explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:221: Random Number

2015-06-08T00:44:02Z

188.114.106.41:

The syntax looks like perfectly valid java to me.[[Special:Contributions/213.64.1.189|213.64.1.189]] 22:00, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

Looks like Java to me too.{{unsigned ip|139.216.242.254}}
:Java code for this would be something like "public static int fin(){}" or just "public int fin(){}". I think the code would still compile though without the public/private part.
:How can Java come to mind when it is pure C syntax, which predates Java by several years and is arguably better known. A feature of most languages is that they have a "C-like syntax". See, a whole page on Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_C-based_programming_languages [[Special:Contributions/122.161.20.238|122.161.20.238]] 19:53, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
::"C-like syntax" is the best explain, this covers all. Even when I disagree that it's better known than Java these days.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:04, 22 August 2013 (UTC)
:::Just to be particularly pedantic, the double slash for the comment (which is generally utilised in object oriented C-style languages) should be avoided in C to retain backwards compatibility with C89, although it's a valid construct in C99. I'd offer, too, that the lack of library inclusion suggests this isn't necessarily Java, though it's been a couple years since I've had the opportunity to code in it. [[User:Thokling|Thokling]] ([[User talk:Thokling|talk]]) 15:35, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

As a proof of good joke, RFC 1149 was successfully implemented several times. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 08:55, 11 May 2013 (UTC)

Actually, a poor “random” function like “return 4;” would be quickly determined by statistical test tools (Diehard, Dieharder, etc.) to generate very poor random number. [[User:Samiam|Samiam]] ([[User talk:Samiam|talk]]) 19:55, 28 October 2013 (UTC)
:The number is random, I'm sure Randall really did this "fair dice roll". And even the name of the function is correct, it just returns a random number. A programmer would expect a random number generator, but Randall can't roll the dice all the time.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:37, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

:<<sound of crickets chirping>> [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.58|108.162.219.58]] 02:24, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

;Playstation 3 jailbreak reference?

Isn't this a reference to Sony Playstation 3's random number generator function that allowed to discover the private key to 3.55 firmware? {{unsigned ip|141.101.64.23}}

:The comic is from February 9, 2007. The 3.55 firmware was released December 7, 2010. {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.144}}

Talk:1340: Unique Date

2015-05-20T21:22:53Z

188.114.106.41:

What about Daylight Saving Time adjustments and leap seconds? Don't they bring duplicates of the same time or is there a way to account for that in the current system? --[[User:Muskar|Muskar]] ([[User talk:Muskar|talk]]) 10:06, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

:One hour is duplicated each year at the end of DST. Not much happens during that hour, because it's the middle of the night. A poorly written computer program that instructs the computer to set back the clock one hour whenever the clock reaches a specific time would get caught in a recursive loop (never advancing beyond that time). Properly, clocks are set back one hour when that time is first reached, but are allowed to advance after the duplicate hour concludes.

:Not sure if this in regards to a now missing statement in the Wiki, but the reference in the comic is to days. DST occurs as 2AM, so the day is not repeated. However, 1 - 2 is repeated when time is turned back and 2:01 to 2:59 are ignored when moving ahead. Of course, this assumes one lives in a state that recognizes DST. 15:07, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

::In Brazil, when we leave DST, we adjust our clocks from 00:00 to 23:00, so there's a chance the day is repeated. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.125|108.162.219.125]] 04:38, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Leap second does not result in a duplicate. The additional second is allowed by increasing the number of seconds in a minute. Normally, the 60 seconds of 11:59 are numbered from 11:59:00 to 11:59:59, which is followed by 12:00:00. When there is a leap second, 11:59 has 61 seconds, numbered from 11:59:00 to 11:59:60 (61 total seconds) and then 11:59:60 is followed by 12:00:00.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.24|173.245.48.24]] 18:42, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

My first thought was that he makes fun of people that consider dates like the 12.12.12 as important. As any other date they occur only once and are thus not more special. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.66|108.162.254.66]] 04:37, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

:Good point, I have added something about that. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.117|108.162.246.117]] 04:49, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Possibly related to the upcoming Pi Day. Also, next year's Pi Day will be 03-14-(20)15, which a few images going around on the Internet have made an annoyingly big deal about. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 06:24, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

So - Maybe I suck at searching (I do), but I can't find any information about us being limited to 4 digits in our calendar system...?[[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.107|173.245.53.107]] 08:38, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

:Most of the computer software that handles dates would have problems with more (or less) than four digits. Why bother with variable year length when you can just take the first four characters of "2014-03-10" and it works for the next 8 thousand years? [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.103|103.22.200.103]] 09:42, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
:Also, most digital displays are limited to four digits for the year. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.200.103|103.22.200.103]] 09:43, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

::And I don't think we actually start address that sooner that in September 9999. It will be Y2K over again! .... not sure where will people of 9999 get {{w|Fortran}} and {{w|Cobol}} programmers, though. Maybe we should freeze some before we run out of them. :-) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 10:20, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

:::Check [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_billennium#In_literature this] out.--[[User:Rael|Rael]] ([[User talk:Rael|talk]]) 21:38, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

:I'm with you. I suppose there may be places where leading zeros are used (somewhere in software where memory space has been set aside, I suppose) but I can't think of '''any''' common system where one has to use five digits when using a four digit number.
:When we get to December 31, 9999 (assuming he Gregorian calendar is still in use (BIG assumption)) the next day will simply be January 1, 10000 because, as you said, the Gregorian calendar isn't limited to four-digit years. And, as I say, anyone who think there is some problem with writing years as four digit numbers is simply demonstrating that they are not someone to take seriously. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.84|199.27.128.84]] 16:32, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

After visiting the website for the "Long Now Foundation", I find I'm left wondering - why, oh why, would they stop at using a five digit year? why not six? eight? ten? sixteen? thirty-two? [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:06, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

I think the point in the comic title is that writing years always with 5 digits is as significant as the zero to the left it will take to do so for most of the next 8000 years. [[User:FlavianusEP|FlavianusEP]] ([[User talk:FlavianusEP|talk]]) 12:25, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

My first thought was that the comic was about date formats and yyyy-mm-dd being better than yy-mm-dd or dd.mm.yy. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.138|173.245.53.138]] 12:40, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

;Dynamic?

:It isn't, but I've made a dynamic one (based on UTC): https://voidptr.de/xkcd-1340 [[User:N.st|n.st]] ([[User talk:N.st|talk]]) 19:36, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Wanna bet that this comic always shows the current date?--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 10:23, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

:Haha, that's a great observation! I wish it were so, I'll check again tomorrow. If it's not, someone email Mr. Munroe to make it so, great idea. {{unsigned|Adityarajbhatt}}

:It's 00:07 (11th of March) right now in China where I am currently located and it still shows 10th of March...just for the record [[Special:Contributions/108.162.225.191|108.162.225.191]] 16:13, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

::It's March 15th now, and it still says the 10th. It's not dynamic. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.76|199.27.128.76]] 20:47, 15 March 2014 (UTC)
::It says 2014-10-01 for me. But I think it was at 11:53 (2014-09-30) when I checked it. And mine matches the atomic clock.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.173|108.162.238.173]] 04:02, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

It's funny that Randall seems to have never heard of [http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2550 RFC 2550], which goes than the Long Now Foundation in expanding the representable date range. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.161|173.245.53.161]] 15:05, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

:Technically, there will be another 2014-03-10; on October 3rd. - [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.65|108.162.219.65]] 16:01, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
::It would actually be 2014-10-03 "under our system" as stated in the comic. Technically. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.64|108.162.237.64]] 17:14, 10 March 2014 (UTC)
::It's like me saying that there will be another 2014-03-10 on March 14th. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.63|173.245.50.63]] 19:45, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

I wonder if this is also somehow related to the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interesting_number_paradox Interesting number paradox]. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.29|199.27.128.29]] 18:48, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

The problem of the date rolling back is partially mitigated by storing the year as an integer instead of as characters, such as how certain Spreadsheet programs, such as OpenOffice Calc, stores years as a 16-bit signed integer. This doesn't solve the issue, only pushing it back to be the year 32768 problem. This is even less of an issue for 64 bit Unix time, which expire on 15:30:08 UTC on Sun, 4 December 292,277,026,596. It's also important to note that the dates, such as 99, or 00 should not be seen as digits, they should be seen as characters (unless, of course, they are BCD digits, which entirely defeats the purpose of shortening the date to 2 characters length). This might seem trivial, but I think it's an important difference.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.41|108.162.216.41]] 02:46, 11 March 2014 (UTC)
: 3rd of October won't happen for another seven months. {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.125}}
:: As a (culturally) dd/mm/[yy]yy person (and ignoring, for brevity, the different options for delimiter), I find yyyy-dd-mm as illogical as mm/dd/yyyy... Why should anybody switch 'precision direction', mid-way? Still, as someone who went through the Y2K process ''and'' worked with colleagues across the Atlantic, I tend to use dd/Mmm/yyyy habitually in "for humans" systems (giving the abbreviated month spelling to avoid all ambiguity, as well as full year-number), or my own "yyyymmdd[-hhmm[ss[.ddd...]]]" format in (informal and internal) programming situations, with comments attached to any conversion routines (inwards and outwards). ((And, yes, there ''are'' ISO/other standards, but I find converting from/to them and internally working with my own long-practiced format works best, for me. YMMV. But be aware of how'd you deal with (or ignore) Leap Seconds!)) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.47|141.101.98.47]] 14:58, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
::: I once toyed with the notation 0y20140310, with the "0y" prefix (a pun on C's "0x") distinguishing it from the eight-digit integer 20140310. I later decided that 0y20140310.175959 would be a good way to extend it to specify both date and time, and it still parses as a single C token if that property is useful. (And it sorts properly, of course.) [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.68|199.27.128.68]] 04:15, 24 March 2014 (UTC)
I am surprised nobody has mentioned the fact that we know of no civilization of human beings that has reached 10,000 years with a continuous calendar.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:15, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

We should be doing universal coding for the year. All dates start with a 1, followed by the number of zeroes equal to the number of digits in the number of digits in the date. Take 2015, it has 4 digits, 4 has 1 digit, so it starts with "10" then append the number of digits in the date, "4" and finally the date "2015" to get "1042015". In 8000 years this would be "10510015" in 1e10 years it would be "100101000002015". A computer drops the one, checks the number of leading zeroes, reads in that many digits, then reads in that result in digits to read in the year. With the leading 1 it can still be stored as a binary number rather than a string, and needs no starting or ending indicators, and will expand indefinately to store any date ever to exist. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.106.41|188.114.106.41]] 21:22, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

Talk:1345: Answers

2015-05-11T17:35:09Z

188.114.106.41:

Not true. We know that sleep is important for storing memories and cleaning out toxins. http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2013/ninds-17.htm [[Special:Contributions/108.162.222.89|108.162.222.89]] 11:06, 21 March 2014 (UTC)
:That report is entitled "Brain may flush out toxins during sleep". Note the "may". Add it to the list of hypotheses. [[User:Jim E|Jim E]] ([[User talk:Jim E|talk]]) 15:49, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

The idea is that we do not know why we evolved to need sleep, when microorganisms do not sleep. If we had evolved without developing the need to sleep we'd also have evolved another way to retain memories and flush toxins. There is no truly biological reasons why a species would evolve the need to sleep when the option to be alert all the time is more obvious, as it means there is less risk of attack and danger.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 20:00, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

:Apparently, one of the thing brain or body does while sleeping - reindexing memories, flush toxins, self-repairs, I think that the list of hypotheses is long - give us so big advantage when awake that the limited awareness (note that some noises can still wake us up) in period of sleep is worth it. Or, perhaps the alternative solutions are too hard to evolve. Remember that even while sleeping, humans are much more active that most microorganisms: it is probable that need for sleep evolved at the same time as the brain itself. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:54, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Stupid personalized jokes and the like in this explanation... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.53.174|173.245.53.174]] 11:19, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure this is the correct explanation.
The paradox of being confronted daily with a mystery and not trying to solve it is inconsistent with the title text. So this explanation doesn't sound right to me.
I think it's more about defining humanity as seeking for answers, while spending a huge amount of time closing off from the world for apparently no reason.
In other words, IMHO, it's not about "[not being] distracted by this mystery", but about "not being able to investigate any mystery during 1/3 of our life even if we want to".

Also, with my explanation, the original puchline "touché" works better than the the current explanation's suggestion "Which is why it keeps me awake all night". -- Shirluban@[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.36|108.162.229.36]] 12:28, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I disagree with the above poster (and agree with the explanation) on the basis of the boldface text... "And nobody knows why". Every human sleeps, so if humans were really curious, someone should have figured out why by now.[[User:Nsimonetti|NikoNarf]] ([[User talk:Nsimonetti|talk]]) 14:23, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

While we do not know why we sleep we do know what happens during sleep. All the studies and hypotheses cited here do show information about the states of our brain during sleep. We are well aware of most of the biological processes that happen in the brain during sleep. Its not that sleep is some utterly mysterious thing our bodies do. Sleep research has not been as rigorously studied as other subjects in science and due to the very nature of science and scientific study to consolidate all this data, test hypotheses and develop theories takes a lot of time, findings must be checked, rechecked, and verified, and then there's the time it takes to use the facts gathered to actually come up with a working theory which, if refuted by testing, the whole process has to be done over again. The point is science takes a lot of time, money and manpower. We already know we need to sleep, we know how not sleeping affects us, there are other important questions in science which we are more driven to find answers to. So, our curiosity is considerable and day by day we continue to discover new things, but not many scientists are interested in a field of study which will get you way less money and recognition than breakthroughs in genetic engineering. [[User:Lackadaisical|Lackadaisical]] ([[User talk:Lackadaisical|talk]]) 15:57, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

I agree with the original poster. It is interesting how people spend their entire careers studying a life event that they may never experience (consider a man studying the act of giving birth), yet most of us simply take sleep for granted. Now if we could only make sleep more efficient! I think we could spare a couple months worth of study to this. http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1205 [[User:Puck0687|Puck0687]] ([[User talk:Puck0687|talk]]) 14:53, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

We could spare quite a lot more than a couple months on this. First, 1205 talks about the benefit over five years, and for us the benefit would be over an entire lifetime. Furthermore, far more people don't study sleep than study it, so the "couple months" you talk about can be multiplied by the total population of people who benefit (both alive today and yet to live), and divided by the population of people studying sleep. That gets you quite a lot more than two months. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.11|108.162.219.11]] 16:18, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I've thought for a while that the ''reason'' we sleep is primarily due to the accumulation of adenosine in the brain (?) - who really knows... [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 16:02, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

The title text is referring to a statement William Dement (Stanford University) actually said. Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/05/sleep/max-text [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.117|108.162.245.117]] 17:35, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

I disagree with the notion that we are no longer curious while we are sleeping (implied perhaps only by me?). I have awoken from sleep with answers to questions I went to bed with (or at least possible explanations to investigate). Brain activity has not stopped while we are asleep. I believe we have at least correlated benefits to sleep (or adverse consequences to the lack of sleep) but we don't know how much further down the root cause tree we still need to go - e.g why does sleep help with memory and weight loss and muscle repair. [[User:Ghaller825|Ghaller825]] ([[User talk:Ghaller825|talk]]) 19:23, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

just becuase we are hungry does not mean we are fed. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.231|108.162.249.231]] 07:52, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

I guess we can know what sleep is for by looking at what happens if we, or other animals, are prevented from sleeping. "Sleepiness" isn't just an urge, but an imperative which is torture if not obeyed. Hallucinations, irritability, and eventually death due to immune system degradation occurs, (at least in rats, dunno about humans) and this happens more quickly than starvation. Seems to me that what we don't know is not the "why" of sleep, but the exact pathways by which these malfunctions are caused, {{unsigned ip|108.162.245.117}}
:The referenced national geographic article has an interesting section on "fatal familial insomnia" in humans. [[User:Nealmcb|Nealmcb]] ([[User talk:Nealmcb|talk]]) 14:33, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

It's long been a fundamental technique of artificial neural network learning, to alternate between "learning" and "sleep" modes. I've heard (but cannot find the citation, sigh) that when running neural networks, it turns out that they lose the ability to learn after running a long time. But you can avoid this effect if you periodically bathe the neural network with completely random input. [[User:Jorgbrown|Jorgbrown]] ([[User talk:Jorgbrown|talk]]) 07:35, 23 January 2015 (UTC)
:Makes sense, and reminds me of some optimization algorithms. Interesting! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.125|108.162.219.125]] 03:01, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

It seems to me, (in a completely speculative way) that sleep is evolutionary debt from older species. In other species sleep is used to conserve energy at times when is is not necessary, or not possible to do anything beneficial for the individual. It is a trait that evolved very early, and due to it's timing, many other physical and mental processes are tied to it so they can happen while the body is not exerting itself. This ties together a huge number of unrelated things into the process of sleep, which is inherently an energy saving mode, and makes it necessary to trigger all the other critical processes. In modern day first world countries, energy savings is not as nescessary, and artificial lighting, intelligence, and social structures give us useful stuff we could be doing instead, and if the extra processes were dissociated from sleep, it seems that we would be able to function as a 24 hour being (and not just like dolphins or whales where half their brain sleeps at a time, but true 24 hour consciousness), but separating all the myriad of functions tied to the circadian rhythm and the process of sleep is likely to prove difficult or impossible. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.106.41|188.114.106.41]] 17:35, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

429: Fantasy

2015-05-10T03:22:48Z

188.114.106.41: /* Explanation */ fixes

{{comic
| number = 429
| date = May 28, 2008
| title = Fantasy
| image = fantasy.png
| titletext = I guess if she accepted irrational realities, she'd hardly be my fantasy.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] is fantasizing about being together with [[Megan]], a girl he really wishes to be with, but he has so far not found any way to make this happen. However, in his fantasy, the imaginary versions of himself and Megan quickly realize how impossible their relationship would be. First of all, neither of them can remember why they are together (a typical trait of dreams, that you are suddenly in some situation but cannot remember what went before). Also, Megan seems to find it very difficult to imagine them being together. Although the reasons are left unstated, it is clear that it is actually Cueball who cannot himself imagine a situation that would make Megan want to be with him, and he projects this into the thoughts of his fantasy version of Megan. He himself mentions the word fantasy, which makes her realize that they are objects in a fantasy (or dream) that will soon end, and then so will they.

Then she decides to destroy the fantasy world they are in instead of going quietly, as she would have once this fantasy ended. She goes for burning it to the ground, and the fantasy Cueball is with her, since he has also realized that he will lose her when this fantasy ends. Rather than allow Cueball's idle daydream to end romantically, they run rampant and bring his fantasy crashing to a halt.

This leaves the real Cueball confused. But in the title text Cueball realizes that he would only appreciate a girl who refused such an irrational reality, thus the fantasy is consistent with both of their personalities.

Another "thought bubble comic" can be seen in [[248: Hypotheticals]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits hugging his knees. From his head there goes three bubbles to a thought bubble.]
:Cueball: If only there were some way we could be together.

:[The comic fades into a thought bubble in shaded gray color. The bubble contains the next four panels.]
<div style="color:#666; margin-left:1em">

:[Cueball and Megan are lounging on a bed he seems to be massaging her neck while she is lying down.]
:Megan: We're so lucky to have each other. How did it happen, anyway?
:Cueball: I, uh... I don't remember.

:[Zoom in on Megan sitting up with her hands behind her. The bed is not drawn.]
:Megan: No, really, how did we get together? It's hard to imagine it happening.
:Cueball (off-screen): It does strain the bounds of fantasy...
:Megan: ...Fantasy? That's it!

:[Megan now stand up at the foot of the bed. Cueball sits with one hand around his knee and the other to his chin.]
:Megan: My God, it's the only explan-ation: We're objects in some transient fantasy. We'll be gone when it ends!
:Cueball: We'll lose each other.
:Megan: Oh God.

:[Megan leaps from the bed with a flaming torch. Cueball jumps after her on his knees with his hands in the air.]
:Megan: Well, I'm not going out quietly. I'm burning this fucking world.
:Cueball: Burn the world!
:Megan: Fire! Fire! Cleanse this hellish place—
</div>

:[The thought ends with three bubbles going down to Cueball who is now standing and scratching his head and again the comic is back to the normal black drawing style.]
:Cueball: ??

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

1512: Horoscopes

2015-04-16T23:39:38Z

188.114.106.41: /* Table of Astrological signs */ little fix

{{comic
| number = 1512
| date = April 15, 2015
| title = Horoscopes
| image = horoscopes.png
| titletext = If you live in the Northern hemisphere, anyway. In the southern hemisphere, due to the coriolis effect, babies are born nine months BEFORE they're conceived.
}}
==Explanation==
{{w|Horoscopes}} purport to predict someone's personality or future, based on the position of planets and stars at the time of their birth and at present. Horoscopes commonly group people into twelve groups based on {{w|zodiac signs}}. The Zodiac signs are based on twelve constellations that are the backdrop for the path of the sun, moon and planets through the night sky. One's zodiac sign is determined by the position of the sun on their birthday, with each sign representing a specific 30.4 day period.

Modern science has found {{w|Astrology and science|no basis for horoscopes}}, which is why the comic jokes about the fact that its horoscopes at least ''may'' be true. Actual horoscopes are typically so vague that they could be true for almost anyone regardless of their sign. Note that this horoscope mainly makes sense for people living in the {{w|northern hemisphere}} (as mentioned in the title text) and it is especially tailored for an audience in the {{w|United States}}, as most cultural references are centered on "Western" or even specific "American" culture, i.e. several won't even work in Europe, for example. However, with the principle understood, it is easy to apply local traditions for more accuracy in non-Western cultures.

The 12 category zodiac signs in horoscopes are based on birth dates. The average length of pregnancy, culturally considered to be nine months, is actually given as the 40 weeks (9.2 months) after the last menstrual period. However, what is relevant here is that it is only '''38 weeks after {{w|Fertilisation|conception}}''' (8.75 month). The first two weeks of the 40 week period is before {{w|Ovulation#Ovulation_in_humans|Ovulation}}, and the conception cannot occur before that.

Based on this knowledge [[Randall]] can do some informed guessing about the context of someone's conception (apart from the {{w|Sexual intercourse|obvious}}), depending on the sign. For example, people of the sign {{w|Virgo (astrology)|Virgo}} have been born between August 23 and September 22. This makes it most likely that they are conceived during December the year before. Given contemporary holiday music preferences, Christmas songs were likely to be playing the day they were conceived. This leads to the guess "You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played". See detailed description of all the signs and explanation of the horoscopes in the [[#Table of Astrological signs|table]] below.

Randall phrases his "predictions" as possibilities ("you may have") rather than declarations, acknowledging that it is a guess, and that it, unlike actual horoscopes, doesn't necessarily apply to everyone.

The title text refers to the {{w|Coriolis effect}} which applies to a body that is moving relative to an object that is spinning. Since the Earth is rotating, a force (the Coriolis force) causes moving objects to be deflected to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the {{w|southern hemisphere}}. This effect is the reason that {{w|Coriolis_effect#Meteorology|weather systems}} (most clearly seen for {{w|hurricanes}}) spiral in one direction in the northern hemisphere and in the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere.

There is also a common {{w|Coriolis_effect#Draining_in_bathtubs_and_toilets|misconception}} that the Coriolis force in respect of the Earth affects objects on a much smaller scale, such as the direction water will spiral down a drain in the two hemispheres (see also [[843: Misconceptions]]). In reality, the relative rotational speed of the Earth (one rotation per day) is insufficient to effect anything but large-scale, relatively slow movement, such as {{w|prevailing winds}} and {{w|Ocean current|ocean currents}}.

Randall plays on this type of misconception to make a joke involving reversing the flow of time. So whereas babies are born nine months '''after''' conception in the northern hemisphere (clockwise) the Coriolis effect is the reason why babies are being born nine months '''before''' in the southern hemisphere (counterclockwise). Note that unlike these horoscopes, which are declared to have an "actual basis in fact", it makes no sense for the conception of a baby to happen after its birth, not even in Australia...

==Table of Astrological signs==
Here below is a table with data and explanation of the individual horoscopes:
{| class="wikitable"
!{{w|Astrological sign|Astrological sign}}
!English name
!{{w|Birthday}} range
!Expected {{w|Fertilisation|conception}}
!Horoscope prediction
!Explanation
|-
|♈ {{w|Aries (astrology)|Aries}}
|The Ram
|March 21 - April 21
|June 28 - July 28
|You may have been conceived after a 4th of July fireworks show
|In the US the {{w|Independence Day (United States)|Independence Day}} is celebrated on the 4th of July, and this is customarily celebrated with huge fireworks. Fireworks are a common metaphor for the culmination of sex (i.e. the orgasm), and offer a convenient opportunity for social gatherings that might lead to conception.
|-
|♉ {{w|Taurus (astrology)|Taurus}}
|The Bull
|April 20 - May 20
|July 27 - August 27
|You may have been conceived on a hot August day
|In most of the northern hemisphere there are many hot days in {{w|August}}. Hot days can lead to less clothing and more lust.
|-
|♊ {{w|Gemini (astrology)|Gemini}}
|The Twins
|May 21 - June 21
|August 28 - September 28
|You may have been conceived as the leaves began to change
|In the northern part of the northern hemisphere the {{w|autumn}} starts at the end of this time period, so the leaves will begin to change color.
|-
|♋ {{w|Cancer (astrology)|Cancer}}
|The Crab
|June 21 - July 21
|September 28 - October 28
|You may have been conceived by people trying on costumes
|This period ends a few weeks before {{w|Halloween}}, so it is not unlikely that the people who conceived you (mom and dad) tried on their new costumes when they made you. Roleplay, enhanced with costumes, can be a way to spice up a relationship and can lead to sex and procreation.
|-
|♌ {{w|Leo (astrology)|Leo}}
|The Lion
|July 22 - August 23
|October 29 - November 30
|You may have been conceived during thanksgiving
|{{w|Thanksgiving}} is celebrated in the US on the fourth Thursday of November.
|-
|♍ {{w|Virgo (astrology)|Virgo}}
|The Maiden
|August 23 - September 22
|November 30 - December 29
|You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played
|It is very common for {{w|Christmas}} songs to be played in the month of December.
|-
|♎ {{w|Libra (astrology)|Libra}}
|The Scales
|September 22 - October 23
|December 29 - January 30
|You may have been conceived after a new year's eve party
|Since {{w|New Year's Eve}} always falls on December 31, and since the party goes on into the new year this fits with Libra. As it is very likely that people are together in a way that may lead to conception at this type of parties, there may even be rather more than a 30th part of the people that are Libra that are conceived at such a party.
|-
|♏ {{w|Scorpio (astrology)|Scorpio}}
|The Scorpion
|October 23 and November 22
|January 30 - February 29
|You may have been conceived by people stuck inside after a long winter
|This period is during the coolest part and towards the end of the {{w|winter}} in the northern hemisphere. People may even be forced to stay at home due to snow. When people have nothing else to do [https://www.google.dk/search?q=babies+9+month+after+snowstorm&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=qzkuVcjAE4qsswGevoC4CQ many babies are born 9 months later].
|-
|♐ {{w|Sagittarius (astrology)|Sagittarius}}
|The Archer
|November 22 - December 21
|February 29 - March 28
|You may have been conceived during March madness
|Originally {{w|European_hare#Mating_and_reproduction|March madness}} referred to the early part of the mating season for the {{w|European Hare}}, in which females fight off male suitors. Today, in a US context, this is an {{w|NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship|American college Basketball tournament}} that started in 1939 and is mainly held in March. It is even covered on TV under the name {{w|NCAA March Madness (CBS/Turner)|NCAA March Madness}}.
|-
|♑ {{w|Capricorn (astrology)|Capricorn}}
|The Goat
|December 22 - January 19
|March 29 - April 28
|You may have been conceived during a sexy Easter Egg hunt
|{{w|Easter}} falls between {{w|List_of_dates_for_Easter#Earliest_Easter|March 22}} and {{w|List_of_dates_for_Easter#Latest_Easter|April 25}} so most {{w|Egg hunt|Easter Egg hunts}}, sexy or not, will fall in the most likely period to conceive Capricorn children. The goal of an Easter egg hunt can be to find as many eggs in a given time, or find a sequence of eggs, each containing a clue to the next. It is not difficult to think of adult variations on these themes. Most Egg hunts do not involve people who should make them sexy! On the other hand the egg itself, as an Easter symbol, is a symbol of fertility and after the little ones have gone to bed the adults may want to produce more little ones.
|-
|♒ {{w|Aquarius (astrology)|Aquarius}}
|The Water Carrier
|January 20 - February 18
|April 27 - May 25
|You may have been conceived on Mother's day
|{{w|Mother's Day}} in the USA,and some other countries, is on the second Sunday in May, between the 8th and 14th of May. The husband of a Mother being celebrated may wish to show his appreciation for her by paying her special private attention, potentially leading to sex and conception.
|-
|♓ {{w|Pisces (astrology)|Pisces}}
|The Fish
|February 19 - March 20
|May 25 - June 27
|You may have been conceived at someone's wedding
|It may have been your own parent's wedding, as the traditional wedding honeymoon typically includes sex (potentially lots of it). However, it is also not uncommon that people meet at weddings, and may even go so far as to risk conceiving a child at someone's {{w|wedding}}. June is widely reported as the [http://www.statista.com/statistics/241231/percentage-of-us-weddings-by-month/ most popular month for weddings in the United States]. The tradition of a June Bride (late spring and beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere) may be an old one and hence explains the reference for Pisces which lies mainly in June. [https://open.abc.net.au/explore/22074 ABC claim] that in the 15th and 16th century, May would have been the month for an "annual bath", and moreover {{w|June}} is named for {{w|Juno (mythology)|Juno}}, goddess of marriage and childbirth.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Above the frame:]
:'''Horoscopes'''
:With an actual basis in fact
:[A list with the name of each astrological sign in the first column (in gray) and a horoscope for each sign in the second column. Here given in table form]
:{| class="wikitable"
! Aries •
| You may have been conceived after a 4th of July fireworks show
|-
! Taurus •
| You may have been conceived on a hot August day
|-
! Gemini •
| You may have been conceived as the leaves began to change
|-
! Cancer •
| You may have been conceived by people trying on costumes
|-
! Leo •
| You may have been conceived during Thanksgiving
|-
! Virgo •
| You may have been conceived while a Christmas song played
|-
! Libra •
| You may have been conceived after a New Year’s Eve party
|-
! Scorpio •
| You may have been conceived by people stuck inside after a long winter
|-
! Sagittarius •
| You may have been conceived during March Madness
|-
! Capricorn •
| You may have been conceived during a sexy Easter egg hunt
|-
! Aquarius •
| You may have been conceived on Mother's day
|-
! Pisces •
| You may have been conceived at someone's wedding
|}

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Chart]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Christmas]]