explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1889: xkcd Phone 6

2022-05-11T17:57:02Z

Decky: Undo revision 267116 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1889
| date = September 13, 2017
| title = xkcd Phone 6
| image = xkcd_phone_6.png
| titletext = We understand your privacy concerns; be assured that our phones will never store or transmit images of your face.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the sixth entry in the ongoing [[:Category:xkcd Phones|xkcd Phone series]], and once again, the comic plays with many standard tech buzzwords, and horribly misuses all of them, to create a phone that sounds impressive but self-evidently isn't to even the most ignorant customer. The previous comic in the series [[1809: xkcd Phone 5 ]] was released 7 months before this one and the next [[2000: xkcd Phone 2000]] was released 8 and a half months later.

This comic was released the day after Apple announced their new {{w|iPhone 8}} and the higher-end {{w|iPhone X}} (pronounced iPhone 10) with facial recognition features.

===List of features (clockwise from center/top)===

; Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)
: A front camera has become a common feature of smartphones. The camera lens is located on the same side of the phone's case as the main screen, making it possible to capture the image of the user's face looking at the screen and display the interlocutor's face on the screen simultaneously, enabling video chat. However, as the camera is usually located above the screen, when the user looks at the displayed image of the other person they direct their eyes at the center of the screen and not at the camera's lens. This makes it appear on the other end of the chat as if the person talking was looking down and not making eye-contact, which can be an uncomfortable situation for many people. For this reason, professionals involved in movie or TV-making, like actors or reporters, are trained to look straight into the camera's lens while talking, which creates impression of looking straight at the viewer's face. During a video chat, however, looking into the lens of an above-screen camera does not allow one to see the interlocutor's face clearly because it is then in the peripheral field of vision.

: To solve this conundrum, Randall proposes locating the camera lens right in the middle of the screen. The user looking at the the other person's face on the screen would then also be looking at the lens, creating an impression on the other end of the chat that they are looking straight at the other person. This is absurd, since the lens would then take place of some of the center pixels of the screen, which would probably mean that it could not display the center part of the captured image of the other person's face. This could include features such as eyes and/or lips, which play an important part in non-verbal communication. Locating the camera lens in this way would probably also interfere with the touch-screen function. It would probably make other applications on the phone difficult to use, since virtually no user interface is designed to accommodate a blind spot in the center.

: The idea of having the camera in the middle of the screen is only currently absurd, however, as advances in technology may eventually enable such a feature to work without disturbing the appearance or function of the phone's display, unlike the visual disturbance clearly indicated in the comic. For instance, previous technological advancements have improved the functionality of the display, starting with adding touch sensing. The touch sensitive hardware of the phone is located in a thin layer above the hardware, that generates the image for the display, and capacitive touch sensing technology is less obtrusive than previous resistive sensing. While it has yet to be released to market, certain manufacturers are aiming to place a phone's fingerprint reader underneath the screen, for seamless functionality. Although it may be difficult at this point, figuring out a way to have a camera capture images through the array of pixels on the screen is not completely beyond imagination.

; Full-width rear camera
: Historically, there has been an 'arms race' among phone manufacturers to increase the 'size' of the rear camera, in terms of the number of pixels they can capture. This is not typically accompanied by equivalent increases in physical size, though. Phone cameras tend to have lenses which are quite small, and round or square -- measuring the same in width as in height. On this phone, the 'full-width' lens appears to be a long, thin strip, like an oval or rectangle shape. This could allow the camera to gather a lot more light, potentially working in low light situations. However the lens would be more vulnerable to damage and dirt. Unless a very large sensor was used, focusing the image could be a problem, since cell phones are typically not very deep.

; CDC partnership - phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year
: U.S. {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention}} is a government agency tasked with addressing public health concerns, such as infectious diseases, including seasonal flu. A common way of limiting the spread of an infectious disease is {{w|Vaccine|vaccination}}, which most often involves administering a specially prepared vaccine via an {{w|intramuscular injection}}, though researchers have investigated other delivery systems, including aerosol, or microneedle injection. Uptake of vaccination is often poor, and many governments routinely use various different campaigns and techniques to try to encourage more people to get themselves vaccinated.

: This feature implies that the phone would automatically perform some form of injection once a year, administering a vaccine via a small aperture while the user is holding the phone to their cheek during a call. However, the placement of this component is dubious, as it would line up with the user's ear, rather than their cheek, during a phone call. It may be designed to detect the fraction of a second during which your cheek would be in the appropriate position (perhaps after a phone call, as you may be dropping the phone from your ear), and administer it at that moment; this would conveniently prevent disturbances to a majority of conversations.

: A further absurdity to this feature is that the vaccine is different every year, in order to account for various mutations causing different, and typically new, strains of the virus, which is the reason it has to be administered yearly. The CDC bases the combination of strains on a best-guess of what will be the most significant strains in circulation over the upcoming year, so in order to have the current year's vaccine, the user would have to physically load the new version into the phone for later administration, or there would have to be a mechanism to synthesize the concoction on-board the phone, and an associated logistics framework and digital standards for OTA delivery of specifications for the year's vaccine.

; 12-function
: Most smartphones can be used for more than twelve different things{{Citation needed}}. However, this may refer to the twelve basic functions of algebra (identity, squaring, cubing, square root, logarithm, exponential, reciprocal, sine, cosine, greatest integer, absolute value, and logistic), or the twelve function keys on a modern keyboard (more than the ten on the original IBM PC keyboard). Alternatively, it may be a reference to calculators: basic models are sometimes referred to as four function calculators (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), and complex scientific calculators may advertise 250 or more functions.

; Dishwasher safe
: Waterproofing has become a much-pushed feature of many recent smartphones, with manufacturers competing on the claimed resilience of their models. A phone that was truly dishwasher safe would be ahead in this race, as it would have to be able to withstand high-pressure jets of water, high temperatures, and caustic effects of detergent over significant periods. This is often listed as a selling point of items used for preparing, serving, or storing food, such as plastic containers or crockery, which a normal person might want to clean using a dishwasher, but it seems excessive for phones, which are rarely cleaned with anything more than a quick wipe, and most people would not intentionally attempt to clean in a dishwasher.

; GPS transmitter
: Many smartphones have a receiver for the {{w|Global Positioning System}}, which allows a phone to compute its position based on signals from the constellation(s) of GPS satellites. However, a device with a "GPS transmitter" would broadcast signals that would interfere with the GPS receivers of all devices nearby. This might be used in some form of differential GPS, broadcasting signals from a known location to allow more precise determination of other locations, or such a system might be used to confuse or control devices, such as drones, which navigate using GPS.

; 3-G acceleration
: This is a mixture of three unrelated concepts with similar names. In computer graphics, "{{w|Graphics processing unit|3-D acceleration}}" refers to GPU hardware that speeds up handling of three-dimensional data, such as shapes rotating in space. In physics, "3 Gs of acceleration" refers to speed increasing at a rate of 3 times the acceleration of Earth's gravity, or approximately 30 m/s². In cellular networks, {{w|3G}} refers to a standard for data communication. GPUs, accelerometers, and compatibility with 3G networks are all normal features of modern smartphones. "3-G acceleration", however, is not a real term, and doesn't describe any meaningful feature of a phone. It appears to suggest that either the phone is capable of self-propelling with 3 Gs of acceleration, which doesn't seem particularly useful, or, perhaps more feasibly, that it has some way of increasing the data transfer rate over a 3G connection.

; Portable, solar-heated
: Portability is pretty much the entire point of using a ''mobile'' phone, so advertising portability is rather redundant. Solar ''power'' charging could be a very useful feature on a phone, but solar ''heating'' usually applies to plumbing, where a water tank is heated by the sun and used to supply hot water to taps. Technically, as the sun heats up everything it shines on, the phone is in fact solar heated. However, since avoiding overheating is a particular challenge in smartphone design, deliberately capturing solar energy simply in order to heat the device would seem rather counter-productive.

; Pore-cleaning strip
: Pore-cleaning strips are sticky strips designed to be applied to the skin and then pulled away to remove dirt and oils from the pores, with the intention of reducing spots and improving the complexion. The location shown for this feature would be inconvenient and irritating, as it would come into contact with the face every time the phone was held to the ear to make a call; something sticky on that location would be very annoying for clean-shaven people and extremely painful for anyone with facial hair. It would probably also result in that strip of the screen becoming obscured by an accumulation of facial gunk. Pore strips have been mentioned before in [[777: Pore Strips]].

: This may act as a sensor for the ''Shroud of Turin-style facial transfer unlock'', whereby the phone would collect the dirt, oils, and microflora from the user's face when it is pressed against the phone, and use it to verify their identity.

; Maximum strength
: Medicines are often sold as "Maximum strength", usually indicating that they contain the highest dose of active ingredients allowed by law, or allowed without a prescription. For phones, there are sometimes "hardened" or "ruggedized" versions, which are designed to survive harsher environmental conditions, such as surviving drops and collisions, excessive water, dust, etc. ''Maximum strength'' here could indicate such a "ruggedized" phone, though this would be hard to achieve with a screen that extended past the edges.

; Never needs sharpening
: Phones do not need to be sharpened in the first place{{Citation needed}}. This is a feature more likely to be found in a knife advertisement -- the slogan is infamous for hawking knives that ''cannot'' easily be sharpened, like a serrated blade -- or a mechanical pencil. Since the screen goes past the edge, it might be sharp enough to cut through things, much like a knife, though the phone would be unsafe to carry and handle if that were the case{{Citation needed}}.

Might also refer to sharpening the camera, which usually means adjusting the lens till an object is in focus. Most phones have autofocus and rarely need to be manually sharpened.

; Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water
: This is a play on the common IP-rating of water resistance, which is typically rated for submersion to a rated depth for 30 minutes. A phone which could only be used or carried for 30 minutes before it needed to be immersed in water would be rather inconvenient, although the phone short circuiting would likely not be an issue, as the phone is "dishwasher safe."

: Alternatively, either this phone's target market could be whales, dolphins, or other marine life, such as octopodes, or the feature could be optional. While such a feature would prove to be extremely useful for aquatic customers, the "solar-heated" feature would undoubtedly be inhibited significantly as water depths increased.

; Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight
: The {{w|National Audubon Society}} is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of nature, and mainly of birds, which also organizes open {{w|birdwatching}} events. There are apps that attempt to identify bird species, for example, from a [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.labs.merlinbirdid.app&hl=en_GB photo] or [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.isoperla.birdsongid&hl=en_GB audio recording] of a bird made by the smartphone itself, though the Audubon Society's [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.audubon.mobile.android&hl=en_GB own app] does not offer anything this interactive. An app allowing you to control the bird's flight would be way cooler and might work using the built-in GPS transmitter, confusing their navigation systems. However birds do not use GPS to navigate{{Citation needed}}, and it would fly in the face of the Audubon Society's core activity. This is a reference to {{w|Unmanned_aerial_vehicle|drones}} (which could be thought of as artificial "birds") which are often controlled by a smartphone app. This may also be a reference to [[1425: Tasks]], in which an app that can recognize if a bird is on camera is proposed.

; Extra screen
:Some phones advertise an additional display or display mode, often giving access to basic information, such as battery level and notifications without needing to activate the main screen function. Typically, this would be a low-power mode of operation of the normal screen, or else a form of display on another surface of the phone, such as the side or rear. Here, it seems to be an oddly shaped rectangular extension on the bottom of the main screen. This may have been added to make up for the loss of screen estate due to the center camera.

; Wireless charging port
:A port for {{w|Inductive_charging|wireless charging}} is an oxymoron, since wireless charging has no wires and thus has no need for a port, unless it is required for fuel for a fuel cell (see clean coal, below). This may be a jab at Apple's removal of the headphone port from their previous phones.

; Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older
:Usually an item is deemed safe for a particular age or older, or (in the case of toys) is recommended for a particular age range. This is unusual in that it's a hodge-podge of age ranges with no apparent reason why some ages are safe and others are not. It may be a parody of drug commercials that list several age ranges for which the drug had to be separately approved.

; Screen goes past the edge
:A parody of the trend of "edge to edge" displays in recent generations of smartphones, or phones whose screens curve partway around the edge of the phone. In this case the screen is wide enough that it ''could'' curve partway around the edge, except the spillover does not actually form to the curves, resulting in a screen that is wider than the body of the phone. If the spillover is rigid, this would make the phone rather uncomfortable to hold, and the spillover is at risk of chipping off.

; High thread count CPU
:A {{w|Thread_(computing)|CPU thread}} is a task the CPU performs. Several threads may share memory, making them a process. Threads are meant to run in parallel and the operating system distributes the workload on the available hardware execution units. These execution units are sometimes called hardware threads, especially when there is more than one per processing unit (or core). For example, the Intel Core i7 7700 is considered a 4-core, 8-thread CPU. The vague "high thread count" statement could make sense in this context, however, it is most likely a joke about bedding, where it is an actual selling point; the thread count of a textile signifies the density of fibres in the material, and a high thread count is an indicator of a high quality fabric.

; Shroud of Turin-style facial transfer unlock
:The {{w|Shroud of Turin}} contains an image of the body and face of a man, originally believed to be {{w|Jesus Christ}}, before the Shroud was found to be 1200 years too young. Some theories suggest the image was created by interaction with or transfer from the body that was wrapped in the shroud. Presumably, to unlock this phone, the user would have to physically {{w|facepalm|press their face}} against the phone, the way the Shroud-Man's image was allegedly transferred to the shroud. This is probably a reference to the iPhone X's FaceID unlock, which uses a ''photograph'' of your face, augmented with spatial information, to unlock itself, and which had attracted [https://www.wired.com/story/iphone-x-faceid-security/ significant criticism] immediately before this comic came out.

; Fonts developed by NASA
: This may be a reference to many advertisements that claim that their product uses technology developed by NASA in an attempt to make it seem more impressive. NASA technology does often tend to be quite strong and advanced, as they claim at their [https://spinoff.nasa.gov/ spin off] website. Between 1975 and 1992 NASA used the {{w|NASA insignia|"worm" logotype}} in its insignia; it was a special font that omitted the horizontal bar in the capitalized letter A. However, it would not be particularly impressive to use this, since fonts have very little to do with NASA's core operations{{Citation needed}}, and it potentially implies that it would not support many other common, and perhaps more readable, fonts.

: This may also be riffing on the {{w|Writing_in_space|urban legend}} that NASA invested vast amounts of research in developing a pen that could write in space, rather than just using a pencil.

; Includes applicator
: This is found on the packaging for many products, such as tampons, cosmetics, and paints. An applicator for a phone would be absurd, since the phone cannot be applied, spread, inserted, or attached to something else. However, this may be referring back to the aforementioned yearly vaccine.

; Burns clean coal
: Clean coal is coal that is burned so that it does not give off as much soot, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, or other pollutants as "normal" coal, or methods of burning coal that give off relatively less pollutants. This may be advertised by energy companies trying to appear to be using clean energy, due to pollution concerns. Coal burning power plants are usually quite large, so a traditional coal fired thermal-electric plant in a cell phone would be absurd. {{w|Fuel cell|fuel cells}}, which produce electricity by oxidizing some fuel, can be small enough to fit in a cell phone, but they do not typically burn coal. The cordless charging port might be a receptacle for refueling the phone, using liquid or a fuel cartridge.

; Pre-seasoned
:Pre-seasoned typically refers to cast iron cookware which is ready to use out of the box, as opposed to needing to season it with oil and heat. It can also refer to packaged meats which are ready to cook without needing to be seasoned with herbs and spices, or timber that has been dried and is ready for use. A more technical definition of 'seasoning' means operating devices, usually calibrated standards or battery cells, for a while in the factory, to make sure the device meets constant performance requirements without deviating or diminshing too much. In this sense it could apply to the battery of the phone.

; Broad-spectrum SPF 30
:The xkcd phone somehow gives a {{w|sunscreen|sun protection factor}} (SPF) 30 level of protection from sunlight, meaning that it blocks all but 1/30 of skin-burning UVB radiation from sunlight, though it is not clear whether it is the user or the phone itself which is protected. Phones do not typically require protection from sunlight{{Citation needed}}. On the other hand, if, when placed between the user and the sun, the phone allows >3% of the radiation through, this would be remarkably more translucent, and therefore less effective, than most phones (which allow much less than 1% of UVB, or any other visible or near-visible wavelength, through). It would also be an inefficient method of protection, since it would only be able to protect a relatively small patch of skin.

; College-ruled
:College-ruled is a style of notebook paper having narrower than normal lines, in order to fit more text per page. That the phone is college-ruled suggests that there are lines permanently displayed on the screen, which could obscure any images on the screen, and make any text that doesn't line up with the lines hard to read. Defective screens can show similar patterns; for example, the iPhone 6 "touch disease" causes regularly spaced vertical lines to appear on top of the screen. Here, it is possible that the manufacturer is trying to pass off screen defects as features.

; Sterile packaging
:Useful for medical supplies, less so in a phone. There are numerous studies and resulting 'news' articles looking at the number of bacteria, fecal samples, and so forth, that can be found on the typical phone, typically with a sensationalist take on how you will be 'shocked' to discover this. However, sterile packaging would do little to counter this, since most of this contamination is accumulated after the user removes the phone from the packaging and begins using it.

; Radium backlight
:The discovery of the radioactive element radium sparked a brief fad in which manufacturers of consumer products began coating them with a paint containing radium and a radioluminescent substance, such as zinc sulfide, which converted the radiation from the radium into visible light. In particular, some clock and watch makers painted the faces or hands of their timepieces, allowing the time to be read at night without an external power source for the light. However, it was eventually realized that regular exposure to radium could result in radiation poisoning, particularly for the workers assembling and painting the products. A radium-based backlight would therefore be both potentially dangerous (especially for an object carried on one's person much of the time) but also largely useless, as the radioluminescent light is rather dim compared to conventional phone back lights.

; 4K pixels (50×80)
:"4K" typically denotes a screen with a width of ~4000 pixels, such as 4K TVs, which have 3840×2160 pixels, or about 8.3 million pixels total. That would be an outstanding resolution for a cell phone. Here, however, the "fine print" in parentheses clarifies that 4000 is actually the total number of pixels, not the width, which would be remarkably low resolution for a smart phone. As a comparison, the old Commodore VIC-20, with a resolution of 176 × 184, would have over 8 times the pixels of this phone. It is more comparable to the screen resolution of the sturdy Nokia 3310, which boasted a total of 4032 pixels, positioned 84 × 48.

===Version===
In the caption below the phone [[Randall]] presents many different version numbers:
*The number 6 is in correct order of all the xkcd phones
*The {{w|Roman numerals|Roman numeral}} VIII refers to the newly announced {{w|iPhone 8}} and jokes about the Roman numeral X below
*Version number 10 is the current version of Microsoft Windows
*The {{w|iPhone X}} was announced together with the iPhone 8 by Apple on September 12, 2017, a day before this comic was released. Apple clarified that X is meant to be read as the Roman numeral for 10, so for additional absurdity two xkcd phones share the same number, using different numerals
*The number 26 refers to the number of letters in the English alphabet
*In the year 1876 {{w|Alexander Graham Bell}} received the U.S. Patent No. 174465 for the {{w|invention of the telephone}}, but there is still a {{w|Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy|controversy}} whether {{w|Elisha Gray}} was the first to present a working telephone.

The "nonconsecutive version number war" referenced below the version names refers to several recent phones, and possibly operating systems, released consecutively with nonconsecutive version numbers, including:
*The iPhone X (or Ten) which will be released shortly after the iPhone 8
*The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was released after the Note 5
*The Oneplus 5 was released after the OnePlus 3T
*The ZTE Axon 7 was released after the original Axon, skipping numbers 2-6.
*Microsoft Windows has a long history of non-consecutive version numbers/names, with the most well-known releases being (in order) {{w|Windows 3.1|3.1}}, {{w|Windows NT|NT}}, {{w|Windows 95|95}}, {{w|Windows 98|98}}, {{w|Windows 2000|2000}}, {{w|Windows Me|Me}}, {{w|Windows XP|XP}}, {{w|Windows Vista|Vista}}, {{w|Windows 7|7}}, {{w|Windows 8|8}}, and {{w|Windows 10|10}}.

Randall's ludicrous naming scheme aims to 'defeat' all of these by eclipsing them. By counting parallel version numbers xkcd defeated Apple 6:2.

The symbols at the end are ™ for trademark, ® for registered trademark, and © for copyright. The degree symbol ° after the letter C could be a play with degree Celsius. The use of all four symbols after the phrase is ridiculous, as ™ and ® indicate trademarks with opposite registration statuses, slogans can't be copyrighted, and the degree symbol usually has no meaning when applied to text.

In the title text Randall recognises privacy concerns about the facial recognition feature. A picture of a face will only be used for facial recognition, but never stored on the device nor transmitted to the internet. A ''small'' side effect may be that the famous selfie pictures aren't possible anymore, as well as video calls. Ironic, considering that the reason the camera is in the middle is to allow easier video calls.

==Transcript==
:[A smartphone is shown, the screen is slightly wider than the case, in the middle is a photo lens, and at the right bottom a small extra part is added to the screen.]
:[On top a bracket ranges nearly over the entire width of the case. The text reads:]
:Full-width rear camera
:[The label at the photo lens is:]
:Front camera (centered for eye contact during video chat)
:[The label on the extra part says:]
:Extra screen
:[At the bottom below the case a label reads:]
:Wireless charging port

:[The labels left to the phone are:]
:4k pixels (50x80)
:Radium backlight
:Sterile packaging
:College-ruled
:Broad spectrum SPF 30
:Pre-seasoned
:Burns clean coal
:Includes applicator
:Fonts developed by NASA
:Shroud of turn-style facial transfer unlock
:High thread count CPU
:Screen goes past the edge
:Safe for ages 6-8 months, 10 months, 18 months-3 years, and 12 years and older

:[The labels right to the phone are:]
:CDC partnership: Phone automatically administers seasonal flu vaccine to cheek every year
:12-function
:Dishwasher safe
:GPS transmitter
:3-G acceleration
:Portable, solar-heated
:Pore-cleaning strip
:Maximum strength
:Never needs sharpening
:Can survive up to 30 minutes out of water
:Exclusive Audubon Society app identifies birds and lets you control their flight

:[Text below the phone:]
:Introducing
:'''The xkcd Phone 6, VIII, 10, X, 26, and 1876'''
:''We didn't start this nonconsecutive version number war, but we will not lose it.''™®©°

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:xkcd Phones]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|xkcd Phones]]

792: Password Reuse

2022-05-11T17:52:40Z

Decky: Undo revision 266003 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 792
| date = September 13, 2010
| title = Password Reuse
| image = password_reuse.png
| titletext = It'll be hilarious the first few times this happens.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic has three layers: hacking, philosophy, and Google satire.

It starts off on a practical level, with [[Black Hat]] describing to [[Cueball]] a devious social engineering scheme. It relies on the fact that people commonly reuse the same password on multiple websites, and tend to create accounts on new websites somewhat indiscriminately. Thus, one could create a simple Web service to collect users' usernames, email addresses, and passwords. Since many users will reuse this combination on other websites as well, the website owner can try to hack their accounts on other common sites, such as {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, {{w|PayPal}} or even people's banks, using the same login information.

In panel 7, the comic suddenly develops a philosophical and ethical bent. Black Hat reveals that he has already carried out step 1, through his numerous unprofitable Web services which he had been running for this very purpose. However, after successfully executing the hack, he realizes that he does not know what to do with all this power.

He reveals that he is already financially self-sufficient, and makes a point that money can't buy happiness once past that point, stating that research has proven this. He could use his power to realize his sadistic pleasures of messing with people, but he's already a serial [[72: Classhole|classhole]] and does not need this information to continue that trend.

If he had any beliefs or ideology, he could use this power to try to spread them. However, he reveals that "since {{w|March_1997#March|March of 1997}}" he doesn't really believe in anything. While he doesn't reveal specifically what in March of 1997 caused this, it could possibly refer to the {{w|Heaven's Gate (religious group)#Mass suicide and aftermath|March 26, 1997 incident}} in San Diego, California, where 39 {{w|Heaven's Gate (religious group)|Heaven's Gate}} cultists committed mass suicide at their compound. One of the cultists was the brother of {{w|Nichelle Nichols}} (a {{w|Star Trek}} actress), so the event got a big resonance in nerd circles (and [[Randall]] [[:Category:Star Trek|often references Star Trek]] in xkcd). However, given Black Hat's strange behavior, it could be anything, from {{w|Bill Clinton}} banning federal funding for {{w|human cloning}} research on the fourth, to the launch of {{w|Teletubbies}} on the thirty first. Later, in [[1717: Pyramid Honey]], Black Hat seems to finally find something to believe in.

The dilemma: Black Hat has cleverly executed a hack that has given him a lot of power, but he doesn't know what to do with it.

The last part of the comic now transitions to a satire on how {{w|Google}} has already gone through both the stages described above. It describes how all of Google's free services are simply a ploy to collect and control all the world's information, similar in concept but grander than the hack described in part 1. It satirizes the notion that behind Google's "Don't be evil" motto is actually an end-goal of using their powers eventually for evil. (Google has since removed the motto from their code of conduct, so maybe Randall's on to something...)

However, just like Black Hat, once Google reaches the stage where they are able to capitalize on their powers, the Cueball-like head-executive finds that there is nothing evil left for them to desire, except (as [[Hairbun]] states) make even more money. As they already make a lot of money this ploy is moot, and anything remaining that they wish to do, such as hosting {{w|Call of Duty}} (CoD) tournaments, isn't evil at all.

In the end, the secretary calls dibs on the TV in the lobby in order to play CoD4 on what (one can assume) is a large screen. The Cueball-like executive who wished to implement the evil plan in the first place {{w|facepalm|facepalms}} when he realizes that Google just sucks at being evil.

In the title text, “The first few times this happens” may refer to the weekly CoD4 “tournament.” Alternatively, it could also mean the “first few times” a company decides to turn evil (but then has no idea how). It could also refer to the first couple of times an individual follows through on this plan but fails after the first part due to a lack of planning for the second part.

This comic was directly referenced in the title text of [[1286: Encryptic]].

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is standing to the left behind Cueball, who is sitting in an office chair at his desk working on his computer. A message from the computer is indicated with a zigzag line from the screen.]
:Black Hat: Password entropy is rarely relevant. The real modern danger is password reuse.
:Cueball: How so?
:Computer: Password too weak

:[Zoom in on Black Hat's upper part as he holds a hand up with the palm up.]
:Black Hat: Set up a Web service to do something simple, like image hosting or tweet syndication, so a few million people set up free accounts.

:[Zoom out to Black Hat standing in front of Cueball who has turned in the chair facing Black Hat, the desk is not shown in the panel.]
:Black Hat: Bam, you've got a few million emails, default usernames, and passwords.

:[Only Black Hat is shown as he holds out his arms.]
:Black Hat: Tons of people use one password, strong or not, for most accounts.

:[The next panel is only half the height of the other panels. Above the panel is the text that Black Hat narrates. In the left part of the panel, there is a piece of paper that seems to have been torn off at the bottom resulting in a jagged edge, which could also indicate that it continues further down than shown. On the paper, there are three labeled columns, and below each of them about 18 lines of unreadable sentences (mostly just one word). The @ in the e-mail addresses may be indicated with a larger unreadable sign. To the right a broad line goes right from the paper and splits up in five lines that go up or down ending in five arrows to the right, pointing at five labels.]
:Black Hat (narrating): Use the list and some proxies to try automated logins to the 20 or 30 most popular sites, plus banks and PayPal and such.
:Labels on paper: Email User Pass
:Labels at arrows:
::Banks
::Facebook
::Gmail
::PayPal
::Twitter

:[Same setting as panel 3 but Cueball has taken a hand to his chin.]
:Black Hat: You've now got a few hundred thousand real identities on a few dozen services, and nobody suspects a thing.
:Cueball: And then what?

:[Same setting in a larger panel with more white space to the left, Cueball has his hand down again.]
:Black Hat: Well, that's where I got stuck.
:Cueball: You did this?
:Black Hat: Why do you '''''think''''' I hosted so many unprofitable web services?

:[Zoom in on Black Hat's head now turned towards left.]
:Black Hat: I could probably net in a lot of money, one way or another, if I did things carefully. But research shows more money doesn't make people happier, once they make enough to avoid day-to-day financial stress.

:[Zooming a bit out, but still only showing Black Hat's head in the bottom right corner, again facing right.]
:Black Hat: I could mess with people endlessly, but I do that already. I could get a political or religious idea out to most of the world, but since March of 1997 I don't really believe in anything.

:[This panel is the last in this row, but it does not reach the end of the row above, an indication that this does not directly belong to the panels below. The same setting as panel 3 but Black Hat has his arms out.]
:Black Hat: So, here I sit, a puppetmaster who wants nothing from his puppets.
:Black Hat: It's the same problem Google has.
:Cueball: Oh?

:[This panel is the first in the last row. It does not begin to the left, but has been shifted a bit to the right, just as the last panel above to the right, ended before reaching the right edge of the row above (and this one below). This is to indicate that this is row has a different story. A Cueball-like executive at Google is standing up leaning his arms on a table with Google's logo on the side. His office chair has been pushed to the left behind him and it is partly off-panel. He addresses the other executives at the table, two of which are shown. The first is Hairbun with glasses holding her head with both hands, elbows resting on the table. The other executive is also a Cueball-like guy, his head is partly outside the right edge of the panel. At the top of the panel to the left, there is a small frame breaking the panel's frame, inside which is a caption:]
:Google...
:Cueball executive: Okay, everyone, we control the world's information. Now it's time to turn evil. What's the plan?
:Hairbun: Make boatloads of money?
:Table: Google

:[Only the Cueball-like executive standing at the end of the table is shown, the table is left out. He is face-palming. One of the executives at the table is speaking off-panel. Could be either of the two above or someone not shown before]
:Cueball executive: We already do!
:Executive (off-panel): Set up a companywide CoD4: Modern Warfare tournament each week?
:Cueball executive: ''That's not evil!''
:Executive (off-panel): Ooh, Dibs on the lobby TV!
:Cueball executive: Okay, we ''suck'' at this.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Video games]]
[[Category:Computer security]]
[[Category:Identity Theft]]

1880: Eclipse Review

2022-05-11T17:52:28Z

Decky: Undo revision 266285 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1880
| date = August 23, 2017
| title = Eclipse Review
| image = eclipse_review.png
| titletext = I watched from a beautiful nature reserve in central Missouri, and it was--without exaggeration--the coolest thing I've ever seen.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is the last of five consecutive comics published in the week before and during the {{w|solar eclipse}} occurring on Monday, {{w|Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017|August 21, 2017}} which was visible as a total solar eclipse within a band across the {{w|contiguous United States}} from west to east and visible as a partial eclipse across the entire contiguous United States and beyond. The other comics are [[1876: Eclipse Searches]], [[1877: Eclipse Science]], [[1878: Earth Orbital Diagram]], and [[1879: Eclipse Birds]].

The comic is another comparison graph, like [[1775: Things You Learn]] or [[1701: Speed and Danger]]. It contrasts how cool something ''sounds'' and how cool it actually ''is''. It has five points on it, planetary conjunction, supermoon, lunar eclipse, partial solar eclipse, and total solar eclipse.

While the four other things than total solar eclipse are relatively close to each other on the "how cool to see" scale, the graph is not even high enough to plot the total solar eclipse point as indicated by the dotted arrow showing that this point should be way higher up. This is as opposed to leaving the point out, as Randall did with the coconut in [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]], where it is only mentioned in the title text. This could be an indication that if the scale had been high enough to fit the total solar eclipse point, then the rest of the points would be on the x-axis without any indication of which would be cooler.

A total solar eclipse correctly sounds like it is the coolest of the five, but it is vastly cooler to see it in person by a wide margin. It seems like Randall is trying to convince those who missed the eclipse this time to go watch in seven years when another total solar eclipse is visible in the USA.

;Planetary Conjunction
In a {{w|Conjunction (astronomy)|planetary conjunction}} two or more planets are visible close together in the night sky. This happens relatively {{w|List_of_conjunctions_(astronomy)|often}} because all planets lie in roughly the same plane around the sun (the <s>Sagittal</s> {{w|ecliptic}}). This looks like two big stars close to each other, and isn't particularly exciting.

;Supermoon
A {{w|Supermoon|supermoon}} is a full moon or a new moon that approximately coincides with the Moon's closest approach in its elliptic orbit around the Earth. This results in a larger-than-usual apparent size of the lunar disk, but a typical human doesn't recognize the difference. Nevertheless, in recent years the press has often announced supermoons as important astronomical events. The opposite of a supermoon is called a micromoon. A "supermoon" sounds very cool, but like a planetary conjunction it's almost indistinguishable in the average night sky (see [[1394: Superm*n]], and this [[:Category:Supermoon|list]]) of other comics that have referred to the term).

;Lunar Eclipse
A {{w|Lunar eclipse|lunar eclipse}} occurs during the full moon and, like at a solar eclipse, happens only when the Moon is in the region where the orbital planes of the Moon and the Earth intersect. The Earth's shadow falls on the Moon, causing it to appear dark red. The moon doesn't generally darken completely due to some light still reaching the Moon through the outer layers of the Earth's atmosphere. As with solar eclipses, lunar eclipses occur on average once every six months, but they can be viewed by anyone who is on the night-time side of Earth during the eclipse, as opposed to only being visible from a small strip of the Earth's surface. A lunar eclipse looks noticeably different from a usual full moon, making it fairly cool.

;Partial Solar Eclipse
There are three types of {{w|Solar_eclipse#Types|non-total solar eclipses}}. A ''partial eclipse'' occurs when the Sun and Moon are not exactly in line with an observer on Earth, and thus the Moon doesn't fully obscure the Sun. An ''annular eclipse'' occurs when the Sun and Moon do line up with an observer on Earth, but the Moon is too far away from earth to block the entire Sun. The Sun appears as a very bright ring, which is also called an annulus. A ''hybrid eclipse'' is an eclipse which is total when viewed from some parts of the earth, but is annular when viewed from others. These ''mixed'' eclipses are comparatively rare, even when compared with total eclipses. A large percentage of the continental United States experienced a partial eclipse along with the total solar eclipse on August 21st. A partial solar eclipse is quite cool, but nowhere near as dramatic as a sky-darkening total solar eclipse.

;Total Solar Eclipse
The {{w|Solar_eclipse#Types|total solar eclipse}} is the topic of this and the four preceding comics. It occurs during the new moon, and happens only when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line with an observer on Earth and when the Moon appears large enough to fully obscure the Sun. Unlike a lunar eclipse, only a small portion of the Earth lies within the Moon's shadow at any given time, roughly a disc with a diameter of approx. 100 km. The disc moves very fast over the Earth's surface, meaning that at any given location eclipses can't last longer than a few minutes. At locations outside of this ''shadow-disc'', in a region over a few thousand kilometers, the eclipse is partial.

In the title text Randall reveals that he had traveled to a location in Missouri (possibly the {{w|Shaw Nature Reserve}}) because at his home in Massachusetts the eclipse was only partial. And, without a doubt, the total solar eclipse was the coolest thing he ever has seen in his life.

==Transcript==
:[A scatter plot with five labeled dots is drawn. The x-axis reads "How cool it sounds like it would be" and the y-axis is labeled with "How cool it is to see in person".]
:[Bottom left] Planetary conjunction
:[Bottom middle] Supermoon
:[Low left-center] Lunar eclipse
:[Low-center middle] Partial solar eclipse
:[Upper right, with a dotted arrow above it pointing up] Total solar eclipse

==Trivia==
*While the ''WOW-effect'' happened mostly to people standing on Earth gazing at the sun, there were more astonishing pictures taken from this event: An ISS-transit in front of the [https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/iss-transit-during-2017-solar-eclipse partial eclipsed] sun, the shadow on Earth seen from [https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-eclipse-2017-umbra-viewed-from-space-1 space], the astronauts also could see a [https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-eclipse-2017-from-space partial eclipse] because the orbit was [https://twitter.com/Astromaterials/status/899475632912052224/photo/1 above America] by that time, the eclipse seen from a distance of 380,000 km in an orbit around the [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/LRO-captures-eclipse-from-the-moon Moon], and an [https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2017/nasas-epic-view-of-2017-eclipse-across-america animation] taken from a distance of 1,6 Mio. km by the {{w|Deep Space Climate Observatory|Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR)}} located in a line exacly between Earth and Sun.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Scatter plots]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017]]
[[Category:Supermoon]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

2378: Fall Back

2022-05-11T17:50:34Z

Decky: Undo revision 265490 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2378
| date = October 28, 2020
| title = Fall Back
| image = fall_back.png
| titletext = Doing great here in the sixth and hopefully final year of the 2016 election.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Daylight saving time}} ends in the United States at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November, when 2 a.m. becomes 1 a.m. {{w|Election Day (United States)|Election Day in the United States}} is on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

In 2020, Nov. 1 is Sunday, so the shift from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time will happen two days before {{w|2020 United States elections|the 2020 election}}. This has the effect of making Sunday, Nov. 1 a 25-hour day. The switchover is sometimes referred to mnemonically as "fall back," with its springtime counterpart (a day of 23 hours) being "spring forward" as mentioned in [[1655: Doomsday Clock]].

At the beginning of the comic, Cueball incorrectly calculates the time until the election day polls close (this varies from state to state); in the second panel, Megan reminds him about falling back. She goes on to possibly sarcastically treasure this extended moment, one more hour to experience the bitter election cycle and the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}. Megan describes herself as {{w|Dissociation_(psychology)|dissociating}} here, and it is possible she is actually treating these emergencies as good now, instead of bad. The behavior could be seen as an indirect demand for the situation to change, a demonstration that she may lose her sanity further if it does not. Cueball hears how intense she is saying her experience is, and says he thinks they've both spent too much time engaging with the news (a sentiment echoed from other recent xkcd comics, like [[2371: Election Screen Time]] and possibly [[2374: 10,000 Hours]]). When he mentions the {{w|24-hour news cycle}}, Megan corrects him again, as Sunday will be a ''25''-hour news cycle.

The title text refers to a popular sentiment that the issues and emotions raised in the {{w|2016 United States presidential election}} were not settled when the election was over and have continued unabated since then. Even though the election itself was held in November 2016, the primary candidates officially announced their campaigns in early 2015; thus, 2020 is the sixth year since that campaign season opened. The implication could be that the whole nation, or at least Randall's community of political followers, has had to be in an altered state of consciousness to handle the past six years. It could also be a reference to ongoing strong campaigning, in excess of what people have seen in the past.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is looking at his phone.]
:Cueball: It's 8 PM. Exactly six days until the polls close here.

:[Megan walks in from Cueball's left, holding up a finger. Cueball has lowered his phone.]
:Megan: Six days and one hour.
:Cueball: Oh right, fall back.
:Cueball: Ugh.

:[Megan holds out her arms.]
:Megan: Personally, I think it's great.
:Megan: Don't you want this moment to last as long as possible?

:[Close up on Megan.]
:Megan: My pandemic anxiety and election anxiety have finally fused.
:Megan: I have ascended.
:Megan: I get breaking news alerts in my dreams.

:[Back to Cueball and Megan.]
:Cueball: I don't think the endless 24 hour news cycle has been good for either of us.
:Megan: Well, then I have good news about Sunday!
:Cueball: Ughhh.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Elections]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Daylight saving time]]

1862: Particle Properties

2022-05-11T17:50:07Z

Decky: Undo revision 265991 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1862
| date = July 12, 2017
| title = Particle Properties
| image = particle_properties.png
| titletext = Each particle also has a password which allows its properties to be changed, but the cosmic censorship hypothesis suggests we can never observe the password itself—only its secure hash.
}}

==Explanation==
A table is presented comparing the range (maximum and minimum value) and scale (how big number increments are) of several measures. The table begins by listing properties pertinent to {{w|particle physics}} as the title suggests, but quickly devolves to other domains such as role-playing games (such as D&D) and sports after failing to provide a good definition of {{w|Flavour (particle physics)|flavor}}.

{| class=wikitable
! Property
! Scale
! Explanation
|-
| Electric charge
| [-1,1]
| The {{w|electric charge}} is shown in increments of a third from -1 to +1 which are the only known charges of fundamental particles (leptons, quarks and gauge bosons); however there are some exotic composite particles with twice integer charge, e.g. the recently discovered {{w|Ξcc++|double charmed Xi baryon}} with a charge of +2.

Quarks are the only particles with charges of ± ⅓ or ± ⅔, but cannot exist individually; below the {{w|Hagedorn temperature}}, they are only found within hadrons. To date, all hadrons (particles composed of quarks), leptons, and bosons have integer charge, and current models indicate that this must be the case.
|-
| Mass
| [0,∞) in kg
| Mass (specifically {{w|rest mass}}) is the measure of an object or particle's resistance to force, as well as its ability to distort {{w|spacetime}} (its gravitational attraction).
Theoretically, any object's mass could approach infinity, but mass cannot be below 0 (as far as {{w|Negative mass|we know}}). The mass units shown (kilograms) are, however, far too large for particles. Some particles, such as photons, have zero rest mass and are therefore massless.

All particles with rest mass obtain it through confinement, either by the {{w|Higgs field}} (the quarks; leptons; and W, Z, and Higgs bosons) or the strong nuclear force (hadrons).
Particles with no rest mass (photons and gluons) can only move at lightspeed.
|-
| Spin number
| (-∞,∞) (Intervals of ½)
| {{w|Spin (physics)|Spin}} is an intrinsic property of particles, a relativistic form of angular momentum. The spin of a particle determines what statistics the particle follows, half odd integer spin particles are classified as fermions and integer spin particles are bosons.

Two fermions cannot have exactly the same state, an observation known as the Pauli exclusion principle. Thus, for fermions to exist in the same position, they must have opposite spins, of + ½ and - ½. It follows that a maximum of two fermions of the same flavor (e.g. two electrons) may exist in the same position.
|-
| Flavor
| Misc. quantum numbers
| Flavor is a series of {{w|quantum numbers}} that do not fit neatly onto a set of dimensional axes.

The most general theory breaks flavor down into four distinct conserved values, the electric charge, the weak isospin, the baryon number and the lepton number, but more specific models increase the number of distinct values. Quarks, for example, add five more flavor numbers: isospin (upness vs. downness), strangeness, charm, topness and bottomness (the last four are literally just the number of strange, charmed, top and bottom quarks, minus the corresponding anti-quarks).
|-
| Color charge
| Coordinate system with R, G and B axes
| The primary {{w|strong nuclear force}} has six mutually attractive charges, arranged in three perpendicular axes each analogous to electric charge. These charges are commonly referred to as "{{w|Color charge|color}}" and the three axes are given the names of the three primary colors of light: Red, Green and Blue. The black dots in the diagram represent the actual colors while the white dots are the anti-color charges: anti-Red (colored cyan in diagrams), anti-Green (magenta) and anti-Blue (yellow). To complete the analogy, a color charge of zero is referred to as "White". The names of these charges are purely allegorical, but they do make it convenient to refer to them, especially in diagrams.

The color of a particle not confined by the strong force must be White, either as the sum of a color and its anti-color (as in a meson), as the sum of RGB or anti-RGB (as in a baryon), or as a sum of those sums (As in tetra-, penta- or hexaquarks). The attraction of the strong nuclear force is so strong that attempting to separate two quarks from each other creates enough energy to create two new quarks, which then bind to the original quarks. This property is known as "confinement" and means that color charge can never be observed directly.

Randall is incorrect in stating "Quarks only", since {{w|gluon}}s (the particle that carries the color force) are themselves colored. However, the colors of gluons are much more complicated, with a total of eight distinct superpositions of every possible color-anticolor pair. The fact that gluons are subject to the force they mediate also means that the strong force has a defined radius of effect, unlike the electromagnetic force, whose gauge bosons (the photon) are uncharged.

This is the last entry currently used to describe particles by particle physicists.
|-
| Mood
| 5 emojis on a number line ranging from angry to joyful
| Particles are not considered to have mood, even in the allegorical way they have color or flavor, but Randall implies that there is a quantized 5 point scale (from "angry" to "ecstatic") which would have some effect on the properties of the particle. This would be more appropriate for measuring customer satisfaction. Charts such as this are also sometimes used in medicine to indicate levels of pain, and in some psychiatric treatments as a quick way to track changes in the patient's condition.

In grammar, {{w|Grammatical particles|particles}} are a nebulous class of words, usually defined by a lack of declension or conjugation (such as prepositions in English). Some languages use particles instead of or in addition to "standard" declension/conjugation, much like auxiliary verbs are used in English. These particles may well carry "{{w|Grammatical mood|mood}}" as an attribute, as well as tense and aspect.
|-
| Alignment
| 3x3 grid with varying shades (columns Good-Evil, rows Lawful-Chaotic)
| A reference to the tabletop RPG ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}'', where characters have an {{w|Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)|alignment}} that is either Good, Neutral, or Evil (describing whether they have a propensity to help or harm others) and either Lawful, Neutral, or Chaotic (describing how much they care about organizations, social norms, and the status quo). Common examples of these alignments include Darth Vader (Lawful Evil), Superman (Lawful Good), Robin Hood (Chaotic Good), and the Joker (Chaotic Evil). This may be a reference to the now defunct names of the two heaviest known quarks ("truth" and "beauty").
|-
| Hit points
| [0,∞)
| Games (videogames, board games, CCGs, RPGs, etc.) often have values for players and other entities that represent {{w|Health (video game)|health}} (also called hit points or HP). Generally there is not necessarily a limit on this value, but it does not often go below 0 as the zero value is considered "dead" (or some equivalent).
|-
| Rating
| 5-star scale
| The five-star rating system is often used to rate films, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. Randall has previously criticized this system in [[937: TornadoGuard]] and [[1098: Star Ratings]].

Interestingly, unlike the "Heat" rating with the chili peppers below, this scale doesn't have a creatively labeled number line, merely a rating (3.5, in this case). Considering [[1098]], could Randall be subtly self-deprecating here?
|-
| String type
| Bytestring-Charstring
| In computer science, this denotes what type of data is stored subsequent set of elements or a {{w|String_(computing)|string}}. This is likely a pun on {{w|String_(physics)|string}} types that appear in {{w|string theory}} and particle physics, and may also be a reference to {{w|Python (programming language)|Python}}, in which the difference between a byte string and a (Unicode) character string is a cause of difficulties for some programmers.
|-
| Batting average
| [0,100] in %
| In {{w|baseball}}, a player's {{w|batting average}} is calculated by dividing their hits by their at-bats. Instead of using the percent sign (%), it is usually presented as a number between 0 and 1 (inclusive) expressed as three decimal places with no leading zero: [.000, 1.000]. It is pronounced as though it is multiplied by 1,000: A batter with a batting average of .342 (which is very good) is said to be "batting three forty-two." A perfect batting average (unattainable except in very small samples) gives rise to the expression "batting a thousand." The 0-100 scale would be a better match for the batting average statistic in {{w|cricket}}, although percents would still not be used.
|-
| Proof
| [0,200]
| This refers to {{w|alcohol proof}}, which is the measure of the amount of ethanol in a beverage by volume. In the United States, 100 proof correspond to 50% alcohol, so the proof of a beverage is two times the percentage of ethanol, so the maximum value is 200.
|-
| Heat
| No jalapeño icons - 3 jalapeño icons, increasing
| Spicy dishes are sometimes measured by the intensity of the spicy flavor, usually ranging from values like "mild" to "hot". The gray jalapeño likely represents negligible or no spicy taste in the food. However, as an objective scale it is largely meaningless, since there is no reliable consistency in how these ratings are applied - what may be considered a 3-chilli dish in one establishment may only be a 1-chilli dish in another (as restaurants rarely if ever intend their dishes to be rated on the {{w|Scoville scale}}). The scale being unlimited may be a reference to the practice of some restaurants where a fourth or fifth chilli may be added to exaggerate the heat of their dishes.
|-
| Street value
| [0,∞) in $
| The value of an illegal good or a legal/controlled good when bought or sold by illegal means usually by or to the end user.
|-
| Entropy
| ''This already has like 20 different confusing meanings, so it probably means something here, too.''
| The term "entropy", which {{w|History of entropy|began}} as a {{w|Entropy (classical thermodynamics)|thermodynamic measure}}, has since been adopted {{w|Entropy in thermodynamics and information theory|by analogy}} into {{w|Entropy (disambiguation)|multiple seemingly unrelated domains}}. The table doesn't seem to know what domain it is in, but (possibly in a desperate attempt to hide this) deems it safe to assume the unknown domain uses the term "entropy" for ''something''! Entropy is often described as a measure of disorder or chaos so this may be another reference to the D&D alignment axis above.
|}

The title text says that in addition each particle has a password, but only hash of the password can be observed. This is a computer science reference. In computer science, properties (e.g. of an object or program) often can be changed with a single command. In physics as we observe it, properties can locally change with the environment. There are several {{w|Time-variation_of_fundamental_constants|experiments}}, whether physical constants are really time-const. Password hashing is the practice of hiding the password itself by storing only an irreversible representation of the password. Since the password itself is not stored, the password cannot ever be viewed by the user or a hacker (outside of the login page). This method is considered to be safest way of storing passwords. Password hashing using some {{w|key derivation function}} makes it impossible to steal passwords even if the server that stores hashes is cracked, unless the hash function is also broken, which should be a task which cannot be completed in any feasible time for sufficiently strong passwords. The title-text claims this is predicted by the {{w|cosmic censorship hypothesis}}, which in reality claims that a {{w|gravitational singularity}} must always be obscured by an event horizon (i.e.: there can't be a {{w|naked singularity}}). There is also a hint of quantum mechanics in the statement, as observation is one of the central concepts of the field, and {{w|Heisenberg's uncertainty principle}} actually states that it is impossible to observe (measure) some property of a particle with arbitrary precision when another one is known (e.g.: you can't determine the momentum and position of a particle). This makes the title text a mix of several domains, as was the above table.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Is table alone the best solution? Layout is still not standard.}}
:<big>Particle Properties in Physics</big>
{| class=wikitable
! Property
! Type/scale
|-
| Electric charge
| [Scale with -1, 0 and +1 labeled and markings dividing the units in thirds. The endpoints are both dots.]
|-
| Mass
| [Scale with 0, 1kg and 2kg labeled and markings dividing the units into thirds. The endpoints are a dot on the zero end and an arrow on the other end.]
|-
| Spin number
| [Scale with -1, -½, 0, ½ and 1 labeled and no additional markings. The endpoints are both arrows, pointing out.]
|-
| Flavor
| (Misc. quantum numbers)
|-
| Color charge
| [Coordinate system of three axes labeled R, G and B clockwise from the 10 o'clock position. Endpoints are arrow-dots on all ends, with black dots for the labeled ends and white dots for the unlabeled ends.] (Quarks only)
|-
| Mood
| [Scale labeled with 5 emoticons, from angry to happy, and markings dividing the units in thirds. Endpoints are both arrows, pointing out.]
|-
| Alignment
| [3x3 grid with varying shades] Good-Evil, Lawful-Chaotic
|-
| Hit points
| [Scale starting from 0, markings but no labels other than zero. Endpoints are a dot at zero end and an arrow at the other end.]
|-
| Rating
| [Star rating of 3.5/5 stars.]
|-
| String type
| Bytestring-Charstring
|-
| Batting average
| [Scale from 0% to 100%. Endpoints are dot at 0% end and arrow-dot at 100% end.]
|-
| Proof
| [Scale from 0 to 200. Endpoints are dot at 0 end and arrow-dot at 200 end.]
|-
| Heat
| [Scale labeled with pepper icons, from 0 (a grayed-out pepper) to 3 black peppers. Endpoints are a dot at zero end and an arrow at the other end.]
|-
| Street value
| [Scale with $0, $100 and $200 labeled. Endpoints are a dot at zero end and an arrow at the other end.]
|-
| Entropy
| (This already has like 20 different confusing meanings, so it probably means something here, too.)
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Baseball]]

381: Mobius Battle

2022-05-11T17:49:43Z

Decky: Undo revision 266061 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 381
| date = February 8, 2008
| title = Mobius Battle
| image = mobius battle.png
| titletext = Films need to do this more, if only to piss off the people who have to feed it into the projector.
}}

==Explanation==
[[File:mobius battle.gif|right|frame|The Möbius comic strip as an animated GIF.]]
A {{w|Möbius strip}} (the comic's spelling Mobius strip is also acceptable) is an object with only one surface and one edge. It can be created by taking a strip of paper and twisting it 180 degrees before taping both ends together.

The idea of the Möbius strip has been used here to create a comic strip that could potentially loop forever. In it, [[Cueball]] is standing in front of a ball. Then another Cueball runs in and kicks the ball, which hits first Cueball in the head, due to which he falls out of the panel. The second Cueball then turns away, retaining the first Cueball's original position, only flipped horizontally. Because of the nature of the Möbius strip, if the comic strip were to be printed out in such a way that the comic could be seen on both sides of the paper, like on tracing paper or on one "side" of a strip of clear plastic or film, the comic would repeat, so that the second Cueball would become the first Cueball, and someone else, potentially the original first person, would push them out of the comic becoming himself the first Cueball. This means that neither person ever really "wins," and the comic could thus be conveying an anti-violence message in this respect. See also the title text of [[1890: What to Bring]].

The comic's viability as a Möbius strip preserved the use of symmetrical letters in a palindromic word to denote laughing ("HAHAHAH") as well as using symmetrical punctuation for the other character's [[wikt:grawlix#English|grawlixes]]. A similar use of a Möbius strip in story-telling can be seen in [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mdEsouIXGM Wind and Mr. Ug] by Vi Hart.

Finally, at the title text, [[Randall]] jokes that he would like to see actual films do this solely as a joke on projectionists, who would have a difficult time feeding a Möbius strip film reel properly into a normal projector due to the twist.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing next to a ball. A flash appears on the left side of the panel.]
:[Another Cueball comes in from the left, preparing to kick the ball.]
:[The other Cueball kicks the ball into the first Cueball's head.]
:[The first Cueball is lying outside of the frame. Second Cueball points and laughs.]
:Second Cueball: HAHAHAH
:First Cueball: <nowiki>!#^*!*</nowiki>
:[Second Cueball is now standing next to the ball.]
:[To the right, the strip above is looped around like a film strip, but a one-half-turn is put into the loop to make it a Mobius strip.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]

1192: Humming

2022-05-11T17:48:56Z

Decky: Undo revision 265717 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1192
| date = March 29, 2013
| title = Humming
| image = humming.png
| titletext = I'm so bad at carrying a tune, those 'find a song by humming its melody' websites throw an HTTP 406 error as soon as I start to hum.
}}

==Explanation==
Services like {{w|MusicBrainz}} and {{w|SoundHound}} can detect a recorded song's {{w|acoustic fingerprint}} and match it with an existing song. This lets them identify the title and artist of an unnamed recorded musical extract. In this comic, [[Megan]] hacks the acoustic fingerprint database to add her own entry with a message to [[Cueball]], in which she asks him to buy [[1022|cat food]].

HTTP error code 406 means Not Acceptable. When a client requests data from a server, the client lists the data formats that it can accept. If a server is unable to provide data in any format that the client accepts, the server returns error 406 Not Acceptable. For example, this can occur if a client requests XML but the server supports only JSON. In the title text, the standard meaning of the error message is ignored and the text "Not Acceptable" is taken literally: The server is offended by [[Randall]]'s humming.

==Transcript==
:[Megan is humming a tune.]
:Cueball: Hey.
:Cueball: What's that?

:[Megan is still humming the same tune.]
:Cueball: What are you humming?
:Cueball: Should I know the tune?
:Cueball: ...Hmm...

:[Cueball gets out his phone and opens up a music recognition program.]
:Phone: Identify song
:Phone: Recorded
:Phone: > Live [beta]

:Phone: Identifying...

:[A zoom in on the phone screen. An album cover with a picture of Megan on it.]
:Positive match:
:''Check it out!''
:By I hacked the audio fingerprint database
:Feat. MEEEEEE
:Track: We're out of cat food (pick some up?)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Cats]]

468: Fetishes

2022-05-11T17:48:29Z

Decky: Undo revision 266153 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 468
| date = August 27, 2008
| title = Fetishes
| image = fetishes.png
| titletext = They eventually resolved this self-reference, but Cantor's 'everything-in-the-fetish-book-twice' parties finally sunk the idea.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Bertrand Russell}} and {{w|Alfred North Whitehead}} co-wrote the ''{{w|Principia Mathematica}}'', with the intention of cataloging all of mathematics and ridding it of contradiction and self-reference. {{w|Kurt Gödel}} later showed that such a system is impossible, and that {{w|Gödel's incompleteness theorems|any system of axioms (complex enough to represent arithmetic) is incomplete}}.

This comic, however, presents an alternate universe scenario: here, Russell and Whitehead are pursuing the more salacious (but no less comprehensive) task of compiling a list of all sexual fetishes. This seems to be going fine until they ask Gödel for his fetishes; Gödel says that he is turned on by "anything not on your list." This creates a paradox - Russell and Whitehead now have no way to complete their list, because Gödel's fetishes cannot be included without putting them on the list, which would immediately invalidate them. In fact, this is precisely {{w|Russell's Paradox}}, discovered by Bertrand Russell himself.

The title text references {{w|Georg Cantor}}, the inventor of {{w|set theory}}, and adds a second, similar paradox: if you have a fetish for doing everything in the book twice, then that belongs in the book - but then, you must also have a fetish for doing ''that'' twice, so you have to put that in the book too; this process will keep adding fetishes to the book ''ad infinitum'', again making the task impossible to complete.

There is a [http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project_details.cfm?id=319&index=319&domain= fetish roadmap] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20070630175441/http://www.deviantdesires.com/map/mappics/map06sm.jpg archive.org]) by Katharine Gates, author of Deviant Desires and DeviantDesires.com.

An earlier comic also refers to Kurt Gödel: [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]].

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Author Katharine Gates recently attempted to make a chart of all sexual fetishes.
:Little did she know that Russell and Whitehead had already failed at this same task.

:[Russell, with long hair, and Whitehead are standing with Gödel (the last two are both Cueball-like), Russell holding a clipboard and smoking a pipe.
:Gödel is holding his chin with his right hand as he ponders the question.]

:Russell: Hey, Gödel — we're compiling a comprehensive list of fetishes. What turns you on?
:Gödel: Anything not on your list.
:Russell: Uh…hm.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Sex]]
[[Category:Logic]]
[[Category:Recursion]]

1758: Astrophysics

2022-05-11T17:46:52Z

Decky: Undo revision 266461 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1758
| date = November 11, 2016
| title = Astrophysics
| image = astrophysics.png
| titletext = DEPARTMENT OF NEUROSCIENCE / Motto: "If I hear the phrase 'mirror neurons' I swear to God I will flip this table."
}}

==Explanation==
In physics, the theory of gravity produced by {{w|general relativity}} combined with {{w|dark matter}} are our current best model for explaining the behavior of gravity and galaxies. The evidence supporting this model is extensive. General relativity accurately predicts the orbit of planets, even precise details like the {{w|Two-body problem in general relativity#Anomalous precession of Mercury|precession of Mercury}} which Newtonian gravity couldn't fully explain. Dark matter, in turn, explains behaviors of galaxies such as their {{w|Galaxy rotation curve|rotation rates}} that were not correctly predicted with general relativity alone. Most astrophysicists believe dark matter exists, either in the form of {{w|Massive compact halo object|an unknown type of star that is too dim to see}}, or {{w|Weakly interacting massive particles|an undiscovered subatomic particle}}.

However, because the concept of dark matter posits something so pervasive yet unknown and so far undetected, it can be difficult to accept, since typically inability to detect something tends to mean non-existence of that thing. One might be reminded of {{w|Aether_(classical_element)|Aether}}, a similar theory that an undetectable substance exists in space to allow light and gravity to travel, although unlike dark matter that has been debunked. Thus, it is common to hear objections to dark matter, with a popular alternative idea being that dark matter can be explained away by a modified theory of gravity.

One such alternative theory which gets proposed regularly is {{w|modified Newtonian dynamics}} (MOND). In MOND, gravity doesn't simply follow the {{w|inverse square law}} but has more complicated behavior. Usually, the extra behavior is either to say that gravitational force can be affected by the acceleration of the particle, or that it goes from inverse-square to just inverse at large distances. It can be appealing because it's relatively simple and seemingly more logical — it just changes our understanding of Newton's law of gravitation, rather than requiring entirely new forms of matter or unknown stars to exist — and because it has some nice side-effects, such as explaining why there seems to be a limit on the density of galaxies. Unfortunately, physicists have explored this avenue and cannot reconcile it with all existing data. One famous counterexample is the {{w|Bullet Cluster}}, where two colliding galaxy clusters are ripping through each other. The mass distribution within the cluster can be inferred through gravitational lensing, and appears to show dark matter and ordinary matter being separated to a certain extent which cannot be explained with MOND. Another counterexample is MOND's incompatibility with observations of the motion of galaxies in galaxy clusters. More generally, MOND isn't compatible with general relativity — which has a huge amount of experimental data in its favour — and a MOND-compatible general relativity would be very complicated and ugly.

This comic illustrates physicists' exasperation for people who constantly try to challenge the existence of dark matter without considering all the evidence and theoretical foundation that support it. Apparently members of this department are so tired of hearing the same old ideas being repeated to them, that they have adopted a motto and even erected a sign in an attempt to clear the dissuation. The specific impetus for this comic may be the press coverage around [https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.02269 this publication] by {{w|Erik Verlinde}} (see popular description of the paper [http://phys.org/news/2016-11-theory-gravity-dark.html here]). It was released online three days before the release of this comic and got a lot of coverage exclaiming "this will prove Einstein wrong". While Verlinde's work on {{w|entropic gravity}} is a serious theory derived from {{w|thermodynamics}} and {{w|quantum information theory}}, it is important to keep in mind that it's just a {{w|pre-print}} and hasn't been peer-reviewed or experimentally verified yet. Verlinde's theory also doesn't match all available data - it [http://motls.blogspot.de/2010/01/erik-verlinde-why-gravity-cant-be.html disagrees with experimental results showing how particles interact with gravity]. Thus, it is still a far cry from being a contender for replacing dark matter.

The title text alludes to a similar issue faced by the Department of {{w|Neuroscience}} from popular misconceptions of {{w|Mirror neurons}}. Mirror neurons are brain cells which trigger when watching someone else do something. Experiments claim to have found mirror neurons in humans and apes, and there are theories that make mirror neurons the foundation of learning, empathy, language and consciousness itself. However, {{w|mirror neurons#Doubts concerning mirror neurons|the evidence for mirror neurons is still patchy}}, and even if they exist, it's very simplistic to try to attribute so much of human behavior to a single type of relatively simple cell. In light of this, the motto of the neuroscientists at the department rightfully reflect their frustration. [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/flipping-tables Flipping tables] is a common depiction for expressing extreme outrage. It is used here also as a pun because mirrors flip the image in front of them.

Another story of similar press coverage questioning the current established scientific theory was also mentioned two days before the release of this comic, on the YouTube channel Space Time from PBS Digital Studios in their video titled [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UNLgPIiWAg Did Dark Energy Just Disappear?]. This one was regarding the paper [http://www.nature.com/articles/srep35596 Marginal evidence for cosmic acceleration from Type Ia supernovae]. The video concluded that dark energy is still the best explanation. Note this is about the existence of dark energy rather than dark matter. The two are very distinct concepts.

Science papers with results that supposedly disprove solidly founded theories have been the subject before in [[955: Neutrinos]].

==Transcript==
:[A sign on two posts, in the grass in front of a building with windows and double doors, a window on each door, and bars facing outwards. There is a cement walk leading to the doors. On the sign is the text:]
:<big>'''Department of Astrophysics'''</big>
:'''Motto:'''
:''Yes, everybody has already had the idea, "Maybe there's no dark matter—Gravity just works differently on large scales!" It sounds good but doesn't really fit the data.''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Biology]]

424: Security Holes

2022-05-11T17:46:32Z

Decky: Undo revision 266719 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 424
| date = May 16, 2008
| title = Security Holes
| image = security_holes.png
| titletext = True story: I had to try several times to upload this comic because my ssh key was blacklisted.
}}

==Explanation==
The "Debian-OpenSSL fiasco" was a major security problem discovered in the {{w|Debian}} {{w|Linux distribution}} and its version of the {{w|Cryptography|cryptographic}} library called {{w|OpenSSL}}. With just a tiny change in the software, which was intended to have no effect on security, its {{w|Random number generation|random number generator}} was completely crippled, as was the security of all cryptographic keys generated by the system. The problem was created when a Debian developer removed one line of code that was crucial, even though it could seem like it did nothing useful. More detail about the fiasco: [http://trailofbits.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/hope-08-openssl.pdf ''Crippling Crypto: The Debian OpenSSL Debacle''], [http://wiki.debian.org/SSLkeys Debian's information page about the problem].

The title text refers also to this issue: After the security problem was found, all cryptographic keys generated or used on the broken operating system needed to be replaced. Many systems introduced special checks for such weak keys, adding the keys to {{w|Blacklisting|blacklists}}, thereby preventing their use and forcing users to create new keys. [[Randall]] claims that he was affected by that when uploading this comic to the server.

The panels on the left present Cueball as a programmer who, on a whim, removes pieces of code, ([[156: Commented|commenting out]] the code by prepending the line with two slashes), presumably thinking that they are not necessary. The first removed line, <code>MD_update(&m, buf, j);</code>, is the exact piece of code that [https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/05/random_number_b.html was removed] in the Debian fiasco. The next panels show him commenting out fictitious lines of code apparently preventing bad things from happening.

The other part of the comic lists "security problems" that were allegedly discovered in other Linux variants afterwards:

Cryptographic software in {{w|Fedora Core}} was allegedly not secure against {{w|Secret decoder ring|toy decoder rings}}. This is probably a reference to the association of the {{w|Fedora|fedora}} with 1930s and 40s culture (especially {{w|Gangster|gangsters}} and {{w|Film noir|film noir}}), and the contemporaneous introduction and popularity of toy decoder rings.

{{w|Xandros}} (used in {{w|Asus Eee PC}} netbooks) gave superuser privileges to anybody "if asked in a stern voice." This is likely a reference to the fact that the preinstalled Xandros OS did not require a password for root privileges by default.

{{w|Gentoo}} would succumb to flattery, which may be a reference to Gentoo's notorious difficulty to manage. Any user who is capable of understanding it might have a large ego, and therefore be susceptible to flattery.

{{w|One Laptop per Child|OLPC}} OS could have been attacked using {{w|Jeff Goldblum}}'s laptop computer, which refers to a scene in the {{w|Independence Day (film)|''Independence Day'' movie}}, where Jeff Goldblum's character was able to hack into an alien spaceship using his Apple {{w|PowerBook}} computer - which is a topic of [http://www.cracked.com/article_18720_7-famous-movie-flaws-that-were-explained-in-deleted-scenes.html great contempt] by geeks who point to the absurdity of such a construction.

{{w|Slackware}} gave superuser privileges to anybody who "says Elvish word for 'friend'," which refers to a scene in ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'', where the entrance door to {{w|Moria}} could have been opened using a password ''mellon'', the Elvish word for "friend," as indicated on the door itself.

And {{w|Ubuntu}}, which is another Linux distribution, was allegedly found to be actually {{w|Windows Vista}}, the latest version of {{w|Microsoft Windows}} at this time in 2008. This may be a reference to Ubuntu being developed with non-advanced users in mind, with many fail-safes and additional features being turned on by default, which had more in common with Windows than any other Linux-based operating system at the time.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sitting at computer.]
:Cueball: I'll just comment out these lines...

:<code>// MD_update(&m, buf, j);</code>

:<code>// do_not_crash();</code>

:<code>// prevent_911();</code>

:In the rush to clean up the debian-openssl fiasco, a number of other major security holes have been uncovered:

:[A two-column table is shown:]

:;Affected System
::Security problem

----

:;Fedora Core
::Vulnerable to certain decoder rings

:;Xandros (EEE PC)
::Gives root access if asked in a stern voice

:;Gentoo
::Vulnerable to flattery

:;OLPC OS
:: Vulnerable to Jeff Goldblum’s PowerBook

:;Slackware
::Gives root access if user says Elvish word for “friend”

:;Ubuntu
::Turns out distro is actually just Windows Vista with a few custom themes

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Linux]]
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Cryptography]]

1282: Monty Hall

2022-05-11T17:40:06Z

Decky: Undo revision 266386 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1282
| date = October 25, 2013
| title = Monty Hall
| image = monty hall.png
| titletext = A few minutes later, the goat from behind door C drives away in the car.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a reference to the US game show ''{{w|Let's Make a Deal}}'', and more specifically the {{w|Monty Hall problem}}, a probability puzzle based on the show and named after its original host, {{w|Monty Hall}}. The premise of the show was that Hall would offer "deals" to contestants pulled from the audience in which they could win cash and prizes. Some deals involved games/tasks the contestant had to perform, while others simply involved the contestant making choices between a series of doors or boxes. In such games of choice, there were often several prizes and typically at least one "zonk", the show's name for an undesirable "gag" prize, which on the original Monty Hall version of the show were frequently animals such as goats.

In the {{tvtropes|MontyHallProblem|classic version of the Monty Hall Problem}}, a contestant is offered a choice of three doors. Behind two of the doors are goats, and behind one of them is a car. First, the contestant chooses a door, which remains closed. The host then opens one of the two remaining doors and reveals a goat. The contestant is then offered a final choice of whether to switch their choice to the remaining closed door, or keep the door they originally chose. The problem involves an analysis of the probability of the contestant choosing the car given certain circumstances.

The problem assumes that a contestant would want to win a car, and would be disappointed to win a goat, which most contestants would have no ability to house, and no use for. The comic shows that [[Beret Guy]], upon the host revealing that door B has a goat behind it, chooses to take the goat to keep as a pet, which makes them both very happy. This is much like, and may be an allusion to, the Simpsons episode {{w|Bart Gets an Elephant}}, in which Bart opts for the gag prize of an African Elephant rather than the $10,000 award. According to an [http://www.tvparty.com/gamemonty2.html interview] with Monty Hall, several contestants actually decided to keep the animals; although rare, it was allowed since the animals were offered as prizes (and they were a lot more expensive than the consolation cash prize).

The title text references the car and the other goat, untouched behind the remaining doors.

===The Monty Hall Problem===
:''For an in-depth analysis of the Monty Hall Problem, see {{w|Monty Hall Problem|its article at Wikipedia}}''
The apparent "paradox" of the Monty Hall Problem is that many people's initial reaction once the host opens a door to reveal a goat, is that there are two remaining doors, one with a car and one with a goat; and therefore there is an equal probability the car is behind each door. Many people therefore believe that switching makes no difference to the odds of winning a car.

[[File:montyforexplainxkcd.png]]

However, assuming that the host has knowledge of which doors contain goats, and that their choice of which door to open is always an unchosen door containing a goat, it is actually twice as likely that the contestant will win the car if they switch than if they keep their original choice. This is because the contestant initially had a one-in-three chance of choosing the car and a two-in-three chance of choosing a goat. Switching always wins the car in those two-thirds of cases where the contestant initially chose a goat. The probability of winning by switching is therefore the same as the probability that the contestant initially chose a goat.

The switch essentially gives the contestant ''both'' remaining doors instead of just the ''one'' door originally chosen. Because the host ''always'' has at least one goat available, the fact that the host reveals a goat does not provide the contestant any new information about their initially chosen door. The initial door still has a two-in-three chance of being a goat, and switching still has a two-in-three chance of winning. Opening a goat-door simply shifts all of the probability of the remaining two doors being a car to the remaining unchosen door.

'''Simple explanation''':
Imagine there are 100 doors instead of just 2, and after you pick a door, the host opens all but one, revealing all goats. Do you switch to the remaining door or keep your initial pick? Just as there is a 2/3 chance of picking the car when switching in the 3-door scenario, there is now a 99/100 chance of picking the car when switching in the 100 door scenario. In this scenario, it becomes obvious that it is not a 50/50 chance when two doors remain.

'''Important Side Note''':
There has been great debate about the precise wording of the problem, and what assumptions or rules might apply. These variants can greatly change the probabilities.

One variant has the host open one of the two remaining doors at random, which could result in the car being revealed, and the game ending. In that scenario, if a goat has been revealed, the probability that the first pick is correct is now 1/2 and switching is not advantageous.

:*In 1/3 of all possible games, the first pick is correct. The host cannot pick the car.
:*In 1/3 of all possible games, the first pick is wrong but the host does not reveal the car.
:*In 1/3 of all possible games, the first pick is wrong and host will reveal the car. We now know those cases are impossible.

With only 2/3rds of all possible games remaining, the chance that switching will win the car is now (1/3)/(2/3) = 1/2. Likewise, not switching also has a 1/2 chance of winning. '''Note that this variant requires that the host picks a door at random.'''

Another variant has the host only offering to switch if the first choice is correct. In this case, switching always loses.

==Transcript==
:[A figure - Monty Hall - stands on stage, holding a microphone. There are three doors; two labelled "A" and "C", which are closed, and one that is being held open by Monty. There's a ramp to the right, down which a goat is being led by Beret Guy.]
:Beret Guy: ...and my yard has so much grass, and I'll teach you tricks, and...
:Goat: ♥

==Trivia==
*The Monty Hall problem is strikingly similar to the {{w|Two envelope problem|Two Envelope Paradox}}, one of [http://blog.xkcd.com/2008/09/09/the-goddamn-airplane-on-the-goddamn-treadmill/ several notoriously provocative thought experiments] (some of which are "banned" on the xkcd forums). Admittedly, the Monty Hall problem has only one clear solution. Because of this, it is much less likely to spark the kinds of arguments like "the goddamn airplane on the goddamn treadmill" or the "{{w|Feynman sprinkler}}" incite.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]

1272: Shadowfacts

2022-05-11T17:38:37Z

Decky: Undo revision 266255 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1272
| date = October 2, 2013
| title = Shadowfacts
| image = shadowfacts.png
| titletext ='Look to my coming on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east.' 'And look to the west to see our shadows!'
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of {{w|J.R.R. Tolkien}}'s ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}''. The name of the horse, Shadowfacts, is a pun on ''{{w|Shadowfax (Middle-earth)|Shadowfax}}'', the horse {{w|Gandalf}} rides in the books. As the name "Shadowfacts" suggests, this horse interjects into conversations various facts about shadows. There is a possible deeper level to the pun, referring to the [http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/241756-cat-facts-text-trolling cat facts meme].

The three parts of a shadow are the {{w|umbra}}, {{w|penumbra}} and {{w|antumbra}}.

In the title text, Gandalf continues to speak, and is interrupted again by the horse with another fact about shadows. "Look to my coming on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east." is what Gandalf said before the battle of Helm's Deep when he went to get reinforcements. The horse notes that if the sun is in the east, the shadows will be to the west of the objects that cast them.

A similar talking horse appears in [[936: Password Strength]].

==Transcript==
:[Gandalf sits on a horse, addressing three hobbits.]
:Gandalf: This is Shadowfacts, lord of all horses, and he–
:Shadowfacts: The outer part of a shadow is called the penumbra!
:Gandalf: ''Shut up.''

==Trivia==
*Both quotes spoken from Gandalf are close to the actual ones in the movies, but not directly.
*The quote from the comic was a reply to Legolas instead of the hobbits. The quote is as follows: "Shadowfax. He's the lord of all horses and he's been my friend through many dangers"
*The title text's original quote is: "Look to my coming, at first light, on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the East"

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Puns]]

1532: New Horizons

2022-05-11T17:37:15Z

Decky: Undo revision 266254 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 1532
| date = June 1, 2015
| title = New Horizons
| image = new_horizons.png
| titletext = Last-minute course change: Let's see if we can hit Steve's house.
}}

==Explanation==
''{{w|New Horizons}}'' is a NASA mission launched in 2006 to study the dwarf planet {{w|Pluto}} and its moons. Its closest approach to Pluto was on July 14, 2015 ([http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/index.html NASA countdown clock]), two weeks after the publication of this comic. In April and May 2015, it captured the first images of Pluto with enough resolution to see some details on Pluto's surface ([http://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-new-horizons-sees-more-detail-as-it-draws-closer-to-pluto NASA photos from 12 April to 12 May]). These images are similar to the second panel of the comic, with Pluto shown as a gray dot only a few pixels wide.
''{{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn}}'' is a NASA mission launched in September 2007 to study the asteroid {{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}} and dwarf planet {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}. Its closest approach to Vesta began on July 16, 2011 by the {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)#Vesta_approach|Vesta approach}}, and entered orbit around Ceres on 6 March 2015. And in fact the pictures of Ceres are still in a much better resolution like in this comic [[1476: Ceres]], but these images are also still mysterious.

On the day this comic was published, ''New Horizons'' was at 0.34 AU from Pluto and 32.55 AU from the Sun ([http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Where-is-New-Horizons/index.php Johns Hopkins University's New Horizons page]). One {{w|Astronomical unit|Astronomical unit (AU)}} is the approximate distance of Earth from the Sun, or about 150 million kilometers.

Distances from the Sun by {{w|semi-major axis}}: Vesta 2.36 AU; Ceres 2.77 AU; Jupiter 5.20 AU; Pluto 39.26 AU.

A {{w|Gravity assist|slingshot maneuver}} is a technique where a spacecraft is maneuvered or accelerated with the help of a gravitational field. In the comic, presumably someone named Steve made the calculations for the New Horizons spacecraft to accelerate toward Pluto using {{w|Jupiter}}'s gravity.

In the first panel we see [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] standing in front of a computer monitor and observing a series of images sent back from ''New Horizons'' as it approaches the planet. They are about to see the dwarf planet Pluto with the highest resolution ever.

As the spacecraft gets closer, the images return... {{w|Earth}}. Steve had miscalculated the gravity assist and the spacecraft was about to crash into Earth.

Because the spacecraft carries 10.9 kg (24 lb) of radioactive plutonium-238, a crash on Earth is extremely dangerous. It was estimated that a worst-case scenario of total dispersal of on-board plutonium during the launch would spread the equivalent radiation of 80% the average annual dosage in North America from background radiation over an area with a radius of 105 km (65 miles) ([http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/Spacecraft/docs/NH_DEIS_Full.pdf Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the New Horizons Mission]). Because of decay during the flight, the situation would be slightly less dire if it crashed years later, but still a major disaster.

Less importantly, this is a huge embarrassment, especially in front of the successful ''Dawn'' team, who were the first to get a probe to visit a dwarf planet. Part of the joke is the utter implausibility of such an error being made, and then not being detected.

The title text suggests the team is considering crashing the probe into Steve's house as punishment for his errors. However, doing so would expose Steve's neighbors to potentially lethal levels of radiation. Therefore, the team would most likely have to crash the probe into an unpopulated area or the sea, to minimize human exposure. [[Randall]] described what might happen if ''New Horizons'' crashed into one's car in his [[what if?]] blog [http://what-if.xkcd.com/137/], and assuming the car was parked in the driveway the house would be similarly affected by the blast.

Luckily this was not what happened and when New Horizons reached Pluto 1½ month later Randall made this tribute to the achievement: [[1551: Pluto]] and also on that day he released the first [[what if?]] in over three months, and it was called [http://what-if.xkcd.com/137/ New Horizons].

Randall has used a Steve in a similar context in [[809: Los Alamos]] (set in 1945). If this is the same person, then 'Steve' would be at least 90 years old in 2015. A person named Steve also comes up with an inappropriate suggestion in [[1672: Women on 20s]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing in front of a large computer console. Cueball's hands are on the keyboard; both are looking at the screen.]
:Cueball: We made it! After all these years, ''New Horizons'' is finally revealing the surface of Pluto!
:Ponytail: Take ''that'', ''Dawn'' team.

:[In the next four frames, we see photos, entirely black except for a circle in the middle. The circle is initially small, indistinct and appears in shades of grey. Successive circles are larger showing more color and shade variation. In the last, we see a blurry but recognizable outline of Africa, the Middle East and part of Western Asia, along with some clouds. The lighting pattern suggests that it is daytime in Africa, sometime in the northern summer.]

:[A close-up of the two at the console.]
:Cueball: OK, who did the calculations for the Jupiter slingshot maneuver?
:Ponytail: (facing away from the computer console) Dammit, Steve...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space probes]]

2397: I Just Don't Trust Them

2022-05-11T17:36:22Z

Decky: Undo revision 266253 by 👖🔥 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2397
| date = December 11, 2020
| title = I Just Don't Trust Them
| image = i_just_dont_trust_them.png
| titletext = I believe in getting immunity the old-fashioned way: By letting a bat virus take control of my lungs and turn my face into a disgusting plague fountain while my immune system desperately Googles 'how to make spike protein antibodies'.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is another in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}, specifically regarding the [[:Category:COVID-19 vaccine|COVID-19 vaccine]].

[[Cueball]] partially echoes a statement made by {{w|Vaccine hesitancy|anti-vaccination}} activists about "{{w|Big_Pharma_conspiracy theory|Big Pharma}}" (the powerful and profit-driven companies which develop pharmaceutical drugs such as {{w|vaccines}}). Anti-vaccine protesters falsely believe that vaccines contain harmful toxins (such as HIV proteins, {{rw|Anti-vaccination_movement#Aluminum|aluminum salts}}, formaldehyde, {{rw|Thiomersal|mercury}}, and nanoparticles) that cause ill effects on the human body, that just because there has never been a licensed mRNA vaccine before that these new vaccines are not safe in the long term, and that the corporations that make them are not to be trusted because they are exploiting a captive public for profit while disregarding public health. The joke is that Cueball is revealed to be not talking about Big Pharma but, instead, bats.

According to the WHO, COVID-19 has an ecological origin in bat populations. Hence, Cueball sees the virus as something developed by bats, and the ambiguity by which he expresses his desire to not be infected adds to the joke.

The comic could simply be seen to serve as a compelling argument against the anti-vaccine movement, which is often criticized for spreading misinformation and increasing rates of disease, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This comic comes shortly after the news of the development of several COVID-19 vaccines with high rates of success; there are concerns that herd immunity may be delayed if people refuse to take the vaccine.

The title text refers to getting immunity the old-fashioned way, i.e. catching the disease and waiting for your immune system to build up a response. This is usually considered healthy when immunity to minor diseases is common, and can avoid the sudden forced evolution of new diseases among extensively hypercareful communities, but developing natural immunity is certainly incredibly dangerous during a pandemic of a serious illness. One joke here is that many anti-vaxxers claim that it is more natural to not take a vaccine. Because many people conflate "natural" with "healthy", the assumption underlying the claim "it is more natural to not take a vaccine" is that it is therefore more healthy. Such arguments are an example of the {{rw|fallacy|logical fallacy}} known as {{rw|Appeal_to_nature|Appeal to nature}}. Thus, the title text is apparently written from a pro-vaxxer's take on the stance of an anti-vaxxer.

The title text also playfully suggests that the immune system would attempt to use an Internet search engine to learn how to manufacture {{w|Coronavirus spike protein|spike protein}} {{w|antibody|antibodies}}. While this may be an effective technique for a human being to acquire knowledge, it would not likely be as efficient for a nonsentient biological system.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:[Cueball stands with his arms to his sides, facing Megan.]
:Cueball: I just don't trust them, and I don't want to put something they developed into my body.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:How I feel about bats

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:COVID-19 vaccine]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Biology]]