fortnights between sunrises/-sets, no weather getting in the way (no weather to give it any special differences!), and probably psychological effects that become mundane/depressing (for a long enough residence there). Solar eclipses (our Lunar Eclipses) will be probably be at least twice a year, won't feature a Diamond Ring, will be Moon-wide (well, just the near-face half/bits of 'rim', or significant parts of that in the case of partial LEs). What would be the relative wonder of an SE-from-Moon and a Lunar sunset? It'd be a tricky equation. But I think we'd lose a lot from the eclipse not being with two 'similarly-sized' bodies. And an 'Earth eclipse' from the Moon (looking for the tiny dot of travelling umbra, as it traces across the Earth's disc) probably wouldn't be worth it at all. (But you're "On the Mooon!", so that might be the biggest excitement, still, {{w|Moon (2009 film)|until it isn't (spoilers! ...if you haven't seen it yet)}}.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.19|172.70.162.19]] 12:43, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
:While some sunsets are incredibly cool, they happen often enough that it's not as thrilling. Partial eclipses have some unique features, like all the crescent-shaped shadows of tree leaves. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:34, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
::Well that would be the 'NFT Theory' of coolness, where a thing's coolness is proportional to it's rarity. I'd subscribe much more to an 'Inherence Theory' of coolness, and found that the experience of an eclipse (both partial and totality), while certainly more ''novel'' than sunsets, wasn't as ''cool''. Especially when he specified 'a cool sunset' - so not just any sunset, but the top few percent - as compared against any old eclipse, regardless of conditions.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.214|141.101.99.214]] 15:36, 2 April 2024 (UTC)
:::We shouldn't be comparing just the 'cool sunsets' (presumably just the right amount of clouds to ''be'' 'cool') with ''all'' the eclipse experiences, regardless of cloud cover. Like-for-like, most sunsets are rather unspectacular. It's quite easy to go "has the Sun actually set yet? I'll check the app... Wait, what's 'civil twilight', again?", but of course it's been a dim and overcast day and it's been dark enough to need lights for maybe an hour so the precise optical interaction between the Sun and horizon is just a minor detail, with nothing to see.
:::'Cool sunsets' are rare enough. A west-facing oceanic shoreline might be helpful (though a few bits of land-bound geography might also work), but you really need 'big skies' (without being ''totally'' free of cloud, just having enough in the right place to add to the effect). But you can find your tropical beach-hut (or prairie cabin, or mountain refuge) where perhaps they do happen reasonably often, and enjoy them frequently, or at least anticipate one the next evening or one so soon after.
:::Eclipses are so hard to be part of, and can be ruined at least as easily, but a 'cool one' has something you can't really expect to see again in any equivalent manner unless you make a lot more effort to do so.
:::And sunsets are probably best to be seen with the one (or few) closest people to you (if not alone, by preference). Eclipses (unless, again, you prepare to make your sole claim on a spot of your own choosing) are very much expected to be a communal event, congregating with total strangers (or, if 'lucky', many fellow members of your own eclipsed community) hoping to witness a suitable climax to the hopeful and festive event. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.71|172.71.242.71]] 16:30, 2 April 2024 (UTC)

839: Explorers

2024-03-13T10:25:13Z

172.71.242.71: /* Explanation */ hex chess

{{comic
| number = 839
| date = December 27, 2010
| title = Explorers
| image = explorers.png
| titletext = We're going to have to work together to get over our hangups if we're going to learn to move on Catan's hexagonal grid. It's bad enough that we lost our crew of pawns when we passed within firing range of Battleship.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic blends {{w|board game}}s such as {{w|chess}}, {{w|The Settlers of Catan}}, and {{w|Battleship (game)|Battleship}}, with {{w|exploration}}, making possible references to {{w|space exploration}} and the {{w|Age of Discovery}}.

The typical representation of explorers has them travel from their homeland aboard a ship to unknown distant places. The travel can get very long, implying the need for food supplies on the ship; and the fact that the crew members have to live together with little room (the ship) for such a long time, with possibilities of failure, getting lost or dying for various reasons, can often lead to tensions between some of them. In the Age of Exploration the explorers were mainly sailors from Europe traveling on the sea to other continents, whereas in space exploration they are astronauts or robots from Earth traveling in space to other planets (or whatever celestial bodies), but the general concepts of exploration remain the same.

Here the explorers are two chess pieces, a knight and a bishop; they have left their "home board", presumably a full 8x8 chess board, aboard a smaller "capsule" made of a small 3x3 chess board in motion. It appears to be flying through space with some kind of miniature rocket-thruster located beneath each corner of the board, trailing exhaust gas/smoke, but the drawing is somewhat ambiguous and it could be floating in water with corner nascelles providing thrust, if it weren't for the conspicuous lack of ripples, or rolling along a flat surface with wheels leaving a residue. They are apparently headed for a Settlers of Catan board, and already passed near a Battleship board, so these game boards are like islands or regions which the chess pieces explore, coming from a chess board.

Ba3, Nc3 and Ke5 are the identification of chess pieces and their respective position: Ba3 is a bishop on the A3 square, Nc3 a knight on the C3 square, and Ke5 a king on the E5 square. Chess is pretty much a representation of the structure of medieval European society (with the king and queen being the most crucial pieces, the bishops representing the somewhat powerful clergy, the knights corresponding to the armies, the rook alluding the castles, and the pawns being, as the medieval working classes, the most numerous and disposable assets); so chess pieces exploring other places, approaching the "coast of Catan", and reporting to the king ("calling Ke5"), is reminiscent of explorers from Europe who under their king's jurisdiction set sail to other continents during the Age of Exploration.

The explorers are communicating with a "{{w|Mission control center|mission control}}", which is common in space exploration. Also, an "ETA" is an {{w|estimated time of arrival}}.

In chess, the knight and the bishop have different move constraints. The knight can only move two squares horizontally and one square vertically, or two vertically and one horizontally, so on the capsule the knight explorer can only go from one corner square to a black square, or vice-versa. The bishop can only move diagonally, so this bishop is bound to move only on the white squares. The knight is also the only piece that can "jump" over other pieces, which seems to annoy the bishop, hence the "hopping around"; apparently the bishop put all the food onto the middle square, which the knight can't reach, because the knight was taunting him about his not being able to get onto a black square.

The two pieces are from the opposite chess camps (one black and the other white). This can be a reference to multinational space mission crews, where formerly opponent nations joined their efforts on space missions. But in chess it also means they can capture each other, by getting on the square where the other stands. Here, with the chess turn-by-turn gameplay, the knight won't be able to capture the bishop (except of course in case of error or dumb move), since the bishop will always be able to escape, whereas the bishop is actually one or two moves away from capturing the knight. So saying that he's "this close" to capturing him is a play on words, he is "this close" as in a few moves away, as well as "this close" as in severely annoyed and about to act on it.

Assuming it’s the bishop’s turn this capture could be accomplished by the Bishop moving to C1, there after the knight would be forced to move to either A2 or B1. The Bishop then moves to B2. The knight then must move to C1 or C3 if it moved to A2, or A3 or C3 if it moved to B1 – all valid positions from which the Bishop could capture. If it’s the knights turn, the situation is the same except the Bishop would simply move to B2 regardless of the knight move. Although if there are other pieces, they may simply just not move on a black square.

Finally, the title text adds two jokes. The Settlers of Catan board has an hexagonal grid, which means the chess pieces will have difficulty to move on it, since they are used to moving on a square grid (though luckily, there do exist {{w|Hexagonal chess|hexagonal variations of chess}}). This can draw a parallel with explorers facing, in distant lands, weather conditions, wild animals, atmosphere or whatever condition, to which they are not used at all in their homeland. Battleship is a game where players send shots on the opponent's board, which is why the chess capsule received shots when it passed within firing range of a Battleship board; in pure chess style, it's the {{w|Pawn (chess)|pawns}} of the crew, the least valuable and most disposable chess pieces, who took the shots. It could also be a reference to the ''{{w|en passant}}'' chess move, where, under certain conditions, a pawn can be captured after having "passed within firing range" (so to speak) of an enemy pawn; this could explain why only the pawns were lost in passing Battleship.

==Transcript==
:[A black bishop, Ba3, and a white knight, Nc3, are on a three by three chessboard. Both are on white squares. There is a heap of supplies at b2, also a white square. The chessboard is mounted on rockets and appears to be flying through the air.]
:Ba3: Mission Control, come in. This is Ba3 on the capsule calling Ke5 on the home board. We're on track and approaching the Coast of Catan. Our ETA is—
:Nc3: Control, this is Nc3. Bishop put all our food in the center so I can't get it. I demand—
:Ba3: Control, knight will get his food back when he stops hopping around bragging about how comfy the black squares are. I swear to God, I'm ''this'' close to capturing him and completing the misson alone.

==Trivia==
*There is a misspelling of ''mission'' in the last sentence:
**''...and completing the '''misson''' alone.''

*The fact that the black King is located on e5 suggests that the chess game back on the home board is in the endgame phase, where there are few pieces left on the board and the King becomes a valuable attacking piece. Since there are so few pieces and resources back at home, this comic may therefore be a nod to common movie plots such as that of ''Interstellar'', where settlers are forced to flee to another world because of the depletion of the old.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Chess]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Board games]]

2619: Crêpe

2024-01-19T09:49:57Z

172.71.242.71: Undo revision 333177 by 172.69.34.178 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2619
| date = May 13, 2022
| title = Crêpe
| image = crepe.png
| titletext = A medicine that makes you put two dots over your letters more often is a diäretic.
}}

==Explanation==
[[File:crêpe.png|thumb|The word "crêpe" in the comic]]
[[Cueball]] has made a {{w|crêpe}}, a thin pancake known for its legendary status in French cuisine, which he proudly announces. However, the {{w|circumflex}} (the accent above the e) is written strangely. Instead of the usual simple angle (^), it looks more like the outline of a flattened arrowhead (⮝). [[Megan]], who can apparently {{tvtropes|PsmithPsyndrome|hear the orthography}} of spoken text, comments on the odd shape with an appropriate pun.

Megan's response, "Weird circumflex but okay" is a play on the recent expression [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Weird%20flex%20but%20ok Weird flex, but ok]. A "flex" is bragging about something. A "weird flex" is used when the speaker acknowledges (perhaps ironically) that the first person is attempting to brag about something, but doesn't recognise the thing as brag-worthy.

Her answer could also be applied to the shape of the crêpe, as circumflex means "bent around".

In some dialects of English (e.g. British English), and in the original French pronunciation, "crêpe" is said so that the ê is pronounced as in "get" (i.e. /krɛp/), but American English speakers pronounce it like an "A" (i.e. /kreɪp/).

The title text continues the wordplay by saying that "A medicine that makes you put two dots over your letters more often is a diäretic".

The word diäretic is a pun on {{w|diuretic}} (a substance promoting increased urine production), {{w|Diaeresis (diacritic)|diaeresis}} (a symbol in the form of two dots placed above a vowel, as the ä in the made up word diäretic; the adjective form of diaeresis can be spelled "[https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Diaresis dieretic]") and {{w|diacritic}} (a glyph added to a letter to distinguish its sound from the normal version, what both the circumflex and the diaeresis are). See also the comic [[1647: Diacritics]] about the use of these. Taking a diäretic medicine would supposedly cause you to use diaereses (also known as umlauts) över möre lëtters thän wöuld üsuallÿ bë thë cäse.

Diacritics are rarely used in English, potentially because of the diverse set of origin languages it developed from, or the wide variation of pronunciations within a same nation, but are a common feature of other languages. In English, they are normally only seen in specific loanwords (such as crêpe) or used for emphasis or decoration (for example the {{w|metal umlaut}} seen in rock bands like {{w|Motörhead}}, {{w|Mötley Crüe}}, {{w|Queensrÿche}}, or {{w|Spın̈al Tap}}). The exception to this is the diaresis, which when it is used at all, is placed over the second vowel in a double-vowel word to indicate a morphological break between them as opposed to a diphthong (e.g. naïve or coöperation). The diaresis is optional, and, especially with words beginning with the co- prefix (e.g. cooperation, coevolution, or coincidence), rarely used. The New Yorker magazine is a famous outlier, advising consistent use of the diaresis in [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis its style guide].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding a plate up in both hand, showing Megan the crepe lying on the plate. His word for crêpe has a different diacritic over the "e" than the normal circumflex (^). Instead it looks more like an open arrow head.]
:Cueball: Check out this crêpe I made!
:Megan: Weird circumflex, but okay.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Food]]

2881: Bug Thread

2024-01-17T16:05:35Z

172.71.242.71: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2881
| date = January 15, 2024
| title = Bug Thread
| image = bug_thread_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x495px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = After some account issues, we've added 6 new people from the beach house rental website support forum.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an UNFIXED BUG MEETUP - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A bug thread is an online discussion about unintended behavior in a program, also known as a bug. Bug threads may be found on bug trackers, such as Github or Bugzilla, on technical forums such as StackOverflow, or on general product user forums.

Most bug threads have a rule to only leave a comment if you have something insightful to add{{Actual citation needed}}, such as being able to reproduce how the bug occurs or possible solutions to resolving it. In practice, this rule is often ignored and many threads end up with multiple people simply commenting that the bug still exists. Those who are perfectly content with a product have few reasons to participate in a bug thread, so those seeking help will tend to mostly read posts by the others who are, or have been, seeking help, if no one has provided a proper solution.

The exact nature of the bug in the comic is unknown, but there are multiple people reporting the problem (based upon their distinctive profile pictures), indicating that this is not a case of a rare problem where [[979: Wisdom of the Ancients|only one or two]] people have ever been known to be affected. Most of the visible posts just state the poster's inclusion in the list of those affected by the bug, either with a one word reply ("Same"), or a shorthand expression of emotion ("{{w|Like button|+1}}. So frustrating."), although another has apparently seen fit to provide three links to the specific 'solutions' that they have already seen and (unsuccessfully) tried. There appear to be no official representatives of the {{w|Developer#Computers|'devs'}}, or any other knowledgeable users, providing actual workarounds or seeking further information about the problem, at least within this small window upon the collected messages.

Although we cannot see the unreadable timestamp information on the posts, one author (the penultimate, using a [[White Hat]] image) makes the observation that the problem has now been ongoing for five years. This is followed by a [[Cueball]]-identified user proposing that this group of like-minded individuals may enjoy meeting up in the physical world (perhaps even in lieu of fixing the bug). They suggest leasing a beachfront property for a weekend, which is more suggestive of taking a break than for brainstorming possible bug resolutions (although that type of event isn't unknown). Whether this is [[Randall]], or not, his own follow-up comic commentary suggests that bonding over such adversity is as good a reason for friendship as any.

The title text reveals that the meet-up was actually attempted, suggesting that there were at least some still active (and still bug-bound?) participants of the thread. They apparently encountered (potentially unrelated) issues with an online service through which they booked the vacation venue, and have extended the general invitation (venue permitting) to several other new acquaintances who have likewise fallen foul of the holiday-home service's own problematic implementation, likely having started to similarly bond witin the bug-thread/forum where this latter issue must have stubbornly remained similarly unresolved. These new additions presumably have no interest in the original issue, but have been invited purely for social reasons.

[[979: Wisdom of the Ancients]] also refers to an online discussion thread about a bug, and [[1305: Undocumented Feature]] also involves a tech support forum which is eventually used only for socializing.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Part of a discussion thread in progress on an online forum is shown. Each comment has the writer's avatar to the left of the text and small illegible text immediately above the text. Part of the first comment's text is cut off at the top.]
:Commenter #1: Same issue here.
:Commenter #2: I'm having this problem too. None of the posted fixes work.
:Commenter #3: Same.
:Commenter #4: +1. So frustrating.
:Commenter #5: I'm still having this. Did you all ever figure out a fix?
:Commenter #6: Same problem as everyone. I tried the steps in the posts here, here, and here. Nothing.
:Commenter #7: Add me to the list.
:Commenter #8: Same. Ugh. Can't believe this thread is 5 years old now.
:Commenter #9: Where does everyone live? Do we want to get a beach house for a weekend or something?
:[Caption below the image:]
:At some point, you just have to give up on fixing the bug and embrace the fact that you have dozens of new friends.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2881: Bug Thread

2024-01-16T09:38:54Z

172.71.242.71: /* Explanation */

2835: Factorial Numbers

2023-09-29T23:30:06Z

172.71.242.71: /* Explanation */ Ah... so This page links go bold. Ok, so fudging to the redirect page to get the link I wanted (until I can discover another trick to get around the auto-behaviour, maybe, but could be better this way anyway.).

{{comic
| number = 2835
| date = September 29, 2023
| title = Factorial Numbers
| image = factorial_numbers_2x.png
| imagesize = 628x481px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = So what do we do when we get to base 10? Do we use A, B, C, etc? No: Numbers larger than about 3.6 million are simply illegal.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a VARIABLE-BASED BOT BEING ESCORTED OUT OF THE COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT BY SECURITY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about the {{w|factorial number system}}, which are based on {{w|factorial|factorials}}. No digit in a number will be larger than the position of that number (starting with 1, in the rightmost position, which can be 0 or 1 as base or {{w|radix}} 2) and the positional factor for any digit is the factorial of that same position, rather than the more traditional (constant) radix to the power of the position minus one (or to the power of the positional index, which starts at zero).

This 'works' because each additional digit is required when the prior digit is 'full'. The second digit is needed when the value goes beyond 0 or 1 units/ones (factorial 1, which is 1) and you start to need to know how many twos you might need. 0, 1 or 2 twos (factorial 2, or 2x1) can be invoked. This suffices up until the point where sixes (factorial 3, =3x2x1) are necessary, having exceeded the point at which 2 twos and 1 one are sufficient. Beyond 3 sixes, 2 twos and 1 one (which is 23), the fourth digit must represent the number (0 to 4) of twenty-fours (factorial 4, =4x3x2x21), etc.

In the comic, the top example represents 3x(720) + 5x(120) + 3x(24) + 0x(6) + 1x(1), after calculating each factorial accordingly, which gives the decimal value of 2835, [[2835|this comic's number]].

The title-text 'addresses' the issue of which digits are used once any individual digit's radix goes beyond base-10 by... not allowing numbers to get so big that you'd try to use digits with a place-value greater than 9, which would limit any use to below factorial 10.

In the xkcd version of this number system, the rightmost digit has a value of 1!, the second one 2! and so on (that is, the i-th digit has a value i!). That can be compared with the usual decimal system where the i-th digit has value 10^(i-1) or the binary system where the i-th digit has value 2^(i-1).

For completion of the examples shown in the panel, the numbers up to 200 in this variable base are:

1=1
2=10
3=11
4=20
5=21
6=100
7=101
8=110
9=111
10=120
11=121
12=200
13=201
14=210
15=211
16=220
17=221
18=300
19=301
20=310
21=311
22=320
23=321
24=1000
25=1001
26=1010
27=1011
28=1020
29=1021
30=1100
31=1101
32=1110
33=1111
34=1120
35=1121
36=1200
37=1201
38=1210
39=1211
40=1220
41=1221
42=1300
43=1301
44=1310
45=1311
46=1320
47=1321
48=2000
49=2001
50=2010
51=2011
52=2020
53=2021
54=2100
55=2101
56=2110
57=2111
58=2120
59=2121
60=2200
61=2201
62=2210
63=2211
64=2220
65=2221
66=2300
67=2301
68=2310
69=2311
70=2320
71=2321
72=3000
73=3001
74=3010
75=3011
76=3020
77=3021
78=3100
79=3101
80=3110
81=3111
82=3120
83=3121
84=3200
85=3201
86=3210
87=3211
88=3220
89=3221
90=3300
91=3301
92=3310
93=3311
94=3320
95=3321
96=4000
97=4001
98=4010
99=4011
100=4020
101=4021
102=4100
103=4101
104=4110
105=4111
106=4120
107=4121
108=4200
109=4201
110=4210
111=4211
112=4220
113=4221
114=4300
115=4301
116=4310
117=4311
118=4320
119=4321
120=10000
121=10001
122=10010
123=10011
124=10020
125=10021
126=10100
127=10101
128=10110
129=10111
130=10120
131=10121
132=10200
133=10201
134=10210
135=10211
136=10220
137=10221
138=10300
139=10301
140=10310
141=10311
142=10320
143=10321
144=11000
145=11001
146=11010
147=11011
148=11020
149=11021
150=11100
151=11101
152=11110
153=11111
154=11120
155=11121
156=11200
157=11201
158=11210
159=11211
160=11220
161=11221
162=11300
163=11301
164=11310
165=11311
166=11320
167=11321
168=12000
169=12001
170=12010
171=12011
172=12020
173=12021
174=12100
175=12101
176=12110
177=12111
178=12120
179=12121
180=12200
181=12201
182=12210
183=12211
184=12220
185=12221
186=12300
187=12301
188=12310
189=12311
190=12320
191=12321
192=13000
193=13001
194=13010
195=13011
196=13020
197=13021
198=13100
199=13101
200=13110

Note the apparent gap at 24 (4!) and 120 (5!) - apparent for those of us who are used to decimal numbers.

The title text discusses a "problem" with this system, in that numbers above 3,628,800 (10!) have ambiguous notation, as it can be difficult to know whether the number in this system is (10)000000000, or (1)0000000000. Some use the letters A-Z to denote such larger numbers, e.g. A000000000. However, Cueball in this comic just announces that an number above 987654321 in this number system (or 3,628,799) is illegal.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Variable-base Factoradic™ numbers

:{|
|Base 7||Base 6||Base 5||Base 4||Base 3||Base 2
|-
|3||5||3||0||1||1
|}

:Left side

:{| class="wikitable"
|Base 10||Factoradic
|-
|1||1
|-
|2||10
|-
|3||11
|-
|4||20
|-
|5||21
|-
|6||100
|-
|7||101
|-
|
|-
|21||311
|-
|22||320
|-
|23||321
|}

:Right side

:{| class="wikitable"
|Base 10||Factoradic
|-
|24||1,000
|-
|25||1,001
|-
|
|-
|5,038||654,320
|-
|5,039||654,321
|-
|5,040||1,000,000
|-
|
|-
|999,998||266,251,210
|-
|999,999||266,251,211
|-
|1,000,000||266,251,220
|-
|1,000,001||266,251,221
|}

:Cueball: Small numbers like seven or nineteen shouldn't use big numerals like "7" or "9".
:Cueball: I mean, "9" is the biggest numeral we have! It should be reserved for '''''big''''' numbers.
:Cueball: Small numbers should be written with small numerals like "1" or "2".
:Cueball: That's why my variable-base system uses...Hey! No, listen!

:Factorial numbers are the number system that sounds most like a prank by someone who's about to be escorted out of the math department by security.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Math]]
[[Category:Self-reference]]

User talk:Unreliable Connection

2023-08-02T19:11:15Z

172.71.242.71: Undo revision 320106 by 172.71.182.44 (talk) Talk about an Unreliable Connection... Yet again, connectionless spam, must be ripped from an email template (but no Reply-to:...)

Do you want me to create your sandbox? [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 20:11, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

:Please create my user page and sandbox, and don't forget [[User:Memo Spike Connector]]. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 23:43, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

::I've created them both. Anyway, thanks for your kind reminder. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:42, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

:The page that you're in charge of got spam edits again. [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 21:12, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

:Uh, They seem to know when I'm usually active, and spammed when I'm inactive, maybe just to annoy others. I always worked late. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 23:54, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
::Look guy(s), the spammers have been spamming long before you "took charge". Your work-hours matter not one jot, even if we knew your timezone, and the community handles it as it always tries to. I will deal with anything I see 'spammed', if not dealt with by others before I get there, and you can deal with anything that you see before anyone else gets there. Whether UC, CG, OMG or any other 'normal'. (Though OMG is clearly the same person as CG. If, by some remote chance, they are not, one of them is also UC; but very probably both are.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.86|172.71.242.86]] 11:37, 9 April 2023 (UTC)
:::And Look ''guy(s)''. You Have Already Been Tricked. Did you know about the email with CG's name on it? Y'no, I'm jealous of him, so I was gonna do a trick. [[User:Omg Oriental Music Group|Omg Oriental Music Group]] ([[User talk:Omg Oriental Music Group|talk]]) 23:03, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

'''DELETED COMMENT''' [[User:ColorfulGalaxy|ColorfulGalaxy]] ([[User talk:ColorfulGalaxy|talk]]) 21:26, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

:Thanks for encouraging. I will do better. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 23:52, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

Could you create my user page? [[User:Omg Oriental Music Group|Omg Oriental Music Group]] ([[User talk:Omg Oriental Music Group|talk]]) 09:34, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

:What are you going to do? [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:35, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

I want to put the lyrics in the sandbox into my user page sandbox. By the way, could you contact the author for the minor fix to the lyrics? [[User:Omg Oriental Music Group|Omg Oriental Music Group]] ([[User talk:Omg Oriental Music Group|talk]]) 09:36, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

:There is a lot of discussion about the lyrics going on in the portal. That's the place where I posted a math problem (sadly they removed it). Some people said that the lyrics were lousy. There are a lot of obscure words. I'm no linguist, really. I hope that the debate won't continue here. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:42, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

::See what the "author" said: http://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/120234/a-message-of-encouragement --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.158.231|172.71.158.231]] 09:44, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

:::So this means that the only one left would be "Donald ATG Trump", which isn't active at all. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.228|172.71.154.228]] 09:47, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

== Predict the next comic ==

Let's try to predict what will come next on the xkcd comics. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 23:53, 7 April 2023 (UTC)

:What about music staff?

==Lyrics==

You're not going to create a sandbox for me, so I'll temporarily put it here.

? — [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 03:43, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

You made the page almost take forever to load. [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 08:51, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Please stop talking about the lyrics. Several other people has gotten angry. I can't trust you, because you kept doing something suspicious and you sound like a scammer. [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 00:51, 14 April 2023 (UTC)

== When the bot failed ==

Please read [[User:DgbrtBOT|this page]] before creating a new comic page. Your edit had puzzled the bot too much. [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 08:51, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Thank you very much. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:00, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

== Birthday ==
It happened that my birthday is the day immediately after yours. And our last names are almost spelled the same. [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 06:12, 12 April 2023 (UTC)

It seems that we have a lot in common. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 09:06, 12 April 2023 (UTC)

:Our birthdays all fall in the same month. [[User:Missed Connections|935: Missed Connections]] ([[User talk:Missed Connections|talk]]) 23:43, 17 April 2023 (UTC)
::You're not fooling anyone and, with messages like the above, it seems you don't care. Do what you do, and if it's not contrary to the site ethos/good practice then it's tolerable (whether or not it's annoying). But there's really no need to 'fake' different personæ. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.161|172.70.162.161]]
::PS. "Blanked the page", as an edit explanation, is not only inaccurate but it's also your attempt to hide awkward details from the more casual viewer. Surely you're not brazen enough to make it obvious, yet shy enough as to really not want to be called out on it? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.191|172.71.242.191]] 11:06, 25 April 2023 (UTC)
::PPS. Don't try to comment this out, either, you who are sometimes needlessly pretending to be the personification of various comics. I will not accept your authority on this matter. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.67|172.70.85.67]] 09:16, 26 April 2023 (UTC)
::The comic will come back and swear at you if you keep skepticizing. There is too much skepticism. It looks like few people believe in fictions. {{unsigned ip|172.69.22.213|22:54, 26 April 2023})

== Transcript ==
If this page was copied did you not remove the incomplete transcript tag? Its complete! Do your part!

:Thanks for reminding. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 07:13, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

== Create user page ==
Could you create [[User:Papyrus]]? Yesterday was his birthday IIRC. Also remember to create [[User:Python]]. [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 08:06, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

2808: Daytime Firefly

2023-07-29T07:48:51Z

172.71.242.71: Undo revision 319895 by 172.71.22.101 (talk) You broke the wikillink for no reason. The (valid) noun-link was given the (valid) verb for grammatical context.

{{comic
| number = 2808
| date = July 28, 2023
| title = Daytime Firefly
| image = daytime_firefly_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Mr. Jones, watch out for Ms. Lenhart! She's from genus Photuris!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by MR. JONES. Believe in me / Help me believe in anything / 'Cause I wanna be someone who believes / Yeah / [Chorus]}}

Some things are associated with being seen so much in a given context that it can be surprising to see them anywhere else. This comic starts with the initially trivial incident of a famously night-time outdoor insect, a {{w|firefly}}, being discovered indoors and during the day.

This quickly becomes another typical observation, that of the experience of a schoolchild seeing someone, who they normally only encounter in the classroom, 'in the real world'. This may not be strange in small, close-knit communities, but can still be seen as extraordinary, and is sometimes an event that happens after the child (and/or teacher) has left the school and is a sign that they are now more equal citizens rather than tutor and student with vastly different lives outside of education.

Unlike fireflies, teachers generally do not {{w|Bioluminescence|bioluminesce}} or flit around in the open air.{{Citation needed}} But that scenario is where the analogy quickly turns, imagining Mr Jones (the teacher) behaving like such an insect. Such an encounter would be at least as awkward as bumping into a them in a semi-social situation, and the conversation you'd be having could be terribly stilted.

The title text continues the conversation with some sage advice, to the firefly-teacher, to avoid [[Miss Lenhart]], another teacher whom they believe to belong to an {{w|Photuris|aggressively mimicking genus of predatory firefly}} and thus a potential danger to his existence, as the females of that species copy the blinking mating patterns of other firefly species in order to lure in the males of those species to be eaten. The speaker is clearly concerned that Mr. Jones will be fooled by Ms. Lenhart and then cannibalized.

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

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

2803: Geohydrotypography

2023-07-18T03:48:08Z

172.71.242.71: /* Explanation */ Rationalising links/templates (only format/markup edits, no significant content changes at this time.

{{comic
| number = 2803
| date = July 17, 2023
| title = Geohydrotypography
| image = geohydrotypography_2x.png
| imagesize = 339x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Atlantic is expanding at about 10 ppm (points per month).
}}

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

This comic is another entry in the "[[:Category:My_Hobby|My Hobby]]" series of comics.

{{w|Plate tectonics}} is the theory that the earth's lithosphere is comprised of tectonic plates, which carry the continents. Here, Randall explains that if the surface of the Atlantic Ocean were covered in printed text (as if its surface were a giant sheet of printed paper, which it is not{{citation needed}}), the shifting of the continents would increase the amount of text by about 100 words per second.

[[Randall]] says that his hobby is geohydrotypography, which is a portmanteau of {{w|geology}}, {{w|hydrology}}, and {{w|typography}}. Basically, it means that his hobby is typing on rocks and ocean.

The title text reports the rate of the ocean's expansion, about 40 millimeters per year, in points per month. A point in typography is 0.3528 millimeters.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A depiction primarily of the Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding land-masses. The land is black, leaving the oceans and seas white except for the following words written in sixteen lines of text (from just below the tip of Greenland/Arctic Ocean down to slightly above the Falkland Islands/Southern Ocean) that are, for the most part, wrapped between the Atlantic coastline 'margins' (as defined by the Americas on the left and Europe/Africa on the right, or significant island groups:]

:If you covered the surface of the Atlantic Ocean with twelve-point printed text, with the lines wrapping at the coasts, the expansion of the ocean basin due to plate tectonics would increase your word count by about 100 words per second.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My hobby: Geohydrotypography

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]

User talk:FaviFake

2023-07-06T15:26:19Z

172.71.242.71: /* I disagree with Oxford commas. */

{{TOC}}<big><big><big><big><big>Hey there, feel free to '''[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User_talk:FaviFake&action=edit&section=new send me a message]''' :)</big></big></big></big></big>
== Objects table ==
Thanks for replying. The current table in the main text looks good, but still it is a ''description'' or just ''enumeration'' of game objects, not an ''explanation'' (or in some cases: partly an explanation). Supposing we keep the current structure, it is possible to add explanations for the planet names in the '''Explanation''' column. For example, first sentence of the second paragraph is a good ''explanation'' for the Uzumaki planet's name. On the other hand, Andal has only a ''description'' (what it looks like and what features are present on the surface) and no ''explanation'' (that it refers to Animorphs series of books). There's also a question where one should put explanations of items and messages. Some do not need an explanation ('You found a stick'), but most do: what they mean and what they refer to, both in xkcd context (such as when there's a comic about the thing) and in general context. I hope you understand the difference between ''description'' and ''explanation''. Maybe there's also some misunderstanding resulting from a language barrier; English is not my native language.

What is also missing in the table are many structures or objects found on the planets and, most importantly, dialogues or monologous of the characters, which contain many puns and references, and also hints for the player. There's simply no place for them in the current structure. Making more columns may be messsy. That's why I proposed making several tables covering different aspects.

Please take my remarks as proposals to improve the structure and not as a criticism or request for you to make everything right and fill every cell of the table. I think we need to create a clear structure for everyone else to fill in with details; but also to provide good examples to follow.

Technical remarks:
* In my opinion, the filename column is not needed, it does not appear anywhere while playing, it's in source code only. Better remove it to have more horizontal space for the rest. The names given to the planets by the editors of the explanation page shown in the Description column are fine.
* Coordinates are also not useful for a regular player, who does not use some Javascript addition/cheats, maybe remove it as well; textual directions in '''Explanation''' column are sufficient.

-- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 19:59, 2 May 2023 (UTC)
:> Thanks for replying. The current table in the main text looks good, but still it is a ''description'' or just ''enumeration'' of game objects, not an ''explanation'' (or in some cases: partly an explanation). Supposing we keep the current structure, it is possible to add explanations for the planet names in the '''Explanation''' column. For example, first sentence of the second paragraph is a good ''explanation'' for the Uzumaki planet's name. On the other hand, Andal has only a ''description'' (what it looks like and what features are present on the surface) and no ''explanation'' (that it refers to Animorphs series of books).
:Hey! Yeah, that's the state of the table ''right now'', and I 100% percent agree with everything you're saying here. All planets and items that need an explanation should be explained and not just described. I mostly just copied and pasted the "planet description/explanations" from the old list to the table: creating the table was way more painful than i thought. I was actually surprized to see that nobody explained what Andal referred to, but I don't know anything about it so more knowledgeable people will have to chip in on that

:>There's also a question where one should put explanations of items and messages. Some do not need an explanation ('You found a stick'), but most do: what they mean and what they refer to, both in xkcd context (such as when there's a comic about the thing) and in general context. I hope you understand the difference between ''description'' and ''explanation''.
:I do! And I wish other people could help here. I'm not sure if you've seen it, but this is the banner i put above the table:

----
'''ALL ITEM EXPLANATIONS NEED TO BE TRANSFERRED FROM THE OLD PLANET LIST TO THE NEW TABLE''' 
We are currently switching from a disorganized list (below, inside the green banner) to the new organized table, but the explanations for specific items are missing from the new table. Please help by copying the item explanations from the old list and adding them to the new table ''in this format:'' 
<code>The item message &ndash; <nowiki>''Where to find it &ndash; Explanation, such as references etc''</nowiki></code> 
Example: You found a cheese platter (Your tanks recharge faster) – ''Next to the cell tower – The cheese is a reference to [https://example.com 1234: Cheese]''
----
'''OTHER ISSUES:'''
* upgrades that end in "???" need to be replaced by the exact upgrade message shown to the user.
* the "Tiles (X, Y)" column for planet coordinates is empty

:As you can see, the explanations should be put right next to the items and messages. Unfortunately no one has started to add them to the table yet

:> Maybe there's also some misunderstanding resulting from a language barrier; English is not my native language.
:Your English is excellent :)

:> dialogues or monologous of the characters, which contain many puns and references, and also hints for the player. There's simply no place for them in the current structure. Making more columns may be messsy. That's why I proposed making several tables covering different aspects.
Almost all the dialogues are on the [[2765: Escape Speed/Transcript]] page, so I guess they should be added there. I don't know if they're already here, I haven't looked at it enough
:: The transcript is not the place for explanations. Puns and references shall be explained elsewhere. I continue working on the transcript but there's still quite a way to go. -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 5 May 2023

:> Please take my remarks as proposals to improve the structure and not as a criticism or request for you to make everything right and fill every cell of the table. I think we need to create a clear structure for everyone else to fill in with details; but also to provide good examples to follow.
:Yeah; i totally get everything you said. In my last reply I think I was a bit too rude for some reason, maybe it's because I just finished the table and was tired.

:>* In my opinion, the filename column is not needed, it does not appear anywhere while playing, it's in source code only. Better remove it to have more horizontal space for the rest. The names given to the planets by the editors of the explanation page shown in the Description column are fine.
:* Coordinates are also not useful for a regular player, who does not use some Javascript addition/cheats, maybe remove it as well; textual directions in '''Explanation''' column are sufficient.
I was heavily inspired by the table in the [[2712: Gravity]] explanation, which included these. I kind of agree that the filename could be removed, and the filenames could be added to the planet name or explanation, i didn't think about that. About the tiles, someone might use them someday, but if the column keeps remaining empty, i don't mind seeing it disappear

:I really liked your ideas, if you don't mind I'll copy and paste this discussion in the actual comic discussion page and see what others think --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:37, 2 May 2023 (UTC)

::Update: I found a way and added all the coordinates, and moved the planet filenames to the Planet Name column to make more space for the other columns :)

::: Hi, what about dividing planets and objects like in [[User:Malgond/Drafts/Escape_Speed|my experiment]]? There's plenty of horizontal space for explanations and the entries are quite compact vertically. I also think about color-coding the different Types of game objects. -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 5 May 2023

::::Hmm, I think it looks a little messy and maybe too complicated. Do any other comics have two different tables? Also, I'm personally not a fan of mixing items, landscapes, and people. I think most people reading the table are there to get an overview of the planets and what they contain. Do we really have to explain everything in such detail? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 14:09, 6 May 2023 (UTC)

:::::We do not have to follow other explanations too closely, we could use a new form if it seems clearer and better. The current form has no place neither for explaining items nor for dialogues/monologues. More columns could be problematic (specifically in today's world of high and narrow screens of smartphones). Should we explain everything? Well, it us up to collective "us". Personally, I would like someone explain a few puns/dialogues I do not understand.
:::::For now, there's only a handful of people still interested in somehow finishing the explanation for this huge comic. Maybe if we two can agree on some format we could put it in discussion page and ask for votes. (Discussion needs a cleanup, BTW). -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 22:00, 7 May 2023 (UTC)

:::::Hey, I'm back. I see you're enhancing your example table, and iI was wondering, do you plan to move your edits to the actual article after you're done and use the test to see how the formatting looks? Isn't it easier to just add them to the main page directly? Just wondering. If you want I can help you port them over :)
:::::Keeping the contents of the table on your talk page and then porting them over afterwards could lead to a loss of information added after you started editing your user page [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:11, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

::::::I'm back too. Yes, I intend to put it in the main article, but I am a bit shy to replace a lot of your work; I've asked for opinions in the talk page. Let's see how it sorts out. Maybe someone has a still better idea. -- [[User:Malgond|Malgond]] ([[User talk:Malgond|talk]]) 21:50, 13 May 2023 (UTC)

::::::Oh. I think the structure of the current table in the article is better than the one you've been working on: for example, it's easier to sort for items, is more compact, and is just one. Why don't you just add a "transcript" column like the table on [[2712: Gravity]] to put what things and people say, and add the rest of the information on the respective columns? Personally, I think you're making it a little bit too complicated. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:26, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

== Typo? ==

Rephrasing, yes, but I don't think [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1828:_ISS_Solar_Transit&curid=20102&diff=313177&oldid=285814 this] fixes a typo, or any other error. No problem with the change, but weird reason. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.87|172.71.242.87]] 16:21, 15 May 2023 (UTC)
:Yeah you're right, I think I just didn't want to type a long reason for such a small change. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:39, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

== Haltones ==

"They're not **predominantly** gray, the two main colors are just white and black. Sometimes he uses the gray color just like when he uses any other color" ... It didn't say that they were predominantly grey(/'gray'), any more than it said that they'd be predominently black (as [[:Category:Comics with inverted brightness]], often, in preference to white). The point being that even the most "black and white" images aren't monochrome, but have degrees of grey at the boundaries, with smoothly antialiased boundaries between the full black of the line (or filled area) and the full white of the background (or inverted detail). You'll see this if you zoom in, with your favourite image editor. And very often in images with a default RGB colourspace, even if the effective pallette employed covers just greyscale values. But greys actually do feature a lot, too (often the first choice of non-black-and-white, for slight lessening of prominence, as opposed to 'red pen' ''increased'' visibility). So it's technically inaccurate to describe them as pretty much monochrome. But how to convey this in <...counts...> less than 157ish words? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.173|172.71.242.173]] 16:35, 17 May 2023 (UTC)
:The wiki page says
::::"xkcd comics are usually plain, predominantly black-and-white line drawings, but sometimes they make use of hues beyond the usual monochrome colors, even if it is just red-penned annotations.
:I think it's enough, since, even if grey is more used than other non-monochrome colors, I don't believe it's so important that it needs to be included as a "third" main color. If Randall uses many bright colors, that he will obviously also use simpler hues of grey when needed. What do you think? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:51, 17 May 2023 (UTC)
:Aside from the antialising edging gradient, I just used the Random Page link and landed on [[1301: File Extensions|something with functional greys]], [[734: Outbreak|an unusual use of 'Post-It' yellow]], an unremarkably "just black pen" comic and then [[1788: Barge|more functional grey]]. I'd argue against "monochrome" as a description, as clearly there is more than just #000000 and #FFFFFF, often enough, in an actual fill-colour/broad-brush context. Even if that's #808080 or another no-hue shade. (I was expecting to land on a "grey pen" comic to assess, after enough clicks but, having seen what I got in the random first handful, I saw no need to go on.)
:And "monochrome" can be/often is coloured. Sepia photographs or "night vision" green displays are perfect examples of monochrome (with or without halftones/dithering/whatever). As is [[267: Choices: Part 4]] (other Choices comics may be considered "duotone", in different ways).
:Maybe "...are often drawn as black shapes on white, or occasionally white shapes on a dark background, but may feature at least one additional highlighting shade or an even fuller colour pallette." Does that sufficiently cover that whole breadth of use? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.154|172.70.86.154]] 19:48, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

== Childish slang. ==

Agree with you on the recent change that you (generic 'you', not ''you'' 'you'!) sound infantile, any which way, upon use of the words mentioned. Which is how it was still said before the revert in that version of edit. But with <code>"pretty gay" and "retarded" are infantile and offensive slang for "foolish" or "contemptible"</code>, you miss the point. Foolishness is just one distant contender for what "pretty gay" is often intended to mean (even if not actually being used for someone/something 'effeminate'). And "retarded" is more in the whole "thick, stupid, dumb" line of insult than "contemptible" (which is more "horrible, dislikable, repulsive"..?).
 Personally, I also thought it better with not actually defining insults (correctly or otherwise), as it adds power to them. I can call someone a "numpty" in jest, for example, and colloquially that might be understood as the low-level insult (if that) which it is intended to be. But if I start to bandy around its {{wiktionary|numpty#Scots|dictionary definition}} then it becomes more of a seriously accusatory description.
 Just my opinion. Not really understanding the latest revert when it had seemed to be improved (if anything) in the version you reverted away. Just putting it there. I know you're doing a lot of editing (good stuff!) just wondering if you considered this one carefully enough in your obvious zeal. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.89|172.71.182.89]] 16:31, 28 May 2023 (UTC)
:Addendum. Meant to say, if you decide to undo/reform your own revert (I won't do it, but on the offchance you see my point), I'd have not said "''commonly'' used". They're used in slang, but I don't think we can say how frequently they pop up. They're "used in slang" (and also not in slang, or at least not insulting slang, where "gay" has a long history of just meaning "happy", whilst "retarded" is often to do with decceleration/minimised acceleration of physical systems) but I'm not sure they're no more than minority words in the whole world of such language. They depict a subset of insult-givers (like the character in the comic, for whom it adds a certain additional characterisation) amongst all the many and varied insult-givers, and Randall surely chose such semi-bowlderised terms to not have to write any of all the far worse words he might also have done. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.31|172.71.94.31]] 16:46, 28 May 2023 (UTC)

== IP page to delete ==

I didn't see your thinking about why the Deletion category was not needed there. And, believe me as an IP myself, I've never known anything useful being said on an IP's User or User Talk page. With that example not breaking the pattern any. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.131|172.70.85.131]] 00:41, 22 June 2023 (UTC)
:I just don't think there's a reason to delete it, it's useful to have a previous talk page if the IP continues to edit and people want to communicate with them [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:51, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
::"The IP" is whichever one of 'us' happens to land on that particular Cloudflare route.
::I'm not going to go back and find out which IP it represents, to check if it's in their current stock of connected gateways, but it might not be. Or it was even (depending on date) a pre-Cloudflare 'straight' access unproxied and thus no longer seen, even if the exact same editor on the exact same IP lucked on ''their'' initial gateway.
::Certainly it won't map to a meaningful 'user', chances may even be that it doesn't map to ''any'' user. IP-version User/User Talk pages are anachronisms pretty much as soon as they're created. Or before, if based upon trying to contact an author of an older edit. I was on 172.70.85.131, above, but who knows (before I submit it) what this reply's sign-off will say.
::And a one-shot editor may never ever see the results of any conversation that was tried to be started. Whereas I ''might'' see any response, anywhere, that contextually makes it plain that they're talking about an edit I once made.
::Honestly, I think it'd be worthwhile checking ''every'' IP-focussed namespace page and archiving anything truly interesting that found itself in there in some other central location then condemning them all to deletion. Maybe, if possible, prevent their creation too. But I don't have the ability to do anything (except sift through them for any of the very rare gems of quality, but I wouldn't be able to do anything about it from there on in, so...
::...not gonna do anything more about it (I can't, other than reinstate the To Be Deleted membership, whch I won't bother with), but I hope you understand my perspective on this. I've seen you become a very useful member of the community, who I generally respect for your input and tweaks to the site, and don't expect you to take instruction from li'l ol' me (not even working with an established identity). Just consider this as food for thought, and leave it at that if you wish. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.19|162.158.34.19]] 20:12, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

== RTL/LTR: "...but I think it refers to me" ==

Yeah, it does. The point being that we might not do anything about the smartarses who vandalise knowingly (and I don't see a problem with what you otherwise did), but when someone thinks ''they'' have unique and funny joke (along the lines of putting "Citation needed"s ''everywhere'') they might spot the comment and then realise how we've seen it all done before so refrain from the prank. I can't even recall how many times we have had to revert things, but best to put off the casual comedian, and it won't change the outcome either way for the dedicated vandal with their blood up and looking to cause trouble. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.107|141.101.98.107]] 20:00, 29 June 2023 (UTC)
:I guess you're right, I just thought it was very clear for everyone that rendering an entire article unreadable was an act of pure vandalism, but I guess an editor comment doesn't hurt. [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 10:53, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

== The reason "the image size wasn't there"? ==

...because it didn't need an image-size restriction, originally? Compare the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/File:Miss_lenhart.png previous and current version sizes]. Nice to have a (''huge!'') high-res headshot, no doubt, but clearly that's why you found that it now needs artificially constraining... No actual mystery. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.63|172.70.85.63]] 17:16, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

:Yeah you're right, I just assumed every comic had the image size to be future-proof. The weird thing was that the "imagesize: " part was already there, but there was no value. Anyway, nothing important.

: Just out of curiosity, are you the same IP guy from [[#IP page to delete]]?--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 18:43, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

== I disagree with Oxford commas. ==

"For breakfast I had some bread, toast, and jam." - A legitimate(ish) case of ", and ". Or "I created the world, and saw that it was good." I otherwise prefer to suscribe to replacing all non-final conjunctions in sequence with commas but ''not'' adding one before the ultimate (remaining) conjunction. That's like having "Fish, and chips", where it isn't an actual afterthought. And best to rephrase or repunctuate (e.g. with super-listing semicolons to separate) if you have confusing comma-breakout clauses that ''so'' easily clash (or lead you down funny garden paths) with Oxford Commas. My opinion, but this is why syntax is clearer when leaving out OCs. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.93|172.70.85.93]] 13:59, 6 July 2023 (UTC)
:I just think it's better to use it everywhere to avoid any possible confusion. If we used it half the time, it would be inconsistent. But it's no big deal.
::Similarly, no big deal. Except that it ''looked'' like an error. You've done a lot of useful changes, recently... A ''lot''... Which is not a bad thing, I must add. Occasionally I've seen what (I thought!) you intended to say, and I've helped out with a misplaced word or two. And I honestly do not feel like OCs read correctly in many circumstances. How would you even OC something like "...you should paint it red, yellow or, maybe, orange"?
::The comma already does a lot of heavy lifting, four or five different uses can occur in the same sentence, with it commonly doing duty as a sub-clause parenthetical (except without the clear open/close distinction of an actual parenthetical) ''as well as'' conjunction-replacement within a list. You will find many instances of non-OCed lists on the site. In fact I find the "Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd..." bit, below this edit box, to be the exception and not the rule.
::Anyhoo... I 'corrected' an example, but did not re'correct' it once you made it obvious what rule you were working to. I think you're less right than me, naturally, even if I wouldn't say that you're more wrong. ;) But I thought I'd make you a brief note of my thoughts rather than edit-warring the issue. Less brief, now, but I hope you still take it in good humour. (Oh, yeah, I'm sort of Ok with Oxford Spelling, insofar as it's mostly what I use naturally. Except for the "-ize" bit. That and their Comma are totally against how I was taught at school, a number of decades ago. :P ) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.71|172.71.242.71]] 15:26, 6 July 2023 (UTC)
----

2795: Glass-Topped Table

2023-06-29T11:15:33Z

172.71.242.71: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2795
| date = June 28, 2023
| title = Glass-Topped Table
| image = glass_topped_table.png
| titletext = You can pour a drink into it while hosting a party, although it's a real pain to fit in the dishwasher afterward.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a pair of GLASSES.}}
A play on the common term for a table, such as a dining or coffee table, that has a glass surface. "Glass-topped table" usually means the table top is made of glass, but in this comic the phrase represents, instead, a table with a glass surface where surface has been "topped" with a drinking glass. Notably, the glass is part of the table top, merged with the regular glass surface so that the glass can not be lifted off of the table. This would thus require the use of a straw to drink from it.

Furthermore, the otherwise normal-looking drinking glass looks like it has been placed over the edge of the table and is about to fall off. This could make anyone unfamiliar with the table likely to automatically reach out for the glass to prevent what appears to be an imminent disaster. This could potentially have unfortunate consequences, since the glass is not independently movable without shifting the entire table. Assuming the person does not hurt their hand or arm, from the unexpected load as they take the strain through sheer reflex, they may successfully move the glass ''and entire table'' to cause other things on/adjacent to the table to be toppled/struck sideways. (

It is not certain if the advertisement for this item makes this configuration clear. By its name alone, buyers might expect to get an ordinary table with a glass surface, but few of them would be interested in buying one when they discover the extra glass attached and the caption says this is the least popular item in their furniture store. At first glance, in a store, most people would be drawn to 'prevent the imminent accident' and end up thwarted or creating other problems. In a web-page/catalogue picture, the glass would just look like part of the scenic depiction presentation of the table, albeit a weird one. It is not unusual that a table in a commercial would feature glasses, or other accessories artfully placed upon it, to give it a sense of scale and contextual use, but the dissonance of the 'carelessly' positioned glass would work against the usual advertising pressures employed. Anyone who still ordered the table, without establishing the true nature of its permanent feature, is also then likely to likely complain and negotiate a refund/replacement (negating whatever sales were actually made) and write bad reviews (discouraging others from even looking at the product).

The title text adds to this by saying it would be difficult to put the glass in a dishwasher, since you would need to bring the table with it. There are dishwashers [https://www.thekbzine.com/pages/13317/worlds_largest_dishwasher_unveiled/#:~:text=Bosch%20unveiled%20the%20world's%20largest,water%20and%20stay%20perfectly%20dry big enough] to fit tables, but they are not for regular households.{{cn}} And that won't make moving the table any easier. Cleaning the glass after a drink would thus have to be done by hand, and the water in the glass has to be sucked out, mopped up or drained by inverting the whole table (or entire top, if detachable) in a non-damaging way.

==Transcript==
:[The comic shows a square table with a glass surface. The glass surface is not clear enough to see through. A drinking glass stands nearly half-way over the right edge of the table, so it looks like it is in 'danger' of falling. Apparently, however, is seems that this glass is merged with the glass surface of table, thus it cannot fall off. There is a caption below the panel:]
:The least popular item at my furniture store is probably the table with a decorative drinking glass built into the edge of the glass top.

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Puns]]