explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1724: Proofs

2016-08-24T12:11:09Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ Decline means refuse. Here she is denying

{{comic
| number = 1724
| date = August 24, 2016
| title = Proofs
| image = proofs.png
| titletext = Next, let's assume the decision of whether to take the Axiom of Choice is made by a deterministic process ...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More on the match, especially the title text.}}
[[Miss Lenhart]] is back teaching a math class. She begins a proof when one of her students ([[Cueball]]) interrupts her asking if this is one of those {{w|Dark Magic}} proofs. She denyies that but it soon turns out that it will be, and Cueball exclaims that he just knew it would be one of those.

If this actually refers to the proof being magical, or just to the fact that many students often feel like the resulting proof just appeared without any reason, i.e. either the teacher did not do it clearly, or the student is not up to the task of understanding proofs of that complexity, is not clear.

The proof she starts setting up resembles a {{w|proof by contradiction}}. These often involve making an assumption that there exists some formula or figure that fulfills the requirements given and plucking that answer out of abstract mathematics, much like summoning of demons is associated with black magic. This is usually done by relying on knowledge of the constraints of the form (for example, having the square root of 2 be a/b where a and b are both integers and have no common factors when proving that the square root of 2 is irrational). This common usage is then shown to be not the case in the comic as the proof then goes to claim that the answer will be written in a specific place (though this could be taken as indicating that the result is finite or has a simple algorithm for continuing it).

In the title text the decision of whether to take the {{w|axiom of choice}} is made by a deterministic process. The {{w|axiom of determinacy}} is {{w|Axiom_of_determinacy#Incompatibility_of_the_axiom_of_determinacy_with_the_axiom_of_choice|incompatibility with the axiom of choice}}, which is the continuation of the joke of these dark magic proofs.

Although Miss Lenhart did retire a year ago after [[1519: Venus]], she seems to have returned here for a math course at university level, but continues the trend she finished with in the her undergraduate class...

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is standing facing left in front of a whiteboard writing on it. Eleven left aligned lines of writing is shown as unreadable scribbles. A voice interrupts her from off-panel right.]
:Miss Lenhart: ... Let's assume there exists some function ''F''(a,b,c...) which produces the correct answer-
:Cueball (off-panel): Hang on.

:[In a frame-less panel Cueball is sitting on a chair at a desk with a pen in his hand taking notes.]
:Cueball: This is going to be one of those weird, dark magic proofs, isn't it? I can tell.

:[Miss Lenhart has turned right towards Cueball, who is again speaking off-panel. The white board is also off-panel.]
:Miss Lenhart: What? No, no, it's a perfectly sensible chain of reasoning.
:Cueball (off-panel): All right...

:[Miss Lenhart is facing the whiteboard again writing more scribbles behind some of the lines from before (the first line has disappeared). The lines that have more text added are now number three and five (four and six before). Cueball again speaks off-panel.]
:Miss Lenhart: Now, let's assume that the correct answer will eventually be written on the board at (x, y). If we-
:Cueball (off-panel): I ''knew'' it!

{{comic discussion}}

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

1723: Meteorite Identification

2016-08-22T12:55:53Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ Deborah Guedes is a female. Changing "he" to "they"

{{comic
| number = 1723
| date = August 22, 2016
| title = Meteorite Identification
| image = meteorite_identification.png
| titletext = Click for an actual flowchart for identifying a meteorite. My favorite part is how 'Did someone see it fall? -> Yes' points to 'NOT A METEORITE.' This is not a mistake.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Needs an explanation of the Title text}}
Meteorites are rare rocks that come from asteroids, the moon, and sometimes (very rarely) from Mars. The flowchart, though facetious, would actually work the vast majority of the time since, given any single rock one finds on the surface of the earth, it is almost definitely not a meteorite. Flowcharts are often used to give the inexperienced a step-by-step process to follow, but meteorite identification is very difficult, so the brevity of this flowchart in a way pokes fun at the need for a flowchart to identify meteorites, since laypeople are not experienced enough to confirm that a rock is indeed a meteorite. The image links to a [http://meteorites.wustl.edu/check-list.htm more detailed flowchart] which, among other things, links to a [http://meteorites.wustl.edu/realities.htm long list] detailing the many things that must be taken into consideration in order to confirm that a rock is a meteorite. The authors of those resources have likely received many rock samples and photos from people claiming to have discovered meteorites even though there have only been 690 confirmed cases since 1900, and thus they would likely benefit from just providing people the shortcut flowchart from Randall, as a way of saying, "leave meteorite identification to the professionals."

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1706: Genetic Testing

2016-07-14T06:29:09Z

173.245.50.29:

Regarding the title text, elbow dysplasia is something that genetic testing might find a susceptibility to in dogs, but parvo (canine parvovirus) is a viral infection and heartworms and mange are both parasites. I'm only beginning my veterinary studies so it's possible I'm speaking in ignorance but I've never heard of any genetic factors that make one dog more or less susceptible to any of the latter three than another dog. Generally speaking, all dog owners are advised to get their dogs vaccinated against parvo and kept on a heartworm preventive treatment such as ivermectin (Heartgard and other brands). Ie., these are blanket prevention strategies recommended for all dogs and no attempt is typically made to ascertain susceptibility level before recommending these treatments.

Of course, Randall is writing a comic intended for mass consumption and it's possible he wanted to include some canine ailments that would be more commonly recognized rather than just strictly listing congenital ailments of dogs like entropion or brachycephalic syndrome, which might have caused confusion and ruined the joke. --(I don't have an account yet) {{unsigned ip|108.162.210.178}}

Now I really wonder if anyone has actually done this before. It would be fun to see the actual results of this. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.104|141.101.104.104]] 08:00, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

Just because a disease is infectious doesn't mean there can't be breed dispositions. For example, parvo in GSDs. I tend to see lots of demodectic mange in bull breeds too. This can be due to factors, such as genetic immune deficiency or particular types of skin/hair which can be inherited {{unsigned ip|198.41.239.32}}

Interestingly 5% seems to be the common shared DNA between humans and dogs: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1207_051207_dog_genome.html
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.87.35|162.158.87.35]] 11:05, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

:I was the editor that made the original explanation. I never intended my word to be the final say; if anything, I was expecting the opposite, since I'm not educated at all in those fields. Regarding the link in parvo, I found this study, which starts that Spaniels are the most susceptible to parvo-enteritis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3003015 [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.74|173.245.52.74]] 14:57, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

:That effectively puts Pierre Paul Broca in the wrong, from a genetic POV. More specifically his theory that the main difference between humans and primates stem from their understanding of language, something that also relates to Wernickes and Brocas areas of the brain. Obviously animals have language albeit simpler. As for testing the difference between human and animal... with blood tests this is simple, because human blood contains some unique factors. But when it comes to DNA there may be no obvious telltale signs, which would mean only a computer would be able to spot the difference. If that's true it would explain why the lab doesn't run such a test. [[User:Todor|Todor]] ([[User talk:Todor|talk]]) 00:42, 14 July 2016 (UTC)

When I came here, I was rather hoping to see a comment on how legitimate these ancestry services really are. Anyone? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.133|108.162.241.133]] 21:10, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

I certainly do not know enough about genetics to edit the explanation nor comment substantively, but elsewhere on the web I've seen that humans' DNA is 82% "homologous" with dogs, and 60% with fruit flies! Presumably this reflects the difference between "homologous" and "shared"? As a non-scientist, 5% does 'feel' sorta low. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 02:45, 14 July 2016 (UTC)

Well now I'm just curious what a 48% lab, 35% beagle, 12% cocker spaniel and 5% other dog would actually look like. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.29|173.245.50.29]] 06:29, 14 July 2016 (UTC)

1705: Pokémon Go

2016-07-12T17:38:55Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ Formal name of the country

{{comic
| number = 1705
| date = July 11, 2016
| title = Pokémon Go
| image = pokemon_go.png
| titletext = Still waiting for the Pokémon Go update that lets you capture strangers' pets.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Pokémon Go}} is an {{w|augmented reality}} (AR) smartphone game, where players walk around the real world trying to find and capture digital first-generation {{w|Pokémon}} (i.e. Pokémon from the first series of games released), then leveling them up and/or evolving them, and using them in battle, similar to the classic Pokémon games for handheld consoles. These Pokémon are randomly placed around the world in the AR format so that they can only be seen through the phone. [[Randall]] is playing a prank on all players happening upon his real Pokémon figures as they are so consumed with this new game that they assume that they are from the game, not realizing that they should not be able to see them before they take out their phones, and then after doing this wondering why their phone is having trouble loading them.

Due to the popularity of the Pokémon franchise, after Pokémon GO's release in the United States on July 6, 2016, many fans of the series have been walking around with their smartphones out to capture and battle Pokémon (potentially looking ridiculous in the process).

Randall jokes that he has replicated the AR properties of the Pokémon in the app (that is, when you encounter a Pokémon, it is a small computer-generated sprite placed over your phone's front camera image that moves about your screen, giving the appearance of a "real" Pokémon in front of you). Randall's real life plastic models of various Pokémon have been constructed so they would seem to fit on a smartphone screen due to perspective, he has embedded a [[332: Gyroscopes|gyroscope]] in them so they wobble about their base giving them the appearance of basic computer-created movement, and as a final touch he has added a subtle underlighting which is also part of the game, and gives them a slightly computer-generated look compared to the real world around them. These effects combined fool avid Pokémon GO players into taking out their smartphone to capture the Pokémon for their game, when in fact it is just a toy sitting in front of them, and they should have known this as mentioned above. In this comic Randall displays the Pokémon called {{w|Squirtle}} which looks like a little turtle.

This comic is part of the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby series]]. In this case, the hobby is pranking players of Pokémon Go by replicating the appearance of the augmented reality mechanic.

In the title text, Randall is still waiting for an update that allows capture of strangers' pets -- besides the obvious, playing by the rules of Pokémon only wild (not any with an owner) Pokémon can be caught. However, in the {{w|Pokémon Colosseum}} games, through the use of a specialized device the player steals from the villains, the player can capture other trainers' Pokémon. This is also a callback to an earlier strip wherein [[Black Hat]] wishes for a Pokéball that works on strangers' pets (see last entry in [[1086: Eyelash Wish Log]]).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball walks in to the frame from the left. On the sidewalk in front of him is a small Pokémon figure looking like a standing turtle with a long tail, known as Squirtle. Lines around it indicate that it is moving forth and back (wobbling), and circle lines below indicate that there is light below it. The exact position of the Pokémon and these lines around it change through all four images, but stays almost in the same position.]

:[Cueball takes out his smart phone and points it's camera at the Pokémon while looking at the screen.]

:[Cueball shakes his smart phone violently up and down indicated with four to five gray drawings of his arm and phone below and above one solid black copy of the hand and phone. There are also two gray lines above and below the outer gray phones to indicate this shaking.]

:[Cueball has lowered his smart phone and just stands there looking at the wobbling Pokémon.]
:Cueball: '''''???'''''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:'''My hobby: Building plastic Pokémon with subtle underlighting and a gyroscope to make them drift back and forth, then leaving them sitting around to mess with Pokémon Go players.'''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Pokémon]]
[[Category:Animals]] 
[[Category:Smartphones]]

1702: Home Itch Remedies

2016-07-04T20:24:27Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ alternative medicine and homeopathy are not examples of home remedies

{{comic
| number = 1702
| date = July 4, 2016
| title = Home Itch Remedies
| image = home_itch_remedies.png
| titletext = In my experience, mosquitos and poison ivy are bad, but the very worst itch comes from bites from chiggers (Trombicula alfreddugesi). They're found across the American south and great plains, so the best home remedy is to move to Iceland.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Basic transcript. Please improve on it.}}

Bug bites, such as mosquito bites, are itchy. Home remedies are often ineffective, and in some cases very complicated -- think of the number of suggestions you have got on how to cure hiccups. In this case [[Cueball]]'s suggesting turns out to be insanely complicated, involving finding rare French orchids. In this case [[Megan]] is not actually interested in trying out a complex home remedy, but really just wants sympathy.

The suggested remedy is a mix of many popular home remedies such as :
* Taking a hot shower: supposedly to stimulate nerve endings, it can also destroy some toxins
* Applying vinegar: supposedly effective on mosquito bites
* Applying ice: numbs the pain, more commonly used on bruises
* Using aspirin: as a anti-inflammatory drug, aspirin may have an effect on itches, although it may cause more itches rather than provide relief.
* Tea and "rare French orchid": Orchids, like many other plants, are commonly used in traditional medicine to cure various ailments, and tea is a common route of administration.

Megan's answer is a {{w|sarcastic}} comment stating that her own family home remedy is to keep scratching until the skin falls off -- which is a natural tendency to do, although not until the skin literally falls off, and hence it is not a home remedy but a natural reaction.

The title text refers to {{w|chigger|chiggers}} or {{w|Trombicula alfreddugesi}} as the worst source for itches. But in fact only at larval stages this mites are parasitic. A move to the northern region of this world like Iceland would be a perfect cure because those parasites exist only in warmer southern regions. Chigger refers also to the chigoe flea or "jigger", {{w|Tunga penetrans}}, a parasitic flea which also leads to bad itching. But [[Randall]] explicitly mentions the mites ''Trombicula alfreddugesi''.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball stand together while Megan scratches her itches.]
:Megan: Argh, bug bites are the ''worst''. I shouldn't scratch, but... so itchy.
:Cueball: Oh, you know what's great for that?

:[Zoom-in to Megan's head. Cueball is off-panel.]
:Megan: No, don't tell me. Everyone always has weird home remedies that never work. I just want sympathy.
:Cueball: No, this one isn't weird, I promise. It really helps!

:[Zoom-out to Megan and Cueball. Megan is still scratching.]
:Cueball: First, take a hot shower. Then dip some ice cubes in vinegar and use them to crush one baby aspirin. Then make some tea, and...

:[Megan walks away while Cueball looks at her.]
:Cueball: ...then, you need a rare French orchid-
:Megan: I'm going to try a different home remedy where I complain a lot and scratch until my skin comes off.
:Cueball: Sounds effective.
:Megan: It's an old family trick.

{{comic discussion}}

1688: Map Age Guide

2016-06-01T14:51:08Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ Deleting very unlikely remark. Also, dotted I for the official name

{{comic
| number = 1688
| date = June 1, 2016
| title = Map Age Guide
| image = map_age_guide.png
| titletext = Does the screeching chill your blood and herald death? If yes, banshee. If no, seagull.
}}

*A [http://xkcd.com/1688/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Many is still missing.}}
Flowchart depicting various ways to tell what era a map is from based on present country borders and land forms. Most of the options are very serious,with a few bizarre options (mistaking a seagull and breadbox for a map) or references to things like the {{w|Discworld}} books and Middle-earth, the setting of the Lord Of the Rings series. He also mentions US President Jimmy Carter being attacked by a giant swimming rabbit, an event previously referenced by [[204]].

Additionally, (possible) future maps including a "Radioactive Exclusion Zone" in the place of Colorado are mentioned.

The title text continues the path where the user has confused a seagull for a map by inquiring if the (presumed) seagull might be a banshee based on the effect of its screams.

(First Draft, please expand.)

Going through the flowchart, taking the leftmost path first:

'''Istanbul or Constantinople''': The city that is now the capital of Turkey is famous for having different names at different times or to different people. Variations on both names go back at least 1,000 years. Other names have also been used at various points. İstanbul has been the official name since the 1920's, although Western maps often referred to it as Constantinople as late as the 1960's; on the flowchart, the choice of name appears to go with the 1920's date. The name changes are the subject of a [http://mentalfloss.com/article/60314/original-istanbul-not-constantinople song], originally by the Four Lads, but now mainly known for the They Might Be Giants recording.

(rightmost path first)

The Soviet Union is one of the largest countries ever to exist consisting of Russia and large portions of eastern Europe and central Asia. It was a major political force from 1922, when several allied soviets republics united, to 1991, when it broke up. Its very simple to find on any map that has it.

Zaire was one of a series of names for what is today called the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1996 a (successful) revolt began to oust the reigning government from power. As part of this revolution, the country was renamed. The origonal name change away from 'Congo' was part of an 'Africanisation' naming campaign, although 'Congo' is in origin an authentic African name for the river that set the boundaries of the nation.

Serbia and Montenegro were a remnant of Yugoslavia. Montenegro voted to become its own country in 2006.

East Timor is a nation north of Australia and south east of Indonesia. During the dutch colonization of Indonesia east Timor remained in Portuguese hands. While occupied and annexed by Indonesia since 1976, east Timor retained its own culture and voted for independence, then had a nasty militia action that required UN peacekeeping action, and finally become independent in 2002.

In 2011, after a long history of violence between the two portions of the country (which can be characterized as Islamic vs. Christian and Traditional Religions), South Sudan became independent from its northern neighbor.

==Transcript==

Start:
* Istanbul or Constantinople?
** Constantinople:
*** Do any of these exist? Independent Canada; US Territory of Alaska; Tokyo.
**** No:
***** The Holy Roman Empire?
****** Yes:
******* 1805 or earlier (before this point, the modern idea of a complete political map of the world gets hard to apply.)
****** No:
******* The United States?
******** No:
********* How sure are you that this map is in english?
******** Yes:
********* Texas is...
********** Part of Mexico:
*********** Florida is part of...
************ Spain:
************* Paraguay?
************** No: 1806-10
************** Yes: 1811-17
************ The US:
************* Venezuela and/or ecuador?
************** No: 1818-29
************** Yes: 1830-33
********** Independent: 1834-45
********** Part of the US:
*********** Does Russia border the Sea of Japan?
************ No:
************* The US's southern border looks...
************** Weird: 1846-53
************** Normal: 1854-56
************ Yes: 1858-67
**** Yes:
***** South Africa?
****** No:
******* Rhodesia?
******** No:
********* Is Bolivia landlocked?
********** No:
*********** "Buda" and "Pest" or "Budapest"?
************ Buda and Pest: 1868-72
************ Budapest: 1873-83
********** Yes: 1884-95
******** Yes:
********* Is Norway part of Sweden?
********** Yes: 1896-1905
********** No: 1906-09
****** Yes:
******* Austria-Hungary?
******** Yes:
********* Albania?
********** No: 1910-12
********** Yes: 1913-18
******** No:
********* Leningrad?
********** No: 1919-23
********** Yes: 1924-29
** Neither:
*** Does the Ottoman Empire exist?
**** Yes: [[#canada-alaska-tokyo]]
**** No:
***** The Soviet Union?
****** Yes:
******* Saudi Arabia?
******** Yes:
********* Is most of West Africa a giant french blob?
********** Yes:
*********** Bangladesh?
************ No:
************* Is the area sout of Lake Victoria...
************** British:
*************** The town on I-25 between Albuquerque and El Paso is...
**************** Hot Springs: 1948-49
**************** Truth or Consequences: 1950-52
************** Tanganyika: 1961-64
************** Tanzania: 1965-71
************ Yes: 1972-75
********** No:
*********** How many Vietnams are there?
************ Two:
************* [[#bangladesh]]
************ One:
************* Jimmy Carter is...
************** Being attacked by a giant swimming rabbit: April 20, 1979
************** Fine:
*************** The Sinai is part of what country?
**************** Israel: 1976-79
**************** Mostly Israel: 1980
**************** Mostly Egypt: 1981
**************** Egypt:
***************** What's the capital of Micronesia?
****************** Kolonia:
******************* Republic of the Upper Volta or Burkina Faso?
******************** Upper Volta: 1982-84
******************** 1985-88
****************** Palikir:
******************* (number of Yemens) + (number of Germanys) = ?
******************** Four: 1989-early 1990
******************** Three: mid-1990
******************** Two: late 1990-1991
******** No: 1922-1932
****** No:
******* North Korea?
******** Yes:
********* Zaire? or: "Hong Kong (UK)"
********** Yes: 1992-96
********** No:
*********** Serbia/Montenegro are...
************ One country:
************* East Timor?
************** No: 1997-2001
************** Yes: 2002-06
************ Two countries:
************* How many Sudans are there?
************** One: 2007-11
************** Two:
************** Is Crimea disputed?
*************** Yes:
**************** "Colorado" or "Danger—Radioactive Exclusion Zone—Avoid"?
***************** Colorado: 2014-21
***************** Danger:
****************** Does the warning mention the spiders?
******************* No: 2022
******************* Yes: 2023 or later
*************** No: 2012-13
******** No:
********* Saint Trimble's Island
********** No:
*********** Is Jan Mayen part of the Kingdom of Norway?
************ Not yet:
************* [[#canada-alaska-tokyo]]
************ What?
************* Can you see the familiar continents?
************** Yes:
*************** This sounds like a physical map or satellite photo.
**************** Yes, that's it
***************** Is Lake Chad missing?
****************** No:
******************* How far east do the American Prairies reach?
******************** Indiana: before 1830
******************** The Mississippi: 1830s-80s
******************** Nebraska:
********************* Is there a big lake in the middle of Southern California? (created by mistake)
********************** No: 1860s-1900s
********************** Yes: 1910s
******************** What prairies?
********************* Is there a big lake in the middle of Ghana? (created on purpose)
********************** No: 1920s-50s
********************** Yes: 1960s-70s
****************** Yes:
******************* Is the Aral Sea missing?
******************** No: 1970s-90s
******************** Yes: 2000s+
************** No:
*************** Rivers "Sirion" or "Anduin"?
**************** Yes:
***************** Mordor?
****************** No:
******************* Beleriand?
******************** Yes: First Age
******************** No: Early Second Age
****************** Yes:
******************* Númenor?
******************** Yes: Late Second Age
******************** No:
********************* The forest east of the Misty Mountains is...
********************** Greenwood: Early Third Age
********************** Mirkwood: Late Third Age
********************** The Wood of Greenleaves: Fourth Age
**************** No:
***************** Cair Paravel?
****************** Yes:
******************* Calormen?
******************** No:
********************* Lotta Islands?
********************** No:
*********************** Beruna
************************ Ford: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
************************ Bridge:
********************** Yes: Prince Caspian
******************** Yes:
********************* Weird recursive heaven?
********************** No: one of the random later books
********************** Yes: The Last Battle
****************** No:
******************* Mossflower?
******************** Yes:
********************* Redwall
******************** No:
********************* Is the world on the back of a turtle?
********************** Yes: Discworld
********************** No:
*********************** Are you _sure_ this is a map?
************************ Yes:
************************* Did you make it yourself?
************************** Yes:
*************************** It's very nice.
**************************** Thank you!
************************ No:
************************* Is it trying to bite you?
************************** No:
*************************** Is it larger than a breadbox?
**************************** Yes: tuba
**************************** No: stapler
**************************** About the same: breadbox
************************** Yes:
*************************** If you let it go, what does it do?
**************************** Hisses and runs away: cat
**************************** Screeches and flaps around the room breaking things: seagull
************ Yes:
************* Pakistan?
************** No:
*************** How many Germanys are there?
**************** One:
***************** Persia or Iran?
****************** Persia: 1930-34
****************** Iran: 1935-40
**************** One, but it's _huge_: 1941-45
**************** Two: 1946-47
************** Yes:
*************** Cambodia?
**************** No:
***************** Eritrea is part of...
****************** Italy:
******************* Canada is...
******************** Missing a piece: 1948
******************** Fine: 1949-52
****************** Ethiopia: 1952-53
**************** Yes:
***************** The United Arab Republic?
****************** No: 1954-57
****************** Yes: 1958-60
********** Yes: No, I made that one up.
** Istanbul:
*** Does the Soviet Union exist?
**** Yes:
***** [[#west-africa-french-blob]]
**** No:
***** [[#zaire]]

{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Geography]]

1680: Black Hole

2016-05-13T13:26:43Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ I came here for an explanation and left worse off than I arrived

{{comic
| number = 1680
| date = May 13, 2016
| title = Black Hole
| image = black_hole.png
| titletext = It also brings all the boys, and everything else, to the yard.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More details... What would happen if a black hole like this was in a living room... It's not clear what exactly in the comic is a reference to the Big Lebowski movie. This needs clarification}}
[[Cueball]] is curious as to why [[Black Hat]] has a miniature {{w|black hole}} on his table; Black Hat responds that it "really brings the room together", making a pun on both the black hole aesthetically completing the room as well as it literally "bringing the room together" through its gravitational pull. Evidently the black hole is massive enough to bring the room together optically into visible {{w|Einstein ring}}s by {{w|gravitational lensing}}.

The comic references 'The Dude's' rug in the film "{{w|The Big Lebowski}}" (pending explanation).

The title text makes a more contemporary cultural reference to a well-known song lyric from the song "{{w|Milkshake (song)|Milkshake}}" by {{w|Kelis}} (pending explanation); however, in this case, since {{w|gravity}} does not discriminate between which things it will attract{{Citation needed}} (according to the {{w|equivalence principle}}), it brings "the boys, and everything else", to Black Hat's yard.

[[Randall]] describes a similar scenario in the "Neutron Bullet" chapter of the [http://whatif.xkcd.com/book/ what if? book], and a black hole of similar dimensions in the [[what if?]] ''{{what if|129|Black Hole Moon}}''.

As depicted, the black hole is inconsistent with some aspect of physics:
* A large black hole would bring the room together... in less time than Cueball could converse with Black Hat.
* A small black hole could have {{w|tidal force}}s weak enough to permit Cueball to stand near it. However, unlike the scenario in "Neutron Bullet", it would emit {{w|Hawking radiation}} powerful enough to tear the room apart.
* A neutrally charged black hole would fall through the coffee table and burrow to Earth's core.
* This black hole appears to be about the size of a marble. A marble size is approximately earth's {{w|Schwarzschild radius}}, suggesting this black hole to have earth-like mass. [Since Cueball and Black hat are able to stand upright, it suggests the gravitational pull is a fraction of earth's. Making the black hole's mass also a fraction of earth's. The black hole may appear visibly larger due to having a visible accretion disc.]

==Transcript==

:[Cueball is standing near a coffee table as Black Hat approaches. They are presumably in Black Hat's living room. The coffee table has a miniature black hole on top of it, resting on a small pedestal.]
:Cueball: Why do you have a miniature black hole on your coffee table?
:Black Hat: It really brings the room together.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]

1679: Substitutions 3

2016-05-11T13:26:36Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1679
| date = May 11, 2016
| title = Substitutions 3
| image = substitutions_3.png
| titletext = BREAKING: Channing Tatum and his friends explore haunted city
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page.}}

Real examples:

*Japan's Sincerity in Improving Bilateral Ties Will Never Be Known [http://english.cri.cn/12394/2016/04/30/4203s926079.htm]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

1677: Contrails

2016-05-06T12:40:55Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ lower case

{{comic
| number = 1677
| date = May 6, 2016
| title = Contrails
| image = contrails.png
| titletext = Astronomy (or "astrology" in British English) is the study of ...
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Seems like the entire comic is described twice with different levels of information in both parts. Should be possible to merge them together into one better flowing explanation.}}

{{w|Contrail}}s (short for "condensation trails") are trails of vapor produced by aircraft exhaust, and are composed primarily of water. The {{w|chemtrail conspiracy theory}} claims that contrails lasting unusually long are actually chemical or biological agents sprayed into the air for sinister purposes. Here, [[White Hat]] notices that there are a lot of contrails in the air. [[Cueball]] corrects him, saying that in {{w|American English}}, contrails are called chemtrails. This, however, is incorrect.

This is another comic in the [[:Category:My Hobby|My Hobby]] series. Many of these comics involve [[Cueball]] giving misleading information about pedantic terms, such as [[1405: Meteor]].

The title text implies that {{w|astronomy}} and {{w|astrology}} are synonymous, though astrology is used in British English. However, this is incorrect. Though both involve studying celestial objects, astrology is about interpreting positions of celestial objects as having influences on human affairs, while astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects on a universal scale.

Contrail stands for “condensation trail”, which is the trailing cloud often found after jet planes that fly by. Itʼs formed from water sublimating on jet fuel exhaustions, some impurities of which provide bases for ice crystals to cumulate on. Some would dissipate in minutes, but others can last for hours or even longer.

Chemtrail, specifically referring to contrails that last for very long, is a conspiracist term that states such clouds can last so long because there are other chemicals added in jet fuel, thus achieving malicious results. Itʼs not approved by scientific community.

The joke is that British English and American English often call the same object with different terms, and one can often learn new words for a simple thing. This, however is not the case in this comic; contrail and chemtrail do not refer to the same thing, the latter being only a part of the former. And it being xkcd, we can assume that chemtrail is a term that is frowned upon. Thus the comic states it as misinformation.

The title text includes a similar situation: astronomy is serious study about things in outer space, like stars, planets, and galaxies. Astrology, however, is a system that infers one’s personalities and characteristics from zodiacs of her date of birth, which is a constellation assigned to a period of time in a year. The same system can also derive predictions about future, especially that of a relationship. Some would argue that astrology shows statistical values, but itʼs hardly science as by the standard of scientific community.

Given that the "American English" version is the conspiracy theory one for contrails/chemtrails, while who confuses astronomy and astrology is not fully clear, it is possible that the rest of the explanation of the astronomy vs astrology text would describe astrology. In that case, this could be a comment on the educational status in US vs UK, where the conspiracy theories and superstition (astrology) are much more visble in the US that in the UK (or Europe in general).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a White Hat are walking. White Hat is looking up to the sky while Cueball, walking in front holds out one arm towards him.]
:White Hat: Lots of contrails today.
:Cueball: Oh, you must be from the UK. In American English it's "Chemtrail".

:[Caption under the panel]
:My hobby: Spreading linguistic misinformation

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Language]]

1676: Full-Width Justification

2016-05-04T12:00:22Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ Words that are too short don't exist

{{comic
| number = 1676
| date = May 4, 2016
| title = Full-Width Justification
| image = full_width_justification.png
| titletext = Gonna start bugging the Unicode consortium to add snake segment characters that can be combined into an arbitrary-length non-breaking snake.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|hasty & impatient placeholder. Still an early draft; needs citations, fact-checking, and it also needs the Wikipedia links to be fixed.}}
The comic refers to an irritating problem in laying out text to fit from edge to edge, the problem of {{w|justification (typesetting)|justification}}. Sometimes, as before a long word like "[[:wikt:deindustrialization|deindustrialization]]," there's no universal good way to make the typography work. It is a difficult problem to make text look good and be easily legible especially in a narrow space, with the biggest issue being how to handle words that are too long to fit nicely.

The comic shows several solutions to this problem, some realistic and others less so, but each unsatisfying. "Giving up" is ugly, leaving a line break which doesn't fit with the rest; hyphenating is visually confusing and hard to read ("deindus-" looks like an independent, unfamiliar word, pronounced "dayn-duss"); stretching is unnatural, probably hard to code or render, unfamiliar and quite ugly; adding "filler" words, a radical solution, makes the writing worse (in the case of the example, making the tone too informal); and adding a meaningless snake image, just long enough to fill the extra space, is a novel (and quite bizarre) solution which probably wouldn't actually be used by a serious typographer.

The title text suggests that in order to facilitate this last method of "solving" the problem, the {{w|Unicode Consortium}}, the organization in charge of the common text standard {{w|Unicode}}, should add "snake-building characters" (similar in concept to the existing {{w|Box Drawing}} block), to allow variable-length snake images to be used as filling. The use of the phrase "non-breaking" in the title text is a play on {{w|non-breaking space}} and implies that an automatic line break could not be inserted after a snake segment; the whole snake would shift down if it were too wide to fit on a given line. This suggestion would likely be rejected; the Unicode consortium is very specific about which characters are added{{Citation needed}}, and always require a good reason{{Citation needed}} before adding a character or set of characters to the standard. Strange decisions by the consortium have previously been referenced in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], [[1513: Code Quality]], and [[1525: Emojic 8 Ball]].

Note that in Arabic, it is common to stretch the lines connecting letters as a relatively elegant and satisfying resolution to this problem. This trick is called "{{w|kashida}}" (كشيدة) and is explained and illustrated [http://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/creative-arabic-calligraphy-kashida-tajim-and-tashkil--cms-23240 here].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panels:]
:Strategies for full-width justification

:[Below the caption is a column with six boxes, each showing a different "strategy" for justification which is annotated beside it. Here the anotation is written at the top and the text below. The top and bottom of the text is cut of in the middle, but as it can be "read" this is written anyway. Only for hyphenation does an extra word appear at the end. In the last with snakes, a snake is drawn to cover the entire space from the end of between to the right border.]

:Giving up
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Letter spacing
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::b  e   t   w   e  e   n
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Hyphenation
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between deindus-
::trialization and the
::growth of ecological

:Stretching
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::<big><big><big>between</big></big></big>
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Filler
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between crap like
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

:Snakes
::their famous paper
::on the relationship
::between [a snake filling the gap]
::deindustrialization
::and the growth of

==Trivia==
*The full text (with alternate changes) reads:
::''...their famous paper on the relationship between [crap like]/[ 🐍 ] deindustrialization and the growth of [ecological]...''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]

1675: Message in a Bottle

2016-05-02T13:43:27Z

173.245.50.29: We don't need another transcript, just an explanation

{{comic
| number = 1675
| date = May 2, 2016
| title = Message in a Bottle
| image = message_in_a_bottle.png
| titletext = I tried to send a message back, but I accidentally hit 'reply all' and now the ocean is clogged with message bottles.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Only a first draft}}
This comic approaches a message in a bottle as a message in an internet mailing list. The message in the bottle reads "Unsubscribe", as it is done in email newsletters.

The title text suggests that when he replied all, it sent a message in a bottle to everyone on the companies mailing list.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball walks along a beach with six seagulls flying behind him over the sea. There is a small surf and in the far distance two mountains.]

:[Cueball stops and looks down at a bottle lying in the sand just outside the surf. A letter can be seen inside and there seems to be a stopper at the top.]

:[A frame less panel shows Cueball (beach and sea not drawn) as he puls out the letter from the bottle that he has now picked-up.]

:[Cueball holds the bottle behind him in one hand and the letter up in front him with the other hand. The text on the letter is written above him in curvy letters, looking like those often used to depict the writing of a dying or seriously injured man:]
:''Unsubscribe''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Animals]]

1674: Adult

2016-04-29T14:49:16Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ The punchline is not explained

{{comic
| number = 1674
| date = April 29, 2016
| title = Adult
| image = adult.png
| titletext = (1) That shopping cart is full of AirHeads, and (2) I died at 41 from what the AirHeads company spokesperson called 'probably natural causes.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The punchline is not explained.}}

In this comic, [[Cueball]] performs several mundane 'adult' tasks, namely shopping for groceries, buying furniture, applying for a mortgage, and writing a will. In each instance he appears surprised or bemused at the fact that he is behaving like an adult.

[[Wikipedia:AirHeads|AirHeads]] are a tangy, taffy-like, chewy candy, predominantly known for its sweet taste and texture. The title text suggests Cueball still retains some more childish instincts, namely using the freedom of adulthood to indulge in AirHead candies, to fatal consequences.

See also [[905: Homeownership]], where [[Cueball]] similarly has difficulty accepting the reality of his adulthood.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is holding onto a shopping cart.]
:Cueball (thinking): Haha, look at me grocery shopping! I'm such an adult.

:[Cueball is standing in front of a sofa.]
:Cueball (thinking): Buying a sofa! Ooh, look how domestic I am!

:[Cueball is sitting at a desk writing something with another Cueball on the opposite side of the desk.]
:Cueball (thinking): Applying for a mortgage! As if I'm a real grown-up.

:[Megan is reading from a piece of paper in front of a desk with Hairbun, Hairy, and White Hat behind it.]
:Megan: ...And I, being of sound mind and body, am totally writing a will right now!
:Megan: Can you believe this?

{{comic discussion}}

1672: Women on 20s

2016-04-25T17:29:08Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ Adding in which note Jackson is

{{comic
| number = 1672
| date = April 25, 2016
| title = Women on 20s
| image = women_on_20s.png
| titletext = I get that there are security reasons for the schedule, but this is like the ONE problem we have where the right answer is both easy and straightforward. If we can't figure it out, maybe we should just give up and just replace all the portraits on the bills with that weird pyramid eye thing.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic portrays a series of press conferences with a US Treasury spokesperson to summarize and ridicule the recent controversy over the upcoming redesign of US currency. The dialog between the US Treasury and reporters is paraphrased for comedic effect, but the events depicted are otherwise factual.

American currency has never had a woman as the primary portrait on paper currency, which is widely seen as a real problem. Responding to this issue, the Treasury Department initially planned to replace {{w|Andrew Jackson}} in the $20 note with a woman, to be chosen by public voting. {{w|Trail of Tears}} is a reference to the forced relocations of Native American peoples that Andrew Jackson conducted during his presidency. This is now seen as a human rights violation on a massive scale, and is presented as a reason why Andrew Jackson should not be honored on American currency.

The voting process selected {{w|Harriet Tubman}}, a 19th century abolitionist and a major figure in the {{w|Underground Railroad}} system which freed American slaves. Cueball is clearly pleased and excited about this prospect.

At this point, bureaucratic and political complications arise. The Treasury Department announces that, instead of replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, she would replace {{w|Alexander Hamilton}} on the $10. The reason given is that the $10 bill was scheduled for redesign first. A reporter asks why they can't simply change the schedule, but doesn't get a clear answer.

This plan is complicated when {{w|Hamilton_(musical)|a Broadway musical}} about the life of Alexander Hamilton comes out and becomes massively popular. This creates a flood of interest in Hamilton, and makes replacing his portrait politically complicated. The spokesperson suggests putting both Hamilton and Tubman on the $10 bill, but the reporters clearly think this is an unnecessary compromise.

Finally, the spokesperson announces that they will put Tubman on the $20 bill, but their schedule demands that they do the $10 bill first. They decide to put a "mural to women" on the new $10 bill to try and contain the tension until new $20 bill is released. The reporters point out that the Treasury has total control over the release of currency, so the simpler solution is just to change the schedule, but they're apparently ignored.

In the final panel, the spokesperson mentions that Jackson's portrait will still appear on the new $20 bill, seriously weakening the symbolism of replacing him and adding irony since Jackson was a slave owner. This is likely an effort to head off the complaints of traditionalists, but is seen here as an unfortunate attempt to avoid taking a real stand.

{{w|Martin Shkreli}} is a pharmaceutical executive who has come under a lot of public outrage for drastically increasing the price of a life-saving medication.

The title text reiterates that this is a rare case in politics in which there's a clear and simple solution. The Treasury has the authority to redesign currency and change the release schedule however they like. That makes all the compromises and backtracking unnecessary: they could simply replace Jackson with Tubman and release the new $20 bill whenever they choose. He appears frustrated with the artificial constraints that are holding back what should be a simple and straightforward process. (The title text does acknowledge that it takes time to evaluate a redesign's resistance to counterfeiting.)

The mention of the "[http://google.com/search?q=illuminati+confirmed weird pyramid eye thing]" is a reference to the {{w|Eye of Providence}}, which is an old and [http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Illuminati somewhat arcane symbol] that appears on the US $1 bill. Munroe seems to be using this as an example of the outdated and frankly strange design of American currency, the implication that using that on all our bills would constitute giving up on ever having a design relevant to the modern world.

==Transcript==

:2015
:[Cueball is sitting at a computer.]
:Website: Petition: Replace Andrew "Trail of Tears" Jackson with a woman on the $20 for the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in 2020.
:Cueball: Hey, good idea!
:Website: Vote for your three picks:
:[Three drop-down menus]
:1: Harriet Tubman
:2: Eleanor Roosevelt
:3: Rachel Carson
:Cueball: Tubman for #1, definitely.

:Soon...
:[Treasury Executive at a lectern.]
:Treasury Executive: After a flood of public interest, the Treasury has decided to feature a woman on our money!
:Offscreen 1: Yay!
:Treasury Executive: She will replace Hamilton on the $10.
:Offscreen 1: Yay-- wait, what? Why not the $20?
:Offscreen 2: ''Are we mad at Hamilton?''

:Treasury Executive: The $10 was scheduled for the next redesign by a board made up of --
:Offscreen 1: Can't you just do the $20 next?
:Treasury Executive: We will review the...
:Offscreen 1: *Sigh*
:Offscreen 2: ''Put Martin Shkreli on the $5!''
:Offscreen 3: ''Shut up, Steve.''

:Later in 2015...
:[Treasury Executive at a lectern.]
:Treasury Executive: Wow, some musical came out, and now suddenly Hamilton has ''tons'' of fans.
:Offscreen 1: So do the $20 next. Problem solved!
:Treasury Executive: Maybe he and a woman can ''share'' the $10!
:Offscreen 1: Are you serious.

:2016:
:[Treasury Executive at a lectern.]
:Treasury Executive: We've decided to put Harriet Tubman on the $20.
:Offscreen 1: Perfect! Happy ending.
:Treasury Executive: -- After we do the new $10.
:Offscreen 1: What?

:Treasury Executive: We'll put a mural to women on the back of the $10. Hopefully that will tide you over until we get to the $20?
:Offscreen 1: ''Seriously?'' How is this so complicated? Just say "We're putting Harriet Tubman on the $20," then do it.

:Treasury Executive: We'll do the $20 ASAP, but we can't change the --
:Offscreen 1: C'mon, your hands aren't tied here. You're the freaking Treasury. This is the '''''one''''' thing you're definitely in charge of.

:Treasury Executive: Oh, and we're putting Andrew Jackson on the back.
:All offscreen: WHAT.

{{comic discussion}}

1667: Algorithms

2016-04-13T12:26:09Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ leftpad is not a reference to the recent incident

{{comic
| number = 1667
| date = April 13, 2016
| title = Algorithms
| image = algorithms.png
| titletext = There was a schism in 2007, when a sect advocating OpenOffice created a fork of Sunday.xlsx and maintained it independently for several months. The efforts to reconcile the conflicting schedules led to the reinvention, within the cells of the spreadsheet, of modern version control.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Still need an explanation of the title text, and perhaps some expanded definitions of the listed algorithms.}}
An algorithm is a basic set of instructions for performing a task, usually on a computer. This comic lists some algorithms in increasing order of complexity.

At the simplest end is '''left-pad''', or adding filler characters on the left end of a string to make it a particular length. In many programming languages, this is one line of code. This is possibly an allusion to a [http://www.haneycodes.net/npm-left-pad-have-we-forgotten-how-to-program/ recent incident] when {{w|Npm (software)|NodeJS Package Manager}} [https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160324/17160034007/namespaces-intellectual-property-dependencies-big-giant-mess.shtml angered a developer] in its handling of a trademark claim. The developer unpublished all of his modules from NPM, including a package implementing left-pad. A huge number of programs depended on this third-party library instead of programming it on their own, and they immediately ceased to function.

Next is '''{{w|Quicksort}}''', a classic way to sort a list of items.

'''{{w|Git (software)|Git}}''' is a {{w|version control}} program, i.e., software that allows multiple people to work on the same files at the same time. When someone finalizes ("commits") their changes, the version control program needs to figure out how to join the new content with the existing content. This process is called '''{{w|Merge (version control)|merging}}''', and the algorithm for it is anything but simple.

A '''{{w|self-driving car}}''' is what it says on the tin: an automobile with sensors and software built into it so that it can maneuver in traffic autonomously, i.e. without a human controller. Various companies have been working on such vehicles for many years now, and while they're further along now than would have been imaginable even a couple of years ago, we're still far away from the dream of hopping in a driverless taxi and sitting back as the car itself navigates to where we want to be.

The '''{{w|Google Search}} backend''' is what enables you to type "the heck is a leftpad algorithm" into your browser and have Mr. Google return a list of relevant results, including correcting "leftpad" to "left-pad", ignoring the "what the heck" part, and sometimes even summarizing the findings into a box at the top of the results. Behind all that magic is a way to remember what pages the internet contains, which is just a mind-bogglingly large quantity of data, and an even more mind-numbingly complex set of algorithms for processing that data.

The last item is the punchline: a sprawling {{w|Microsoft Excel|Excel}} {{w|spreadsheet}} built up over 20 years by a church group in Nebraska to coordinate their scheduling. Spreadsheets are a general {{w|end-user development}} programming technique, and therefore people use Excel for all sorts of purposes that have nothing to do with accounting (its original purpose), including one guy who made a [http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/04/how-an-accountant-created-an-entire-rpg-inside-an-excel-spreadsheet/ role-playing game that runs in Excel]; but even that doesn't approach the complexity that develops when multiple people of varying levels of experience use a spreadsheet over many years for the purpose of coordinating the schedule of several coordinated groups.

The scheduling of tasks over a group of resources (a.k.a. the ''{{w|nurse scheduling problem}}''), while respecting the constraints set by each person, is a {{w|NP-hardness|highly complex}} problem requiring stochastic or heuristic methods for its resolution. Here, the algorithm would be further complicated by being solved by inexpert users over a spreadsheet model without using engineering practices. The hyperbole here is in thinking that such combination of circumstances would produce complexity far over that required to drive a car or sort the public contents of the internet. A church always meets on Sunday morning, so there's no actual complexity in organizing that service, however, with different members involved in a wide variety of activities within and without the church, and the classrooms available to the church on Sunday itself, (just scheduling the choir practice times to coordinate with every ones work schedules is very possibly impossible, especially if two people share the same occupation, and one is the relief for the other,) can indeed be daunting.

In the title text, part of the spreadsheet's complexity is described as originating from different versions of the file for different programs. The words used like {{w|schism}} and {{w|sect}} are normally used in context of religions splitting into groups about differences in beliefs. In this case, the split seems to have been not over a {{w|theology|theological}} issue, but about the use of {{w|open-source software|open-source}} vs. {{w|proprietary software|proprietary}} software, disagreements about which are often compared to religious debates.

==Transcript==
'''Algorithms''' By Complexity
{|
|colspan="6" style="text-align:left;border-bottom:1px solid;"|More complex →
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|style="padding-right:2em;"|Leftpad
|style="padding-right:2em;"|Quicksort
|style="padding-right:2em;"|GIT Merge
|style="padding-right:2em;"|Self- driving car
|style="padding-right:8em;"|Google Search backend
|Sprawling Excel spreadsheet built up over 20 years by a church group in Nebraska to coordinate their scheduling
|}

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Google Search]]
[[Category:Programming]]

1661: Podium

2016-03-29T13:01:09Z

173.245.50.29: /* Explanation */ Attempting to summarize

{{comic
| number = 1661
| date = March 28, 2016
| title = Podium
| image = podium.png
| titletext = BREAKING: Senator's bold pro-podium stand leads to primary challenge from prescriptivist base.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|More on the info in the title text and links to dictionaries should be real links. Please summarize this too long article.}}

A "{{w|podium}}" in most of the world is a small platform like the one shown in the comic [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/podium]. This word originates from Greek ''podion'' meaning ''foot''.

A "{{w|lectern}}" in many English speaking countries is a stand for holding notes, like the one shown in the comic [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/lectern]. In American English this stand may be also called a''podium'' [http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/lectern], which is not backed up by etymology.

The comic is playing on a stereotypical politician, without any real beliefs, here represented by [[Cueball]] without any features, but they want to appear to stand for something. Alternatively, this is what might happen if someone like Cueball (or the strip's author Randall), who tend to think literally and who get interested in and distracted by tangents, were running.

Thus, Cueball picks up what is, in some circles, an argument: whether the standing desk used by public speakers should be called a "podium" or a "lectern." This argument is actually common among members of {{w|Toastmasters International}}, though it would usually not rise to the level of needing to be part of a national discourse.

The literal distinction between podium and lectern (or the meaning of "this thing") is not obvious from context, when the meaning of ''podium'' has drifted in American use to refer to the small standing desk, i.e. the lectern.

Sometimes, [http://www.platformgiant.com/podium-vs-lectern people care about this]. The fact is, though the etymological definition is clear (the lectern is the desk that stands on the podium), and the difference might be important if you were setting up an auditorium, in common American usage it really doesn't matter.

The title text implies that Cueball moves ahead with his promised research and ends up coming out on the side of calling it a podium. This leads to the people who follow the prescriptivist position to organize and put forward a political candidate to challenge Cueball in the {{w|primaries}}. In the U.S., the primaries are used to select a single candidate from a particular party to represent that party at final election (whether national or on a state level).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is speaking at a lectern standing on a podium.]
:Cueball: The American people are tired of politics as usual.
:Cueball: They're tired of-
:Cueball: Okay, brief tangent: is this thing a podium or a lectern? People say "podium" is wrong, but I also see it used that way in pretty formal contexts. Is usage just changing?
:Cueball: If elected, I will get to the bottom of this for once and for all.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Language]]