explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3197: Cost Savings

2026-01-25T06:53:47Z

Hkmaly:

Anyone wanna store some items in my garage? They'll be there... forever! [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 22:41, 21 January 2026 (UTC)
: Can I store nuclear waste in your garage? [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.156|185.36.194.156]] 04:31, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

Anybody know why the random explanation button bias towards the 3000's heavily? {{unsigned ip|2601:601:8303:1da0:7d1a:4b82:ba3e:3006|03:47, 22 January 2026 (UTC)}}
: 20 manual iterations, beginning 20260122 1440Z. 0-999 25%, 1000-1999 30%, 2000-2999 40%, 3000-3197 5%, 3000-3999 projected 25%. n is too small, but I don't perceive a bias. [[Special:Contributions/98.97.38.200|98.97.38.200]] 14:50, 22 January 2026 (UTC)
: I've also felt this [[Special:Contributions/66.210.7.66|66.210.7.66]] 16:02, 22 January 2026 (UTC)
: See "[[explain xkcd:Community portal/Miscellaneous#Random Explanation Button bias towards newer articles]]" for some of the prior chat about this. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.68|82.132.246.68]] 18:47, 22 January 2026 (UTC)

I first thought the joke that we could do anything StarLink does cheaper, simpler, more environmentally friendly and without risking Kessler syndrome by using terrestrial technology (i.e. cables and antennas) ''if we could just get our heads out of our asses''. The shed punchline was a bit of a letdown. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 07:40, 22 January 2026 (UTC)

: Saturn the Titan lives, and He has commanded us to create a ring system for Planet Earth so that He can feel more at home here. Recreant. [[Special:Contributions/98.97.38.200|98.97.38.200]] 14:59, 22 January 2026 (UTC)

:If that would be true StarLink wouldn't be earning money. Terrestrial technology is only effective in areas with relatively high concentration of receiver stations ... where it already IS being build, by cellphone operators. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 06:53, 25 January 2026 (UTC)

"NASA ... certainly cannot be conventionally ordered to build a shed on a needy citizen's property." Wait, what? Haven't you been following the trajectory of the 47th Presidency of these Untied States in North America? [[Special:Contributions/98.97.38.200|98.97.38.200]] 15:03, 22 January 2026 (UTC)
: Great, yet another partisan politics interjection in an apolitical discussion. {{unsigned ip|185.36.194.156|04:32, 23 January 2026}}
:: Everything is political. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 09:08, 23 January 2026 (UTC)
:: [https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2017/10/22/amoebas-lorica-our-president/ Congratulations], [https://theconversation.com/how-the-social-structures-of-nazi-germany-created-a-bystander-society-221344 bystander]. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:CCE1:7150:FFF7:5865|2605:59C8:160:DB08:CCE1:7150:FFF7:5865]] 12:53, 23 January 2026 (UTC)
::: Good, Godwin's law checks off again. Bystanding is my ideological and conscientious choice and should never be shamed upon. I would argue it is exactly the shaming of apolitical people in Nazi Germany that led to the ideological runoff. [[Special:Contributions/35.77.106.171|35.77.106.171]] 09:00, 24 January 2026 (UTC)
: I'm not sure that falls under "conventionally ordered". --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 09:08, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

2025-07-22T23:07:00Z

Hkmaly:

I didn't notice that the linked paper on zink whiskers was from NASA at first, but it was immediately apparent that an American wrote it... The style is super American. "Oh, no! People who ''chose'' to read this paper won't get it unless I write really big and '''EMPHASISE''' words." It's a very "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" style of naming margarine, so to say. [[User:Kapten-N|Kapten-N]] ([[User talk:Kapten-N|talk]]) 07:23, 15 July 2025 (UTC)
:The linked pdf is not a scientific paper, but a slide presentation. I think especially for safety-related presentations it is not uncommon to go a bit over the top with "be aware that this seemingly harmless effect can have serious consequences" -- especially if the risk is seemingly low, but the possible damage is really high. --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 08:25, 15 July 2025 (UTC)
:@Kapten-N, your Ameriphobia is duly noted. [[Special:Contributions/76.216.164.118|76.216.164.118]] 14:20, 15 July 2025 (UTC)

It seems that there is a typo on the second panel about the Gallium anomaly. According to Wikipedia "The resulting production of 71Ge was calculated in 2005 to be 79% of expected", not 75%. Should this be mentioned? [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 12:12, 15 July 2025 (UTC)

Unremoved background on the middle title: The middle title has unerased lettering with a slightly different style.{{unsigned ip|92.40.191.220|08:41, 15 July 2025 (UTC)}}

You know, Hair Metal is a thing. Just sayin'. [[Special:Contributions/92.184.140.165|92.184.140.165]] 12:39, 15 July 2025 (UTC)
:If metal inexorably produces hair and unwanted behaviour, which I believe it does, could you explain to me why rock doesn't? [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C00:31C:0:90DD:6826:AA7C:C80F|2001:1C00:31C:0:90DD:6826:AA7C:C80F]] 19:57, 15 July 2025 (UTC)
::Because it absolutely ''refuses'' to be in any way vulnerable to scissors! [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 22:55, 15 July 2025 (UTC)
::If we can't explain why metal grows hair, why would you think we could explain why rocks don't? [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 19:23, 16 July 2025 (UTC)
::An (overly) simplified explanation: Rocks frequently are made out of multiple different chemicals which are less likely to all behave the same way when mixed together than in a pure sample of an element like Zinc or Tin. In the explanation it notes that mixing different chemicals into Zinc or Tin (an alloy, but I'm simplifying) can change the behavior and prevent the "hair" from growing. [[User:Tomb|Tomb]] ([[User talk:Tomb|talk]])

If you look closely where it says ‘precise’, it looks like Randall traced it! [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 12:44, 15 July 2025 (UTC)

The zinc whiskers are similar to joke in [[3112: Geology Murder]] where the
dagger-shaped object precipitated within the wound
[[User:KingPenguin|KingPenguin]] ([[User talk:KingPenguin|talk]]) 02:19, 16 July 2025 (UTC)

A rare case where gallium is the somewhat normal behaving metal. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 13:00, 16 July 2025 (UTC)

First-year chem lab on purification by recrystallization. We started with human gallstones — I don't recall if we had the actual "stones" and crushed them or even just dissolved them whole, or started with the powdered material. This material was dissolved in the smallest amount of boiling solvent that would do the job, giving a dark brown solution. The solution was cooled in an ice bath, and the cholesterol precipitated out (leaving some still in solution, which reduced the yield). The crystals were filtered out, very pale beige. The procedure was repeated, and the resulting crystals were white/colourless. One interesting observation was that the crystals that came out of the first stage were wide flat thin plates, but the second stage gave long needle-like crystals. Same materials, same solvent, same temperatures, same procedures and handling... but the concentrations of the impurities in solution completely changed how the crystals grew. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 17:13, 17 July 2025 (UTC)

I would add that some fields like avionic and medicine are still allowed to use lead in solder because while lead is toxic, NOT using it could easily cost more lives in such cases. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:07, 22 July 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3106: Farads

2025-07-03T18:32:15Z

Hkmaly:

Who wrote this description? It's complete nonsense. A capacitor can't throw a stone. A 1 F capacitor is also not remotely dangerous unless it's charged to a high voltage — except that a 1 F capacitor and a 0.01 F capacitor can be charged to essentially the same maximum voltage!

Unlike other units of measure where a single unit is non-extreme, "The capacitance of the Earth's ionosphere with respect to the ground is calculated to be about 1 F." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farad] Most capacitors in practical use are measured in pico, nano, or micro farads. 03:04, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

Please note that the pound, shown in panel 2, is not an SI unit. The corresponding SI unit is the kilogram; an item with a mass of one kilogram is still commonplace. [[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 03:11, 25 June 2025 (UTC)
:I added Trivia to mention that (and another thing), sorry that I didn't read here first but I think I've covered your thoughts on the subject. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.160|82.132.246.160]] 13:07, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

When my father was a young engineer, the old guys would haze the new kids by asking them to fetch a "one farad capacitor". But everybody in the lab said "Sorry, I ran out, go ask Fred on the top floor", "Go ask Tom in the basement", "Try Peter's Parts on Vine St", etc--- give the kid a run-around. The joke was: at the time, 1F was likely large than a large garbage can and many hundred (non-SI) pounds. But the world changed, and in recent years you can easily buy 1F @ 16V, about the size of a soup can, to smooth car sound power feeds. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 03:27, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

:[I used to work with a guy who'd fall for all of the gags, going off to fetch striped paint, a glass hammer (there are such things in fact), a spirit level bubble, etc. Turns out he'd just goof off, completely aware he was on a wild goose chase.] {{unsigned ip|81.109.188.229|19:47, 27 June 2025}}

This explanation would benefit from some elaboration on how and why supercapacitors are dangerous. [[Special:Contributions/195.252.226.234|195.252.226.234]] 04:41, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

Funnily enough, the wikipedia page for "Farad" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farad) currently has a 1 farad supercapacitator as the title image. It looks pretty unassuming. [[User:Mouse|Mouse]] 08:54, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

Top of the page says June 23 even though it looks like this came out on June 25. Should it be changed? [[Special:Contributions/85.76.9.43|85.76.9.43]] 05:15, 25 June 2025 (UTC)
:Randall-time, it was 24/Jun (or Jun/24, being leftpondian with potentily mixedendian dates). It's not unnown for it to be an early-hours-of-day-after (EST) release, though late-hours-of-day-after is rather unusual. I'm guessing awkward commitments took over, perhaps even the prescheduled timer (if left 'in charge', not having even been put to the test in a while) didn't work when/how it should have.
:We've also had surpisingly ''early'' releases (noon or earlier, UTC, making it very-early-on-day-of-release), but I haven't any specific memory of it being so early that it ended up ''preceding'' the scheduled day (off-schedule additions don't count), other than perhaps when he was currently on a book-tour and (e.g.) in Europe so probably doing his prefered time-of-day (or when it was most convenient for his schedule) in UTC/UTC+1/UTC+2 'mode', though it was still "yesterday" back home.
:Best suggestion is to see when [[3107]] comes out. If it's a Wednesday(ish)-compatible time, this was just overdue for ...reasons. But if it's Friday(ish), then we can re-examine its true position (with much arguing, I suspect) in the schedule.
:It ''could'' also be an attempt to subtly shift what number pops up when (I think a past "whole week series", or two, were conjectured to alter the numbers to reasonably engineer the landing of [[404]] upon April 1st), but that's probably beyond speculation until we at least can assess what has happened by the end of this week. (''Then'' start looking for what numbers land (near) where, up to arbitrary points in the future.)
:Also something to add to Trivia, ''when'' we can rule out some of the possibilities (or be prepared to be wrong/overly-comprehensive, like here, and remove the wronger bits later). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.246.160|82.132.246.160]] 13:07, 25 June 2025 (UTC)
::The official archive at https://xkcd.com/archive/ lists it as released at 2025-6-23. We should follow that listing, as we have done before at (vary rarely) delayed comics. [[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:C731:2E00:9AC:BBD8:8775:315D|2001:16B8:C731:2E00:9AC:BBD8:8775:315D]] 15:34, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

I agree with [[User:Troy0|Troy0]] that having a non-SI unit in there (1 pound) is incongruous, and it should instead be a sugar crystal weighing 1 gram. [[Special:Contributions/121.98.227.79|121.98.227.79]] 06:52, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

"most consumer electronics use at most a nanofarad" -> nah... Several hundreds of microfarads are quite common. But so are tens-of-picofarad, mostly in HF/RF filters etc. Calculating an average over all capacitors in all consumer electronics makes no sense anyway... But I'd say "Most consumer electronics use capacitors in the picofarad to milifarad range".
"To prevent static electricity from building lethal charge, unused supercapacitors are usually stored and transported with a "keeper", a steel or aluminum bar shorting the terminals." -> Static charge won't change the voltage of a 1 F capacitor much... V=q/C with small q and large C... The shorting is for high voltage capacitors that 'recharge' themselves trough {{w|Dielectric_absorption|dielectric absorption}}... Interesting, but completely different. -- [[User:Gautee|Gautee]] ([[User talk:Gautee|talk]]) 07:52, 25 June 2025 (UTC)
:Even a supercapacitor is not necessarily lethal. It depends on the voltage. A project I'm working on has a 6v supercapacitor (to keep the clock running for a few days when power is disconnected). And they're not even expensive parts. For example [https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/KYOCERA-AVX/SCMT32H755MRBB0?qs=l7cgNqFNU1iVPH0cf9oilA%3D%3D this one] is 7.5F (!) at 6v. They're not very large and only cost $9. Touching the terminals when it is charged will hurt a lot, but it will hardly kill you. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 14:40, 25 June 2025 (UTC)
::It really doesn't (directly) depend upon the voltage, either. It's a function of the volts ''and amps'' (but ultimately, how much energy there is, and ''where'' it manages to go).
::Personal anecdote: Physics lesson (tertiary education level), one experiment used a High Tension Power Supply to provide a high (selectable) voltage to some equipment, already set up with a rope(-like) barrier around it that one had to stay beyond when it was powered up. HTPSU's selector-switch had a screw 'stop' to limit the selection to only 'very high' voltage (already way beyond 230+V mains, with generally up to 13A fuse). During a classroom break, I thought I'd see what results a 'ludicrously high' voltage would give, unscrewed the stop, turned the dial up beyond it, and from beyond the boundary-'barrier' turned the power on. *ZAP*, I actually got shocked! (Can't now remember if it blew a fuse/RCD, or if it was part of the experiment that a discharge naturally stopped it, it was decades ago and the finer details of the encounter are well and truly blurred, including what the activity was - but a Jacob's Ladder could well have needed thousands to tens of thousands of volts running through it, if it was that, or the HTPSU was ultimately capable of running one, rather than what 'low voltage' thing I was doing.)
::Hurridly turned it all off, possibly earthed the bit you had to remember to earrh when you were leaving it for the next person's turn, dialled it back down, reinserted the limiter-screw, went off on the break that the rest of the class (and supervising tutor) had gone off to. It would have been very low ampage (lucky for me), maybe also I only got a fraction of the discharge, sharing it with nearby lab-fixtures (sink/gas-taps?), etc, and it probably did not cross my body (the most dangerous effect) but I felt it (and remember not being sure from where the shock might have actually jumped).
::Nobody the wiser (''possibly'' the next experimenter found the fuse blown, when they tried to power up, but maybe even not that if was just temporarily RCDed at most), except maybe myself... Tended to respect 'screwstops' on dials from then on.
::And only other significant 'shock' I've ever had, apart from static ones resulting from man-made fibres in clothjng/carpets, was when I touched a plucked dandelion stalk (or similar) to an electric fence when ''much'' younger, curiosity getting the better of me in a slightly different scenario that turned out to be more shocking than I perhaps expected. Was I thinking it'd be a mere tingle, the current having to pass through a plant stem..? I think I already knew the old adage about "there are good electricians, bad electricians and dead electricians" - good ones have a current-detecting screwdriver-thingy (sufficiently high resistance), bad ones forget to bring one and have to test maybe-off wires with the back of their hand (if not off, muscles contract and contact quickly lost), dead ones ''grasp'' any mysterious wire and then ''can't let go'' until the power cuts for any other reason (high-rating household fuse, maybe, could be too late). OK, so there's some acinowledged inaccuracies (or historical assumptions) in the above, but the gist is pretty much there. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.34|82.132.244.34]] 15:47, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

We now have an exact answer to the question "how tall is Cueball?"--[[Special:Contributions/86.13.226.126|86.13.226.126]] 09:16, 25 June 2025 (UTC)
:Assuming that Cueball's holding the stick in a plane parallel to the comic frame. [[User:Legowerewolf|Legowerewolf]] ([[User talk:Legowerewolf|talk]]) 13:23, 25 June 2025 (UTC)
:If the stick really is parallel, Cueball's height is 1.78 m, or 5'10" for the Americans, or 9.02×106 ħc/eV for the Proxima b-ans. [[User:MinersHavenM43|MinersHavenM43]] ([[User talk:MinersHavenM43|talk]]) 15:19, 25 June 2025 (UTC)
::in my neck of the woods we usually use centimetres for people's heights. It's more convenient to not need to use a decimal separator. [[User:Bicorn|Bicorn]] ([[User talk:Bicorn|talk]])

In agreement with the first discussion point, this description remains low quality. It claims that after the unwarranted panic, Megan and White Hat "ask why he [Cueball] is carrying it [the 1-farad capacitor] around." This does not occur at any point in the comic or the Title Text, and should be removed. [[Special:Contributions/198.147.146.254|198.147.146.254]] 10:21, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

I'm sure the Farad is going to drive all sorts of commentary. My nitpick with the description: a 1F 30V+ capacitor can be held in hand (e.g. Cornell Dubilier DSM105Q030W075PB, Nichicon LNR1V105MSE). I don't recall the hazard criteria for stored energy right off, so I can only say that @30V there is no shock hazard in dry environment human handling, but the energy stored still present other hazards (e.g. fire or burns from conductors) [[Special:Contributions/12.171.61.178|12.171.61.178]] 14:39, 25 June 2025 (UTC) JourneymanWizard

Could the 1V battery be not a 1.5V alkaline battery, but a 1.1V lithium battery? Still somewhat discharged, but not nearly as much. [[Special:Contributions/2600:1009:B092:310F:4D22:1073:190A:E328|2600:1009:B092:310F:4D22:1073:190A:E328]] 17:04, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

"This litre of water is at 1 ''T''P" [[Special:Contributions/60.240.13.138|60.240.13.138]] 22:30, 25 June 2025 (UTC)

For different capacitors of a given physical size, what is the approximate relationship between capacitance and max voltage, all other factors also being equal? Simple inverse? Is it even a reasonable question to ask? Clearly, a gigantic capacitance and low voltage isn't dangerous; a tiny capacitance and extremely high voltage also isn't, if for no other reason than that it would discharge through the air. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:39, 26 June 2025 (UTC)

Although he threw in one pound, I think the point is that some base metric units are impracticaly large or small. The MKS system has a kilogram as a "base" unit rather the gram. The CGS system used grams but centimeters instead of meters. Nobody uses ares or bels. [[Special:Contributions/2600:8800:4880:66B:809:D867:2F4C:D77A|2600:8800:4880:66B:809:D867:2F4C:D77A]] 03:41, 26 June 2025 (UTC)

I'd just like to point out that the confidence with which the explanation declares the capacitor to be low energy and therefore safe is exactly the sort of confidence that gets you electrocuted.[[Special:Contributions/2602:FF4D:128:D56:8114:9FE5:5A4D:499F|2602:FF4D:128:D56:8114:9FE5:5A4D:499F]] 16:19, 26 June 2025 (UTC)
:Yes, and "low-energy" needs definition. It's easy to find caps in the ballpark of 1F, >30V rating, hundreds of milliohms ESR, under $50, and small enough to easily hold in your hand. This could have an energy around 1000 J and could supply tens of amps for a significant fraction of a second. It's not as dangerous as, say, a grenade, but enough that I would be careful to avoid accidental self-discharge, especially across the body. And this assumes that the previous user didn't charge it *above* the rated voltage! [[Special:Contributions/174.126.217.139|174.126.217.139]] 17:46, 26 June 2025 (UTC)

All that panic about Farad ... I wonder what would they say if he was holding something creating a magnetic field of one Tesla. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:32, 3 July 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3094: Mass Spec

2025-05-28T01:10:29Z

Hkmaly:

Took me about 10 goes to get to the page, and there's nothing here. And I can't even get to previous pages, they won't load! Is it broken forevers? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.176|172.71.154.176]] 04:26, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
:The site has been behaving erratically for at least the last four comics, but this is the worst it's been. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.109|172.68.22.109]] 06:50, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
::If you look at something like the New User stats, which is a handy indicator of traffic (albeit of overwhelmingly "spam accounts" created, that generally then do nothing), you can track the reduced number of 'regular spambot' traffic as having started roughly on 12/May. This agrees almost exactly with the usage stats (either a depression of 'normal traffic', or a notable increase in all traffic; or both as, like here, there's mild inconvenience for proper users while the background hum of traditional spambot attempts gets vastly cut down because they're more easily thwarted by the newly-overwhelming amount of scraping/whatevering going on) on other online places that I have an interest in, which each have had varying degrees of having been able to counter it.
::It's hard to discern from any of explainxkcd's statistics that I can easily get hold of and analyse, but in other places it seems like there's been a 24-hour cycle (and ''possibly'' a weekday/weekend difference) that seems to indicate that the most pressure is happening during some sort of 'business hours' cycle. Perhaps suggesting that it isn't just a massive web-trawling scraper left to run upon every site it finds, but actually might be a more semi-automated "click click click" by a regular workforce. It suggests ''maybe'' a Russian thing (give or take a specific time-zone/working pattern), though also goes down through the Black Sea area, the general area of Arabia and bits of East Africa. Or, others suggest, it's something is being deliberately done ''out'' of (local) working hours, in which case it would suggest that it's being thrown out from one or other TZ in North America (but doesn't actually fit the traditional tech-hubs of the west-coast).
::Without access to any original IP ranges (which can easily be faked/proxyed, if anyone cares to), no-one I've otherwise discussed this with can say for sure. But the consensus is definitely that ''some'' grand project was started from maybe the 10th of May and built up at least until the 13th, after which there seems to have been a sustained level of disruption.
::I've never had a "10 goes to get to a page" in this period of problems (surprisingly often, no retries needed; second go usually works, if necessary; third, maybe on occasion... fourth+ ''very'' rarely), but I also tend to wait a few seconds before retrying. And wait a few more seconds before re-retrying, if necessary. That way, I'm not adding to the server load unduly (remember, guys, if you ever ''are'' using a site-scraper, do remember to include a decent 'sleep time' between your pokes and prods; throttle your traffic, lest you throttle everyone elses!), and perhaps (if the culprits ''are'' using rough sleep-cycles between each batch of 'gets', or at least their automated systems are now hitting loads of 503s/etc and wisely backing off a bit from their own connectivity mess) you'll be luckier in five, ten, twenty seconds or so and now be requesting your (more legitimate) responses during a self-imposed lull in whatever process was previously overloading it.
::I feel your pain. But perhaps I'm just a bit more relaxed about the whole thing, having previously been very well used to [[598: Porn|slow modem]] connections or, if on a campus network, knowing that every now and then that the 'fat pipe' across the Atlantic might go down and severly reduce the ability to telnet sites on the other side of the Pond... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.168|172.70.58.168]] 12:59, 27 May 2025 (UTC) [ Unless I am given a reason to edit this again, I have needed... *0* ... repeat attempts to post this response (though the entirely responsive CAPTCHA didn't believe me until the third attempt at telling it what was motorcyles/bicycles, on the very first attempt!). Fingers crossed, eh? ;) ]
:::Ya know, this all sounds more and more like a {{w|I_Put_My_Blue_Genes_On|short story by Orson Scott Card}}, played out with bits instead of germs. Maybe we should all be laying in stocks of goose quills, charcoal, and birch bark. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.129|172.71.146.129]] 14:43, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
:::I added a "We Need Help!" message to the Admin Requests page, and it took me 39 tries for the comment to successfully post. (Try 6 to post this, BTW.) -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 01:01, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

I believe the first way to weigh someone was a balance beam and goats (Doctor office balance scale). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.147|172.71.223.147]] 04:32, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
Interesting. Who am is quite munged. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.119|172.70.42.119]] 04:37, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
Was quite munged: "[[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.119|172.70.42.119]] 04:37, 27 May 2025 (UTC" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.164|172.68.245.164]] 04:51, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

Unlike a bathroom scale, this apparatus measures mass, not weight. So apart from the obvious fact that it's not remotely sensitive enough, it would work on a space station. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.119|162.158.186.119]] 07:49, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

Why wouldn't they use the Archimedes principle? Lower person into a tub of water, measure volume of water that overflows, calculate weight of the water. That was known since 246 BC. [[User:Mschmitt|Mschmitt]] ([[User talk:Mschmitt|talk]]) 18:40, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
:That would measure volume, not weight. However, note that Archimedes principle was method to measure volume, which was not possible before, using already existing ability to measure weight. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
::Well, technically, if you force a body to fully submerge in water (noting how much of a full bath/etc of water you spill), then allow it to float naturally (noting how much extra water you can put back in - or just do it the other way round, see how much water you expel when floating and how much additional water when dunking), then this'll give you useful density, volume ''and'' weight information. At least if what you're measuring ''does'' float (and doesn't dissolve, etc). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.130|172.70.58.130]] 00:12, 28 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Well, for some objects this might work. For humans, not so much, as humans BREATHE and with it, change volume AND density. Anyway, Archimedes were already able to measure weight, because method for that existed since 3rd millennium BC, using balance {{w|weighing scale}}s. He might've actually be submerging such scales in water as method to measure density, according to Galileo Galilei. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:10, 28 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3094: Mass Spec

2025-05-27T23:39:50Z

Hkmaly:

Took me about 10 goes to get to the page, and there's nothing here. And I can't even get to previous pages, they won't load! Is it broken forevers? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.176|172.71.154.176]] 04:26, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
:The site has been behaving erratically for at least the last four comics, but this is the worst it's been. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.109|172.68.22.109]] 06:50, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
::If you look at something like the New User stats, which is a handy indicator of traffic (albeit of overwhelmingly "spam accounts" created, that generally then do nothing), you can track the reduced number of 'regular spambot' traffic as having started roughly on 12/May. This agrees almost exactly with the usage stats (either a depression of 'normal traffic', or a notable increase in all traffic; or both as, like here, there's mild inconvenience for proper users while the background hum of traditional spambot attempts gets vastly cut down because they're more easily thwarted by the newly-overwhelming amount of scraping/whatevering going on) on other online places that I have an interest in, which each have had varying degrees of having been able to counter it.
::It's hard to discern from any of explainxkcd's statistics that I can easily get hold of and analyse, but in other places it seems like there's been a 24-hour cycle (and ''possibly'' a weekday/weekend difference) that seems to indicate that the most pressure is happening during some sort of 'business hours' cycle. Perhaps suggesting that it isn't just a massive web-trawling scraper left to run upon every site it finds, but actually might be a more semi-automated "click click click" by a regular workforce. It suggests ''maybe'' a Russian thing (give or take a specific time-zone/working pattern), though also goes down through the Black Sea area, the general area of Arabia and bits of East Africa. Or, others suggest, it's something is being deliberately done ''out'' of (local) working hours, in which case it would suggest that it's being thrown out from one or other TZ in North America (but doesn't actually fit the traditional tech-hubs of the west-coast).
::Without access to any original IP ranges (which can easily be faked/proxyed, if anyone cares to), no-one I've otherwise discussed this with can say for sure. But the consensus is definitely that ''some'' grand project was started from maybe the 10th of May and built up at least until the 13th, after which there seems to have been a sustained level of disruption.
::I've never had a "10 goes to get to a page" in this period of problems (surprisingly often, no retries needed; second go usually works, if necessary; third, maybe on occasion... fourth+ ''very'' rarely), but I also tend to wait a few seconds before retrying. And wait a few more seconds before re-retrying, if necessary. That way, I'm not adding to the server load unduly (remember, guys, if you ever ''are'' using a site-scraper, do remember to include a decent 'sleep time' between your pokes and prods; throttle your traffic, lest you throttle everyone elses!), and perhaps (if the culprits ''are'' using rough sleep-cycles between each batch of 'gets', or at least their automated systems are now hitting loads of 503s/etc and wisely backing off a bit from their own connectivity mess) you'll be luckier in five, ten, twenty seconds or so and now be requesting your (more legitimate) responses during a self-imposed lull in whatever process was previously overloading it.
::I feel your pain. But perhaps I'm just a bit more relaxed about the whole thing, having previously been very well used to [[598: Porn|slow modem]] connections or, if on a campus network, knowing that every now and then that the 'fat pipe' across the Atlantic might go down and severly reduce the ability to telnet sites on the other side of the Pond... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.168|172.70.58.168]] 12:59, 27 May 2025 (UTC) [ Unless I am given a reason to edit this again, I have needed... *0* ... repeat attempts to post this response (though the entirely responsive CAPTCHA didn't believe me until the third attempt at telling it what was motorcyles/bicycles, on the very first attempt!). Fingers crossed, eh? ;) ]
:::Ya know, this all sounds more and more like a {{w|I_Put_My_Blue_Genes_On|short story by Orson Scott Card}}, played out with bits instead of germs. Maybe we should all be laying in stocks of goose quills, charcoal, and birch bark. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.129|172.71.146.129]] 14:43, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

I believe the first way to weigh someone was a balance beam and goats (Doctor office balance scale). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.147|172.71.223.147]] 04:32, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
Interesting. Who am is quite munged. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.119|172.70.42.119]] 04:37, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
Was quite munged: "[[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.119|172.70.42.119]] 04:37, 27 May 2025 (UTC" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.164|172.68.245.164]] 04:51, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

Unlike a bathroom scale, this apparatus measures mass, not weight. So apart from the obvious fact that it's not remotely sensitive enough, it would work on a space station. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.119|162.158.186.119]] 07:49, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

Why wouldn't they use the Archimedes principle? Lower person into a tub of water, measure volume of water that overflows, calculate weight of the water. That was known since 246 BC. [[User:Mschmitt|Mschmitt]] ([[User talk:Mschmitt|talk]]) 18:40, 27 May 2025 (UTC)
:That would measure volume, not weight. However, note that Archimedes principle was method to measure volume, which was not possible before, using already existing ability to measure weight. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 27 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3086: Globe Safety

2025-05-09T05:07:55Z

Hkmaly:

Hello! First time i got to a comic first --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.176.76|172.69.176.76]] 06:17, 8 May 2025 (UTC){{unsigned ip|104.23.175.202}}
:Well [[269: TCM|first of all]] remember to sign your comments :-). But congratz... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
::Sorry. I now realize that that was an extremely trollish thing to do. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.92.140|172.70.92.140]] 07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC) ٠ـ٠
:: Also i MAY OR MAY NOT have permanently altered the editing process of this talk by including arabic numbers in an emoticon.{{unsigned ip|172.70.92.140|07:09, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}

I believe he indicates that a globe is made by making a copy of the Earth, and then compressing it until it fits on a desktop. Hence having the same mass and thus the same Schwarzschild radius as Earth. I have changed the explanation a bit because of this observation.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 05:42, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Gotta wonder what kind of a desk could support a desktop globe that weighs as much as the Earth --[[User:StumbleRunner|StumbleRunner]]
:[...] desk? Convince me that such a globe wouldn't plunge straight through the Earth's crust and into the mantle. I sense a marketing problem. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.69|172.71.147.69]] 07:07, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Radius. <s>Is there a typo in the comic where 7/10" should be 7/20", i.e., 0.35" as later written? Or would a 7/10" Earth collapse into a black hole nonetheless?</s>[[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.129|172.71.154.129]] 06:40, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
:Nope… the Schwarzchild radius is 0.35", which is indeed 7/20", but the measurement shown on the globe is the diameter, not the radius, so 7/10" is correct. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.143|172.71.178.143]] 06:49, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Isn't there also a jab at the weird way USsians use power-of-two fractions for inch measurements? I've never seen something like 7/10" before, it would be approximated as 11/16".[[Special:Contributions/172.71.95.69|172.71.95.69]] 09:18, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
: It isn't a weird USian thing - it's just the historical way that inches (being a non-metric unit) were divided. The same way that an inch is a 1/12 division of a foot, which is a 1/3 division of a yard, etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.83|141.101.98.83]] 10:23, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

I think we have a bigger problem: there are millions of globes on Earth! I haven't done the calculations, but that might be enough to turn Earth into a black hole already; if not, I expect at least it would turn it into a star. --[[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.34|104.23.190.34]] 11:44, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

BTW. what would be a 12-inch object with a mass of Earth? Neutron star? Neutron planet? Neutron meteoroid? -- 12:46, 8 May 2025 (UTC)
: Crunching the numbers (thanks to Copilot.microsoft.com):
:* A sphere with a 30 cm radius has a volume of about 1.13×10-2 m³.
:* Compressing Earth's mass into that volume gives a density of roughly 5.3×1028 g/cm³.
: That is way way denser than a neutron star. It's doubtful that such a sphere would remain at that density; it would likely explode immediately, or if prevented from doing so, continue to shrink down past 9mm and become a black hole. {{unsigned ip|172.70.110.59|13:26, 8 May 2025 (UTC)}}

'''False precision: .889 cm?''' Could someone please check "0.35 inches (0.889 cm)"? I'm concerned that this is a matter of {{w|false precision}}, with two significant digits for the customary / imperial system precisely converting to three significant digits in SI (similar to the way people obsess over 98'''.6'''F, which is a precise conversion of the estimate of 37C.). Also, I'd suggest that millimeters are preferable to centimeters. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.170.118|104.23.170.118]] 14:11, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

2 × 6.6738×10^−11 m^3⋅kg^−1⋅s^−2 × 5.972168×10^24 kg / (299792458 m⋅s^−1)2 = 0.00887 m , so the current 8.9mm looks good. [[User:Nosh|Nosh]] ([[User talk:Nosh|talk]]) 19:16, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Why are globes over 12 inches safer than those less than 12 inches? The density calculation above seems to indicate that an earth mass object of 12 inch diameter is much denser than a neutron star. (Of course that calculation was done with an AI - so may not be right.) I did a little searching for things denser than neutron stars - didn't find much. So what is special about 12 inches that makes earth mass things of that size change in safety regime [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.75|172.68.22.75]]

:I'm pretty sure there aren't any things denser than a neutron stars. (There are black holes, of course, but those are not really things and may not actually HAVE a meaningful density.) -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:07, 9 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object

2025-05-04T02:59:11Z

Hkmaly:

lol, i remember this explanation from a minutephysics video. however, the version of the problem i heard, which is actually paradoxical, is "what happens when an immovable object meets an '''irresistible''' force?" [[User:Not without text|Not without text]] ([[User talk:Not without text|talk]]) 00:03, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:That was also literally my first thought. [[169]], anyone? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:37, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:The MinutePhysics video: [https://nebula.tv/videos/minute-physics-immovable-object-vs-unstoppable-force-which-wins/ on Nebula] or [https://youtu.be/9eKc5kgPVrA on YouTube] --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 09:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

Come on, it's just an arrow made of W- bosons, right? [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
Is there no joke here? Is it just the solution? [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 06:52, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

I remember an explanation by Isaac Asimov in one of his books which was like "by definition, an immovable object will not move at all under any force in the universe, and an unstoppable force will move all of the objects in this way" and then explained how the definitions conflicted each other and as such prevented both from being able to register for the hypothetical at the same time [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.161|172.64.236.161]] 06:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

In the first MMO games, collision was a big problem. A player could block a doorway, and nobody else could go through. It was even worse if the player had "follower" characters or pets.
One solution was to have characters automatically "push" stationary characters out of the way, but that caused other problems. Modern MMO's such as World of Warcraft simply allow characters to pass through each other, as depicted in this xkcd comic. Our eyes fool us into "seeing" that two characters somehow slid past each other. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.228.132|172.68.228.132]] 07:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:Our eyes, or the programmers? I don't have that much experience with MMO's but they probably do render it in specific way to make that effect. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:59, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

When the two things pass through each other, at the instant where they both occupy exactly the same space, is there one object or two? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.159|162.158.216.159]] 08:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:Given that force is not an object, one. Just like there was when they weren't colocated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.220|172.69.43.220]] 08:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
::OK, but what about the 'unstoppable force carrying particles' in the title text? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.204|172.69.194.204]] 19:00, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:::I understand it as if a particle interacting with the object counts as 'stopping', in which case an unstoppable force-carrying particle wont have any effect. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.120.157|162.158.120.157]] 20:40, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

The force could simply go around the object. The object hasn't moved, and the force wasn't stopped. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:17, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

: Redirecting would imply the force could be redirected, allowing us to trap it inside a closed loop, effectively stopping it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.57.132|172.70.57.132]] 15:38, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

This is like the Chinese saying the spear and the shield. Using this comic, I guess spear wins [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 14:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

Gonna be honest, I think this is my least favorite comic of the last 500 or so. It's a solution already given by minutephysics, except with all the perspective about reference frames, and what people actually mean with these terms replaced by a caption with a superiority complex. I suppose it gets pretty hard 3000 comics in, but c'mon.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.83|172.68.35.83]] 19:18, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

: Possibly, I'd say worst recently is the one about "Under-C" life, but this isn't far off.--[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 22:07, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

:: Ok, as we're giving personal opinions, I can't let it stand. Some might not exactly be total belly-laughs, but I think they each still have something to them and I prefer a mix of tones (and a wider spatter of focuses and treatments) to them all being exactly the same aspect of 'high-humour'. Not that I'd care to rank them, anyway, but I'm nowhere near ready to go off and make disparaging comments as if this site was bitchaboutxkcd.com, or whatever.
:: I won't try to tell you what to think, yourself, though maybe you should just roll with it. If you really don't like a comic, there'll be another along in two or three days. That might be even 'worse', as well as 'better', but then you can be even more unchill about ''that''. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 22:45, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

All forces are irresistable. No objects are immovable. If any force acts on any object, the object moves (or deforms). [[Special:Contributions/172.68.84.145|172.68.84.145]] 22:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:Can we not say that Dark Matter, if that's what we imagine it might be, entirely resists the electromagnetic force? (It's one of my possible interpretations of the comic, though without enough hint that it was intended to have me annotate the Explanation accordingly.)
:That said, it's ''unstoppable'' force (and there's are no Cavorite-like forceproof barriers), and it's rather that ''immovable'' objects are awkward to imagine under Relativity and there being no actual preferable frame of reference in the first place. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 22:50, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3081: PhD Timeline

2025-04-26T00:08:45Z

Hkmaly:

What an age we live in... --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al |DollarStoreBa'al]][[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al | Converse]][https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Contributions/DollarStoreBa%27al My life choices] 15:48, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:[https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/25/politics/fbi-director-wisconsin-judge-arrested/index.html It only gets rougher... ] It's enough to radicalize a person. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.187|172.69.65.187]] 16:09, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Events like this are scary, and they're even scarier if you have a personal or geographic connection to them like Randall does. I can understand why he would feel frustrated about his inability to do something concrete, and if this comic raises awareness for the situation then it has done a good thing. Not sure why I thought this comment was necessary; maybe it's just a way of processing the emotions that the comic made me feel. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 15:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

I dont want to start an argument, but I am glad Randall Munroe is making a specific, reasonable point. A lot of times I see people saying either "there is no antisemitism on campus, nobody should ever get deported, ACTUAL terrorists should get green cards", and others say "EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME SHOULD GET DEPORTED, EVERYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH ME IS A TERRORIST." I think both of them are extreme points obviously, and I am glad Randall is just taking the side, for now, of "this specific person did not violate their green card visa."

:Hi, expert-on-the-Öztürk-case but not-an-immigration-expert-really here. For clarity, Öztürk held an F-1 student visa but was not a lawful permanent resident (LPR) (green card holder), unlike the similar case of Mahmoud Khalil (Columbia university) who was a green card holder. And "green card visa" is not a thing, there's a "green card," which you cannot "violate" (although you could commit crimes that might have consequences for your LPR status), and you generally don't hear "violate their visa" although it's true that a visa is related to and may restrict that work you can do in the country. Regardless, no allegations have been made that Öztürk violated anything laws or rules or did anything other than lend her name to speech in a newspaper. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 22:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

as always, based randall, at least for now. [[User:Tzelofachad|Tzelofachad]] ([[User talk:Tzelofachad|talk]]) 16:04, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Did you mean "biased"? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::Did you mean "biased towards due process?" [[User:CharlesT|Nyrrix]] ([[User talk:CharlesT|talk]]) 16:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::It's probably "based", as that's a term that can either be used in support or mockery of a philosophical position (because of Poe's Law, hard to know which in most cases, including here). It's more usually used in 4chan-like responses (and I doubt Randall would be considered "based" in those other places) than hereabouts, so perhaps it needs some clarification for those not (or not enough) in that sort of crame of mind. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.94|141.101.99.94]] 17:06, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Yes, Randall Munroe clearly only cares about this one incident because he does not at all care about politics. He's definitely not using this as an illustrative case on the countless other identical incidents happening under the Trump administration. /s /s /s /s /s. [[User:DrMeepster|'''Dr.'''Meepster]]
(<[[User_talk:DrMeepster|chat]]> •
<[{{fullurl:{{FULLPAGENAME}}|action=edit}} reply]>) 16:53, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

I really hope this is one of those comics that does NOT stand the test of time. In other words, I hope the next generation of graduate students sees this and thinks "oh, that must've been written in 2025, we don't have to worry about those kinds of things anymore." Perhaps "hope" isn't the right word, it implies I have hope. Maybe "pray fervently" is the right phrase. Sigh. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.227.72|198.41.227.72]] 16:30, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Sure ... "Oh, that was before third world war, we don't have to worry about those kinds of things anymore." -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:08, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

How do we edit the Categories? This should have category Politics. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:31, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:Usually, once at least one other category (not created from templates like {{template|comic}}) you can edit the page and see the other cat(s) at the bottom, beyond the comic-discussion template. Or edit the Transcript section (or any Trivia one, whatever's the last one) as that'll also have the tail-end of the page. So long as you know there's a category "Foo", you should be able to work out how to add "Category:Foo".
:But don't add Foo if it doesn't exist, hoping that someone will tire of the redlink that's created. You may be wrong about it needing to exist, or miss the ''actual'' "Category:comics featuring Foo", and unless someone is feeling generous it's possible that your edit just gets reverted as not properly researched, or checked... I ''think'' there actually is a Politics category, by that name, but I'm trying to answer the general question, not yet going out there to look it up for certain (at which point, I may have just added it myself, making it useless to have explained how you could 'easily' do it... At least in this instance).
:'''TL;DR;''', though, look at the source (wiki-edit) of another comic that is about Politics and is so categorised. Go all the way to bottom, and you'll see which 'tag' you might want to put at the bottom of this one. Should be obvious. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.94|141.101.99.94]] 17:06, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
I think I've added that category now [[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.60|104.23.190.60]] 19:33, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

I'm so tired of this administration :( [[User:CharlesT|Nyrrix]] ([[User talk:CharlesT|talk]]) 16:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

The comic on mobile has the title text has a youtube video URL, and if you click on the comic on desktop version, it links to the youtube video of the arrest. This isn't reflected in the description currently. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.121|172.70.126.121]] 16:51, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

The video URL is '''https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyypeEEOklM''' and appears to be "'''CBS Boston [282K subscribers]'''" so probably legit?
I will try to add the URL. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 17:08, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
:For the sake of consistency, I copy-pasted the "note" from [[1723]] into this comic. '''I also think we should have a category and perhaps a template to make adding notes like this easier and more uniform.''' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.22|172.69.67.22]] 21:11, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
::Well, you can create it right now if you want! --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 22:08, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Is this the first with an out of site link? {{unsigned}}
:No this happens often. For instance this comic {{xkcd|1723}}. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:09, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Again, let's keep the explanation as neutral as possible. Facts only. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 18:49, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
: the problem is facts have a heavy anti trump bias. You CAN NOT state basic facts and not be against this regime [[Special:Contributions/162.158.112.187|162.158.112.187]] 00:05, 26 April 2025 (UTC)
Of course, the bit I was correcting (with bad grammar, and lack of facts) got totally changed about before I tried to post it. "''For instance citizens usually {{w|Deportation of Americans from the United States|cannot be deported for any reason}} (only extradited, although the US typically refuses to comply with requests even from countries that freely extradite to it), and would instead be subject only to local legal penalties, but relatively minor allegations have resulted in visitors' extraditions.''" was what I wrote. Now, I ''think'' that was neutral enough, but it doesn't fit there now anyway. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.113|172.70.58.113]] 22:45, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

:Ack, I think I'm the one who changed it before you could. My bad. Anyway, seconded. Opinion on the conflict in Gaza itself is not needed in this explanation; the edit that suggested that the student could be materially linked to Hamas by providing a link to an opinion poll of how Palestinians feel about the Oct 7 attacks is, in my opinion, very disingenuous, especially considering Ozturk is not Palestinian but Turkish, making the cited data even more blatantly irrelevant than it already would have been. [[User:Psycherprince|Psycherprince]] ([[User talk:Psycherprince|talk]]) 23:05, 25 April 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3079: Air Fact

2025-04-22T05:07:45Z

Hkmaly:

average person eats 3 spiders a year" factoid actualy just statistical error. average person eats 0 spiders per year. Spiders Georg, who lives in cave & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted” [[Special:Contributions/172.68.7.184|172.68.7.184]] 15:19, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:🔥🔥🔥🔥 [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 15:26, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:{{citation_needed}}[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.138|172.68.174.138]] 15:52, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:This is one of those factoids like "Over 5% of the population has an above average number of fingers."[[Special:Contributions/172.68.245.136|172.68.245.136]] 16:16, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
::That factoid sounds true. Assuming there are more people who have fewer than ten fingers than those who have extra fingers (some people have whole hands missing, but extra digits to my knowledge normally only come in ones and twos), then the average is slightly less than ten, and the ten-fingered vast majority of people have an above-average number of fingers, certainly more than 5% of the population. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.164|141.101.98.164]] 19:10, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:::I have more than the average number of legs (for a human), as I famously insisted once in my mathematics class. And still do. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.94|162.158.74.94]] 22:34, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:I don't really get the way the title text is written. Why is "so many ants" assumed to be a small number, like the number of spiders? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:47, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
::If the factoid in the comic were true, the fact that the average person has a tidal volume of about half a litre, and takes between 12-20 breaths per minute means that they breathe in and out about 10 cubic metres per day. That’s over 100,000 ants. The fact that you are talking about “per year” implies that the rate is a reasonable number per year, not over 36 million. It’s like comparing the speed of continents to the speed of a car. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.0.190|172.68.0.190]] 20:03, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
The term "microscopic ants" supposedly refers to viruses and other microorganisms, not actual tiny ants. The actual concentration of airborne germs is pretty much in that ballpark, so it's not about sampling bias, it's about framing. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.36|162.158.103.36]] 17:00, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:There isn't even such a thing as a "microscopic ant". The smallest ant species is 0.8mm long. That's tiny, but easily visible without aid. And if there were 10,000 of them in a cubic meter of air, you'd notice. It would be like walking through a thick swarm of gnats. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:47, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
Speaking for myself, I don't understand what would be difficult about taking air samples. Currently the article claims it's sampling bias, but why should that be anymore difficult with air than with e.g. soil?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.22|172.69.67.22]] 18:14, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
: Tried to address this ... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.123|172.71.146.123]] 19:23, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
: It's difficult to take an exact volume of air and analyze it's content. The less you care about how close to exact volume you took, the easier it is. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:07, 22 April 2025 (UTC)

Microscopic wasps, on the other hand: surprisingly commonplace. Many species are too small to be seen with the naked eye, and if Megan took her samples near hedgerows in summer, there could have been some microscopic wasps in every sample cubic metre. Probably a few orders of magnitude less than 10,000. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.219|141.101.98.219]] 19:25, 21 April 2025 (UTC)
:"Many species are too small to be seen with the naked eye" - Wikipedia claims that [[wikipedia:Fairyfly|fairy wasps]] are the smallest flying insect at 0.15mm, which is large enough to see if you get close enough. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.39|172.68.26.39]] 22:55, 21 April 2025 (UTC)

I don't see any evidence Megan is referring to microbes as microscopic ants. As a microbiologist, if she meant a bacterium, etc. it seems like she would have just said so, especially since the ants claim is made again in the title text. She's preying on Cueball's gullibility and unfamiliarity with the subject for her own amusement, to convince him the air is overrun with literal microscopic ants which don't exist and wouldn't be in the air if they did. Likewise the paragraph about extrapolation errors seems unnecessary as well. She's not making a sampling error - she's just making the whole thing up. Just my take. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.17.211|172.69.17.211]] 22:06, 21 April 2025 (UTC)Pat

This comic is dumb and makes no sense. {{unsigned ip|172.70.230.37|01:34, 22 April 2025}}

Talk:3078: Anchor Bolts

2025-04-19T05:16:18Z

Hkmaly:

As a kid, I was ALWAYS worried about how plate tectonics would change the continent's layout in a few hundred million years' time, along with how the Sun will die (and maybe consume the Earth if we don't move it) in five billion years. Young me would be SO glad we are finally fixing the first issue. [[User:MinersHavenM43|MinersHavenM43]] ([[User talk:MinersHavenM43|talk]]) 03:28, 19 April 2025 (UTC)
: Was young you a Superman fan, and did you ever wonder what really happened on Krypton? Scientists and engineers, funded and enabled by a Trump-style politician and his promise to "Stop The Earthquakes NOW!", actually overcame (temporarily) the materials issues and solved the stress equations (see below), and installed a (temporarily) successful planetary plate-anchoring system. Jor-El objected to the project, he and any who supported him were de-funded as a result, and he spent his remaining time ensuring that he could get his son the [deleted] outa there before the accumulated strain ruptured the anchors and blew the planet apart. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.45|162.158.41.45]] 04:09, 19 April 2025 (UTC)
:Did you also worried about the collision with Andromeda galaxy? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:15, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

Would an anti-subduction screw really work? The tectonic plates are slow, but they are quite heavy, so they have a fair bit of momentum. Indeed, enough to overcome the not inconsiderable friction already present due to the weight of the uplifted portion of the upper plate. Such a screw would therefore need to exert quite a bit of additional pressure to bring the motion to a halt; Exactly how much I shall leave as an exercise for the reader (because I have no clue where to even start trying to work it out), but my guess is that you're gonna need some seriously high tensile strength material for these, even if they are placed at very short intervals along the plate boundary. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.84.172|172.68.84.172]] 03:52, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

:The screw material could easily be some sort of unobtanium, it would still not work. With the forces involved, the result would be the stone would break around the screws, IMHO. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:16, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3078: Anchor Bolts

2025-04-19T05:15:59Z

Hkmaly:

As a kid, I was ALWAYS worried about how plate tectonics would change the continent's layout in a few hundred million years' time, along with how the Sun will die (and maybe consume the Earth if we don't move it) in five billion years. Young me would be SO glad we are finally fixing the first issue. [[User:MinersHavenM43|MinersHavenM43]] ([[User talk:MinersHavenM43|talk]]) 03:28, 19 April 2025 (UTC)
: Was young you a Superman fan, and did you ever wonder what really happened on Krypton? Scientists and engineers, funded and enabled by a Trump-style politician and his promise to "Stop The Earthquakes NOW!", actually overcame (temporarily) the materials issues and solved the stress equations (see below), and installed a (temporarily) successful planetary plate-anchoring system. Jor-El objected to the project, he and any who supported him were de-funded as a result, and he spent his remaining time ensuring that he could get his son the [deleted] outa there before the accumulated strain ruptured the anchors and blew the planet apart. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.41.45|162.158.41.45]] 04:09, 19 April 2025 (UTC)
:Did you also worried about the collision with Andromeda galaxy? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:15, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

Would an anti-subduction screw really work? The tectonic plates are slow, but they are quite heavy, so they have a fair bit of momentum. Indeed, enough to overcome the not inconsiderable friction already present due to the weight of the uplifted portion of the upper plate. Such a screw would therefore need to exert quite a bit of additional pressure to bring the motion to a halt; Exactly how much I shall leave as an exercise for the reader (because I have no clue where to even start trying to work it out), but my guess is that you're gonna need some seriously high tensile strength material for these, even if they are placed at very short intervals along the plate boundary. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.84.172|172.68.84.172]] 03:52, 19 April 2025 (UTC)

The screw material could easily be some sort of unobtanium, it would still not work. With the forces involved, the result would be the stone would break around the screws, IMHO.

Talk:3075: Anachronym Challenge

2025-04-11T17:46:24Z

Hkmaly:

Shouldn't "Anachronym" be "Anachronism"? The listed items aren't archaic acronyms. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.83|162.158.63.83]] 17:30, 11 April 2025 (UTC)
No, "-nym" means name, so this is names that are outdated [[Special:Contributions/104.23.190.60|104.23.190.60]] 17:36, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure why he should be paying with paper money. He can easily pay by credit card ... using virtual debit card on his phone. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 17:46, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3069: Terror Bird

2025-03-29T16:58:59Z

Hkmaly:

Small xkcd-related announcement!
<div class="plainlinks" style="background:#edf6ff; border:1px solid #a7d7f9; margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:100%; font-size: 120%; padding: 0.5ex; text-align: center;">On {{w|Wikipedia}}, a request that the article titled '''''{{w|Xkcd}}''''' be changed to to '''''{{w|XKCD}}''''' is {{w|Talk:Xkcd#Requested move 29 March 2025|under discussion}}. You are welcome to {{w|Talk:Xkcd#Requested move 29 March 2025|comment}} until {{w|WP:CON|consensus}} is reached.</div>
--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:35, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Oh, wow, never seen a blank explanation before! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:48, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Jill is a pretty rare character (only 59 appearances). Cool to see a rare character.

this seems to be a play on dinosaurs in media to look more accurate by having feathers, which some view as making them less scary. this comic is a reversal, where the bird is supposedly more accurate and scarier. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.28|108.162.242.28]] 04:17, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

:hmm maybe [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 16:09, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Considering there are childs show with Barney the purple dinosaur, and that's supposed to be tyrannosaurus-rex, apex predator, and is STILL not scary, making Big Bird scary is not related to what species it might be at all. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 16:58, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3069: Terror Bird

2025-03-29T16:58:38Z

Hkmaly:

Small xkcd-related announcement!
<div class="plainlinks" style="background:#edf6ff; border:1px solid #a7d7f9; margin:1em auto 1em auto; width:100%; font-size: 120%; padding: 0.5ex; text-align: center;">On {{w|Wikipedia}}, a request that the article titled '''''{{w|Xkcd}}''''' be changed to to '''''{{w|XKCD}}''''' is {{w|Talk:Xkcd#Requested move 29 March 2025|under discussion}}. You are welcome to {{w|Talk:Xkcd#Requested move 29 March 2025|comment}} until {{w|WP:CON|consensus}} is reached.</div>
--[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:35, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Oh, wow, never seen a blank explanation before! [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 02:48, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Jill is a pretty rare character (only 59 appearances). Cool to see a rare character.

this seems to be a play on dinosaurs in media to look more accurate by having feathers, which some view as making them less scary. this comic is a reversal, where the bird is supposedly more accurate and scarier. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.28|108.162.242.28]] 04:17, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

:hmm maybe [[User:RadiantRainwing|RadiantRainwing]] ([[User talk:RadiantRainwing|talk]]) 16:09, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Considering there are child show with Barney the purple dinosaur, and that's supposed to be tyrannosaurus-rex, apex predator, and is STILL not scary, making Big Bird scary is not related to what species it might be at all. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 16:58, 29 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3066: Cosmic Distance Calibration

2025-03-21T20:09:31Z

Hkmaly:

yay. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:31, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

What makes such labels as real objects absurd is not the required size, but the required orientation to be readable from a single point in the universe - earth. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.9|172.71.154.9]] 19:26, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

A straightforward application of the Anthropic principle. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.189|104.23.187.189]] 19:35, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure I get the title text... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.162|162.158.62.162]] 20:04, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

I like this part of the linked article: ''But cosmologists get only one universe to observe.'' -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:09, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3064: Lungfish

2025-03-19T02:47:28Z

Hkmaly:

Huh, first time I've seen a comic the literal minute it was posted. Weird seeing a completely empty explainxkcd page. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 16:10, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

Got the basics of a transcript going. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:21, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

People often talk about DNA being the program that builds life, but it seems to me more as if its the static-data used by the program that builds life [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.236|172.70.90.236]] 16:24, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:Agreed. I'd say RNA sequences seem more like the program that builds life, to me?
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:02, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

::{{w|Von Neumann architecture}} makes clear distinction between program and data. Biological organism don't. Sure, by [[3056: RNA]] it would seem DNA being mostly static data makes more sense, but the distinction is just not clear. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:47, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

Anyone know how to add categories? If so, I can handle those. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:25, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

I was thinking of creating the category Genetics as a subcategory to biology, if it hasn't already been done. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:29, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

Hi chat, we got a new undiscovered xkcd page to talk about: [[Dot]]. Any info would be helpful. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 16:52, 17 March 2025 (UTC)

"a common issue when coding" or it could be just editing a doc, a picture, a video, etc.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.151.21|172.71.151.21]] 17:09, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
: I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CODE, OKAY??? {{unsigned|DollarStoreBa'al|17:10, 17 March 2025 (UTC)}}

Somewhat related, is is quite common for someone to have filenames like "Thesis (final)", "Thesis (really final)", "Thesis (really really final)" (instead of "Thesis" it might be "Presentation"). I have just checked the RCS log of my MSc Thesis: the 2.16 version was the final, but then there were the 3.1 and 3.2, which were the correction of two typos. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 18:48, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
:Using words like "Final" is optimism. So is "Newest". Version numbers and dates are the correct way to name things. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:47, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

Anybody else notice that the science in this one is completely incorrect? I added a note, but I'm curious why the comic doesn't instead mention something like Trichomonas or rice/cotton/bread wheat, which actually *do* feature widespread gene duplication [[User:tofudragon7]]
:I think the incorrectness of the science is the basis of the joke [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.39|172.70.206.39]] 14:10, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

''"append "Copy of" to the start of the filename"'' Append comes after. I think the word we want is "'''prepend'''". Not as familliar as append, but Google reports wide and serious usage. A further note: MS's hack ruins the idea of alphabetized filenames, all the "Copy of" in one place. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 21:24, 17 March 2025 (UTC)
: I think the word we actually want is 'add', since 'prepend to the start' would be tautological.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.4|141.101.99.4]] 10:30, 18 March 2025 (UTC)
:: The older and still probably more common meaning of "append" is just "attach", with no particular implication of where (e.g. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/append#English). The narrower sense of "add at the end", and the back-formation "prepend" for "add at the beginning", are relatively recent, and mostly computing jargon. Apparently, there's also occasional use of "postpend" as the complement of "prepend", but I don't think I've ever come across it in the wild.
:: So, either "append to the start" or "prepend" is fine, I think.
:: Or go for maximum redundancy: "prepend a prefix to the start before the existing text" :P - [[User:IMSoP|IMSoP]] ([[User talk:IMSoP|talk]]) 15:29, 18 March 2025 (UTC)
::: 'add to the start' is still better from a Plain English/Thing Explainer perspective, though.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.51|172.71.241.51]] 16:17, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

Anecdotes: I've got both "5etools (3).json (16)" & "5etools (9).json" on my phone ''right now.'' [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 15:07, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

April fool's comic is coming soon and I simply can't wait. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 19:16, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3058: Tall Structures

2025-03-04T03:22:37Z

Hkmaly:

<blockquote>This is not actually possible, since a knit garment is not made from one long thread of yarn, but many interwoven threads.</blockquote>

This is actually wrong; knitting is a technique for entangling a single yarn with itself in such a way that it forms a fabric. (It's not to be confused with ''weaving'', which does indeed use many, shorter threads.) In practice, a large, complex item like a sweater is made from multiple pieces sewn together, but it would have something like a single digit number of separate yarns.

Incidentally, a sweater contains on the order of a kilometer of yarn, which is also about the minimum safe distance for skydiving, so this scenario passes the Fermi estimate sniff test.

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.100|162.158.159.100]] 00:55, 4 March 2025 (UTC)

:Wouldn't the yarn snap at some point from acceleration due to gravity and the tightness of the weave pattern? [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 01:56, 4 March 2025 (UTC)

:Usually, the plane you are skydiving from won't remain circling above you ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:22, 4 March 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3057: Excusing Yourself

2025-03-04T03:18:58Z

Hkmaly:

Hey look, a new comic! YAYYYYYYY! [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 16:39, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

Added the starts of a new explanation for people to edit in the future. It's nice being the very first stepping stone. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 17:00, 28 February 2025 (UTC)

I have to say, I was actually at the receiving end of something similar to the last panel-sequence. At a meeting, I was reading the minutes of the previous meeting (or some other administrative thing that even bores ''me''), and one of the people sat opposite me deliberately pushed themselves back onto the floor (though didn't roll away, content to have made their 'point')... Clearly unimpressed with my contribution. But it was standard meeting stuff that needed to be done so... I can't remember quite where I went from there (it was 30 years ago!), but I probably gave 'a look' and continued. Possibly extemporised/varied my delivery as he got back up and everyone else recovered from being temporarily distracted by his antics. (Which I suspect was planned, not ''totally'' spontaneous.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.36|172.71.26.36]] 01:24, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

I've found the 'shoes' thing to vary by region and culture within the USA. In Hawai‘i, "ay, no leave shoes on in da house, brah!" In New England, and perhaps in northern-tier states generally, the shoes stay on, though the polite thing is to leave the overshoes on the porch, and/or make sure that the shoe soles get passed over the door mat. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.24|162.158.90.24]] 05:56, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

Absolutely loving the 'citation needed' after the sleep note. --[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 06:07, 1 March 2025 (UTC)
:Was wrongly positioned, regarding punctuation, though. Fixed that. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.157|172.70.86.157]] 08:44, 1 March 2025 (UTC)

I would argue that Black Hat claiming to speak for everyone doesn't necessarily make him less impolite. I've known people who always talk as if their opinion represented a consensus, and it can come off as very arrogant. [[User:Bicorn|Bicorn]] ([[User talk:Bicorn|talk]]) 18:10, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
:I agree! Feel free to add that to the explanation --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 21:08, 2 March 2025 (UTC)

;Is it Danish?

I labeled the panel 4 character as Danish, since she's being more rude than Black Hat and Megan is already present. Remind me, are there definite stylistic differences between Megan and Danish's hairstyles that are/aren't present here? --[[User:Jacky720|Jack]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|t]]|[[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|c]]) 18:05, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
:I don't know. From what I can tell, there are no stylistic changes between Megan and the Mystery Woman in this comic. Edit: I've just looked at [[2608: Family Reunion]]. Both Megan and Danish are present. Danish appears to be slightly shorter than Megan. However, I can't really see any difference in height between them. In [[1014: Car Problems]], Danish is the one reacting to Megan's slideshow. Danish appears to have longer hair than Megan in this comic. I also see no difference in hair length. [[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]] ([[User talk:DollarStoreBa'al|talk]]) 18:29, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
: I can't see any major differences at the moment in this comic, but it makes sense for it to be Danish [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 19:24, 28 February 2025 (UTC)
:well, I changed it and ... well, just look [[User:Bb777|Bb777]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 02:28, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
:{{Quote|are there definite stylistic differences between Megan and Danish's hairstyles that are/aren't present here?}}
:Yes, there are! Here are some quotes from the [[Danish]] and [[Megan]] character pages:
:{{Quote|Megan is distinguished by her black shoulder-length hair which generally appears to be parted in the middle in front and is draped behind what are presumably her (undrawn) ears. It is shorter than the character of similar appearance, Danish.}}
:{{Quote|[Danish] is similar in appearance to Megan but has distinctly longer hair.}}
:Here, Megan has short hair in both panels.
:{{Quote|[Danish] mainly appears in comics together with Black Hat, which is the most certain giveaway that a long-haired woman is Danish rather than Megan.}}
:In this comic, she isn't accompanied by Black Hat. I have edited the page to fix this issue. --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:40, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
:: Came here to ask the same thing in the hope that the beloved Danish had returned. I agree it's double Megan, so a missed opportunity by Randall. In addition it's not caustic misanthropy in the final panel, merely introvert desperation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.252|162.158.33.252]] 08:44, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
:::Agree, her last proper appearance was [[2045|3 years ago]]. Maybe he used Megan because the hair would have been too hard to draw? --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 08:52, 2 March 2025 (UTC)
::::imagine drawing a stick figure with long hair rolling out the door - [[User:Bb777|Bb777]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 03:00, 3 March 2025 (UTC)
:::::yea hahaha --[[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 15:35, 3 March 2025 (UTC)

: Black hat: Wtf is with Megan [[User:Definitely Bill Cipher|⯅A dream demon⯅]] ([[User talk:Definitely Bill Cipher|talk]]) 15:55, 3 March 2025 (UTC)

I wonder where on the scale is leaving under the cover of smoke bomb, ninja/batman style. Or the beaming out / turning off the projection. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]])

Talk:3049: Incoming Asteroid

2025-02-10T23:29:42Z

Hkmaly:

Asteroids are surprisingly destructive even at small sizes - I remember reading somewhere that the Armageddon movie asteroid was supposed to be "the size of Arlington, Texas", but that it sounded too small so they changed it to "the size of Texas" which is a drastic size increase and also proportionally far more deadly. For scale, Arlington is 250 square km and Texas is 700 000 square km. The Chixulub asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was between 10 and 15 km across. If it was a perfect circle, it would have an area of between 79 and 176 sq km. Arlington would be 18 km across, still within "species" range, and Texas would be 944 km across, clearly in "new moon" territory. But it _sounds_ much cooler! [[User:Zakator|Zakator]] ([[User talk:Zakator|talk]]) 22:32, 10 February 2025 (UTC)
:And that's for asteroids with normal speed (for asteroid, which is still kinda fast). The level of danger asteroid means is proportional to kinetic energy, meaning proportional to mass and SQUARE of speed, so if it's faster, it gets to extinction level even when small ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:29, 10 February 2025 (UTC)

3046: Stromatolites

2025-02-06T08:03:12Z

Hkmaly: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3046
| date = February 3, 2025
| title = Stromatolites
| image = stromatolites_2x.png
| imagesize = 581x505px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If only my ancestors had been fortunate enough to marry into the branch of the bacteria family that could photosynthesize, like all my little green cousins here.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE MISSING LINK'S OSTRACIZED ANCESTOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic makes fun of claims to 'special' ancestry, such as some old royal family or similar, that may be made after doing research on a {{w|family tree}} site. These services allow the user to input the names and other information of family members and cross reference with various documents to trace lines of descent. Often, those who find a connection to a historically significant individual are quite excited about this, and may feel that it somehow makes them special. However, in reality, once you go back more than a few generations there will be many thousands of such connections, and once you get back more than a thousand years or so, anyone you could be related to will also be related to {{w|Identical ancestors point|pretty much everybody else still alive}} in some way or other.

[[Beret Guy]] tells [[Cueball]] he has been on such a site and traced some of his family from "a few billion years back" who were related to {{w|stromatolites}}. These are layered accumulations of mineral "microbial mats" (Cueball calls them ''bacterial mats'') created by microorganisms, predominantly the oxygenic-photosynthetic {{w|Cyanobacteria|cyanobacteria}}. Some fossil stromatolites in Australia from 3.48 billion years ago contain the oldest undisputed evidence of life on Earth (though people have also claimed {{w|Earliest known life forms|other, older evidence}} for this record). Since this is some of the first life on Earth it is basically a given that all life that came after (not even just all humans) is related.

Beret Guy only claims he is related to their {{w|Alphaproteobacteria|cousins}} and that it is from their cousin bacteria that he got his {{w|mitochondria}}. His aside that he also got his cell nuclei in this way is odd, as, according to the {{w|Cell_nucleus#Evolution|leading contemporary theory}}, the ancestral archaeon ("my archaean ancestors") themselves contributed the nucleus to the original eukaryotic cell. In this model, both the archaeon and the alpha-proteobacterium were endosymbionts in a third cell, which is not consistent with Beret Guy's claim that the mitochondrion began as an archaeon's endosymbiont. Perhaps all that clicking addled even Beret Guy's brain. Anyway, he is not claiming to be a direct descendant from [the cyanobacterial component of] stromatolites, which makes sense since they can photosynthesize, and as he mentions in the title text, he cannot!

Ancestry services typically do not allow the user to track their familial history prior to written records{{citation needed}}, but with his [[:Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy|strange powers]] it is no wonder that Beret Guy could make this work! (Some do provide genetic sequencing, which allows for more information to be acquired, but this isn't accurate enough to track individual people who lived before such technology existed on a wide scale.) He may also have needed to rely on these powers to do all the clicks needed to go back that far in the past. Even at a rate of 10 to 15 clicks per second it would still take thousands of years — maybe even more due to how fast cells can reproduce — to do enough clicks to work back this far from scratch. However, it may be that a large part of the tree had already been constructed by previous users, and all he had to do was find a relation already attached to this tree. This would further underline how un-special his newly discovered relationship is.

Cueball asks if he would like to contact his distant relatives, since there are still living stromatolites today (or at least something very similar to those from billions of years ago). But Beret Guy imagines they are busy so he will not bother them. When asked by Cueball what he would use his newfound knowledge for, he lies down on the hill they have climbed to bask in the sun. Because as he says, "Lying on a hill in the warm sun is an old family tradition." This is basically the only thing stromatolites can do, but they are doing it all the time and could thus be said to be busy with this. It seems, however, like Beret Guy is going to enjoy this tradition.

In the title text Beret Guy muses about how great it would have been if his distant relatives had married into the branch of the bacteria family that could photosynthesize... and then refers to the grass he is now lying on as "my little green cousins here". If this had happened he would either have been able to lie on the hill without eating since [https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2014/10/28 he would be able to photosynthesize] getting energy directly from the sun (instead of eating some of his small green cousins' closer relatives) - although that might not be enough to sustain him, as per ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|17|Green cow}}''. Or else he would actually have been a plant instead.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Beret Guy, seen from afar in silhouette, are walking up a grassy hill.]

:[They continue walking up the hill, reaching its grassy summit. Now with normal lighting. Beret Guy is a bit ahead of Cueball.]
:Beret Guy: I learned something today.
:Beret Guy: I went on one of those family tree sites and kept clicking back, and it turns out I'm related to stromatolites!

:[Closeup on Cueball. Beret Guy's reply comes off-panel from a starburst on the right edge of the panel.]
:Cueball: The bacterial mats?
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Yeah! A few billion years back, on my mitochondria's side.

:[Cueball and Beret Guy standing on the top of the grassy hill facing each other. Beret Guy holding a hand out towards Cueball.]
:Beret Guy: My Archaean ancestors absorbed some bacteria that were cousins of stromatolites. That's how I got mitochondria.
:Beret Guy: Cell nuclei, too.

:[Cueball is standing behind Beret Guy who is now sitting down in the grass leaning back on one arm with the other arm resting on his bent knee.]
:Cueball: I think there are still living stromatolites. You could get in touch.
:Beret Guy: Nah, they're probably busy. I don't want to bother them.

:[Cueball is sitting behind Beret Guy who is now lying down, both again shown in silhouette from a far, revealing they are on the top of the grassy hill.]
:Cueball: So what ''are'' you going to do with this knowledge? Nothing?
:Beret Guy: Lying on a hill in the warm sun is an old family tradition.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:3044: Humidifier Review

2025-02-03T06:43:59Z

Hkmaly:

Somehow, the text here makes me think of the air-source heat pump equivalent, i.e. ''Why shouldn't it be the case that humidifiers condense outside air and suck the water out of it, and then pump that water into the conditioned space and re-disperse it?'' Of course, the obvious answer is that doing so would be frightfully expensive and entirely unnecessary given the cost of that kind of condensation compared to the cost of water. And, of course, the capital cost for the minor plumbing to install a domestic water line to the humidifier is going to be far smaller than the capital cost of a heat pump apparatus (or whatever) to generate condensation outdoors and then pump it into the conditioned space. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 00:13, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
:Also it would still need that amount of water, just that the operator doesn't need to add it manually. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:43, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

This reminds me of the whole thing with the VTuber Sakura Miko where she was using a humidifier without knowing she had to fill the tank with water for at least a year [[Special:Contributions/172.70.223.184|172.70.223.184]] 01:10, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

Related to that, just a week ago Sharp announced a humidifier collaboration with Sakura Miko, and as part of the PR they made a formal apology for "Not being able to use magic to make a waterless humidifier" {{unsigned ip|198.41.236.162|02:01, 30 January 2025}}

I'm waiting for the HydroPro High-Efficiency Electric Kettle™ which is connected to a heat pump to heat your tea water. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.170.192|172.71.170.192]] 04:39, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

: ''High-Efficiency Electric Kettle™ which is connected to a heat pump to heat your tea water'' You jest; but in the US we get hot water at the sink faucet. There is a push to do it all with heat-pumps, save a hundred bucks a year! (They say more, but I've compared our use.) But the heatpumps are $2K. A dumb resistor tank is $500. Payback is well in excess of 5 years. And it would make my cold cellar even colder, thus damper. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 06:17, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

:: A heat pump water heater would (if properly installed) make the cellar colder and dryer. Essentially, it's air conditioning the cellar and that's what A/C does. In detail water will condense on the cold coils (giving up latent heat which helps heat the water) and the condensate should go down a drain reducing the amount of water in the cellar.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.107|162.158.62.107]] 16:02, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

:: Just install a dehumidifier. And feed the water that the dehumidifier into the water heater. Infinite hot water! Also, enormous electric bills. Also legionnaire's disease. [[User:RegularSizedGuy|RegularSizedGuy]] ([[User talk:RegularSizedGuy|talk]]) 06:22, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::: All dehumidifiers and all humidifiers must be connected together for the ultimate harmony! (If there turns out to be a net need/excess, we can work out what to do... We probably have a whole load of piping leading all over the planet, by this time, so we can find the most optimal source/sink.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.33|172.70.162.33]] 13:32, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

Another device which is often getting negative reviews for not breaking laws of physics is car. Not only that, EU laws for 2035 are basically making against the EU law for a new car to not break laws of physics. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:08, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
: The only two transportation options that do not either break the laws of physics or ultimately prove either unfeasible or useless against carbon dioxide spiking and resulting anthropogenic climate change have five toes on each one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.42.87|162.158.42.87]] 15:34, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
:: Cycling burns about half the calories per mile as walking. Which one has the lower overall carbon footprint depends on a lot of factors, including the carbon created for food production, bicycle production, the lifetime and maintenance requirements for the bike, the health benefits leading to a longer life (and hence more carbon production) for the walker/rider, etc. But if you already have a bike, it's probably more efficient to ride than it is to walk. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.169|162.158.62.169]] 17:59, 30 January 2025 (UTC)
::: Except that this isn't how humans work. Just because you reduce your calorie expenditure on transportation doesn't mean you reduce your calorie expenditure overall - it will just get expended somewhere else. Besides which, calorie expenditure isn't tied to calorie consumption. Even if you were able to reduce your overall expenditure, it would make no difference at all to your carbon footprint. To do that you'd need to reduce how much you eat (or change its composition).[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.7|141.101.98.7]] 09:33, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
:::: You would burn fewer calories if you cycled for a while (instead of walking) though. Maybe cycling a mile compared to walking it wouldn't really make any difference, but cycling 20 miles as opposed to walking that definitely would burn fewer calories. Walking 20 miles is already going noticeably over your regular calorie expenditure, which is going to require more food no matter what, so cycling instead would definitely require less food. Although the difference is probably not too big compared to what you would usually burn. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 10:09, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
:::::Be sure we're talking of the same things. Cycling twenty miles might be accomplished in an hour (allowing for sympathetic terrain/roads, bike and degree of fitness), with some effort and therefore raised metabolism, but should normally take less than two hours just by keeping the wheels turning at a decent rate. Walking twenty miles might be six to twelve hours of walking (including stops, which I don't bother to assume that the rider will take).
::::: (...assuming you are physically/mentally capable of either. I regularly walk a nine-mile (rugged) path from A to B every week, taking about 3.5 hours unless I'm rushed (faster) or it is/has been raining (the 'direct' route gets muddy, either slowing me down or I divert by longer roadside routes around sections). For the purposes of the trip (for which I know I have a handy lift back), I know I have a reason to get there. (''Ocasionally'' with a diversion to a handy geohash!) I probably wouldn't walk in a nine-mile circuit, without something to do at the extremities of the point. Even though I ''have'' walked 20+ miles, I'd need even more incentive. Meanwhile, I wouldn't go cycling for 'just' nine miles of circuit, that's a waste of time in the other direction. The pleasure of the ride (balanced with the effort of it, and preparing for it) means that 20 miles of no other purpose is at the lower end. But then I was brought up as a cyclist used to weekly 50+ mile rides via at least one cafe-stop, or similar. I know some people wouldn't/couldn't/daren't walk maybe half a mile (total) to the shops and back, ''or'' ride there. Others (not me!) will happily ride as fast as they can for 12 or 24 hours, [http://www.rra.org.uk/Records-Place-to-Place.html or more], for their own reasons.)
:::::...Anyway... Having saved enough time to have five hours for every hour of travel, you don't then flatline your activity and consider it done, but continue to exist. Even if that's vegging out in front of the TV. 20 miles on the bike should probably include the hours (and the meals) you spend pre- and/or post-trip, which map to the equivalent time you'd spend for the same walk ''without'' the bicycle. Also, as you might or might not also have the bike, whatever the reason you can't/shan't use it, hard to factor in the 'investment' carbon footprint for equipment you might or might not use, and which might amortise its 'cost' across an indeterminate number of actual uses. Much like you could have a car or any other vehicle but can only reliably compare fuel/charging costs, between alternative modes of travel, not usually the capital costs...
:::::And even wear-and-tear-based upkeep is also a somewhat variable relationship. I wear out walking shoes within a year or two. I typically expect my bike tyres (and inner-tubes) to last much longer, but are subject to unrepairable damage at any time (I've had to deal with three separate punctures in a single day, before, luckily was easy to patch), which can badly mess with the running average.
::::: The point being that comparison is difficult. And even if you're sure you've tied down what you mean, someone else may think it applies to their own (different) understanding. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.246|172.70.91.246]] 17:47, 31 January 2025 (UTC)
::Actually, climate activists are trying to avoid mentioning it, but humans are TOTALLY significant producers of CO2 considering how many of them are. But mentioning it reveals the uncomfortable truth: we can't REALLY get to zero carbon dioxide emission. It's not realistic goal. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 06:43, 3 February 2025 (UTC)

Zero stars:

Dried out my house when I was already dehydrated

- BButton1869
[[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 20:42, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

I'm not sure conservation of mass is the right law here. It would be possible to increase humidity without using water or violating the conservation of mass, such as by burning hydrogen. The relevant law here is the conservation of ''molecular quantity''. Except . . . that's not a law (hence my hydrogen combustion counterexample). What's going on here is that you cannot change the amount of water ''without a chemical reaction'', essentially by definition. So any humidifier that operates in a purely mechanical manner without reacting any chemicals will "conserve water" in this sense.

In the real world, every humidifier works this way, and it would rarely make sense to do it any other way. In fact, you are more likely to see oxygen made from water (e.g. in a submarine or space station) than vice-versa. However, if you have a natural gas furnace, that will produce water, and in principle, there's no reason that produced water could not be fed into a humidifier, thus saving on the water bill. Highly efficient furnaces capture the water without letting it out the flu, not because they want to salvage the water, but to increase efficiency. Still, the water is there, so this isn't a physically or even practically impossible demand. [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 01:28, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

: "''...a natural gas furnace, that will produce water, .....could ...be fed into a humidifier,''" There are gas appliances, cookers and room heaters, also gas clothes dryers, which can vent damp exhaust directly to the room. But even when I paid for water, I never fretted about the cost of humidity. And I already run a dehumidifier 7 months a year. And the hi-eff gas burners and the dehumidifier in a damp basement already force me to maintain a non-ignorable pump infrastructure to lift water out of the cellar. -- So unlike the joker in the cartoon, I am hyper-aware of my humidity.--[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 04:39, 31 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3038: Uncanceled Units

2025-01-30T09:13:21Z

Hkmaly:

DUDE I'M STILL IN SCHOOL RN, WHAT?
(also, the joke is that energy is power*time, so kWh is kJ/s... in an hour [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 13:27, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

I guess not every comic can be a winner. Talking about an appliance using a certain amount of kWH per day is clear and normal. Power gets billed by the kWh, not the Joule. While technically not wrong, wanting "cancel" a sub-part of the commonly-used energy unit kWh and leaving it in deliberately-obscured units most people are less familiar with is the sort of insanity I'd more expect from White Hat than Cueball. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.35.171|172.70.35.171]] 13:39, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:Maybe that is a meta-joke? To frame kWh/day as something crazy by giving that line to whitehat --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:52, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::Even if the consumer is technically more familiar with the watt, for example from lightbulbs, they absolutely have no idea how much a watt costs on their monthly bill, so the salesperson is unquestionably correct to quote the use in kwh/time. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.130|172.70.210.130]] 05:11, 19 January 2025 (UTC)
:There's a difference between instantaneous power draw, and the total "volume"(/area, really) of power over time. Though a fridge is "always on", it is still only irregularly at full-draw. But, to the power company (or to the gas company, who will generally give a kWh measure of 'energy taken from the network'), they don't (generally) care whether you used twice as many kW over half the time or half as many over twice the time, within any given total billing period, even if it affects what you think. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.46|172.70.163.46]] 14:39, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::Using joule as if it was an everyday unit of energy would be weird but I don't agree that watt is crazy. It's a normal unit of energy consumption that does mean something to people, e.g. 1000W microwave, 100W (incandescent) light bulb. Don't get me wrong kWh/day is also useful to translate it to your energy bill, but I do feel slightly uncomfortable every time I see that time divided by time :-) [[User:Mtcv|Mtcv]] ([[User talk:Mtcv|talk]]) 14:40, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:I don't think the complaint is that it's unclear, it's that Cueball/Randall instinctively wants units simplified - as they would be in a science context rather than a useful-for-normal-people's-everyday-needs context. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.183|108.162.238.183]] 02:40, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:Yes, it is normal, but to people who know what it means it hurts to look at. kWh are a measure of energy that is technically SI-friendly and at a useful scale, but from an scientific perspective there isn't a great reason (to my knowledge) other than convention to not just use megajoules (1 kWh is 3.6 MJ). That on its own bothers me, and probably Randal based on a lot of his other comics. The added complaint here is that by making them per/day it is back to a measure of power (which kW measure) [[User:Stardragon|Stardragon]] ([[User talk:Stardragon|talk]]) 23:34, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

This is especially funny with US units. My car needs about 5l/100km, or 0.05mm². Now I am wondering how many ft^(-2) my car does... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:49, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
: You make a good point about the units (at least in one instance). Shouldn't the reduced units for fuel economy be inverse area? Effectively, it is a measure of the distance the vehicle could travel while consuming a column of fuel with a specific height and specific top (or bottom) surface area. Or, The better the fuel economy, the less the surface area that is necessary to move a specific distance. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 20:41, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::It depends on what the original unit is. In my country (Germany) we measure it in volume/distance, which would reduce to area. North American convention is in distance/volume which would reduce to inverse area. Good thing about distance/volume is that "high number = good". However I think outside of escaping from a nuclear disaster or in a zombie apocalypse it isn't a really helpful thing to know. Because how often do you know "I got x amount of fuel. Wonder how far I can get." But you will likely be in the situation where you quickly want to see "How much fuel do I need to get to place x which is y distance from here". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 21:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::: how often do you know "I got x amount of fuel. Wonder how far I can get." Quite often, because the question I'm really asking is whether I can get where I'm going with some margin built in before I need to refuel my car. When I do refuel or recharge the car, I'll go to 100% of capacity. I just want to know whether I have to do that now or if I can wait and do it later because later would be more convenient. The only time I want the number the other way is when I'm buying a car and want to make it as efficient as possible. Once I have it, the amount of fuel I need isn't going to change.[[User:Yttrium|Yttrium]] ([[User talk:Yttrium|talk]]) 09:02, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Mhh... probably a question of what one is used to. If I need to go 400 km, and I know my car uses 5l/100km, I just multiply 4*5 to see that I need 20l, and will know if what I have is enough or not. But I guess with mpg you can do a just as easy calc: If my car gets 50mpg (roughly 5l/100km) and I have 5 gallons (roughly 20l), I can go 50*5=250 miles, which is roughly 400km. My nitpick is: My car, and I think all cars I ever drove just shows me a dial from empty to full. Knowing how much "full" is, I can estimate how much gas I have, while my GPS will tell me a pretty exact number of km I need to go. So if I am fuelling up on a monday morning (where gas tends to be more expensive in my area than on other times), or fuel up right before I get my next salary, I might just put in as much as I need right now. But yes, maybe/probably it is mostly a thing about habits and what you are used to. And might be more of an European issue, since fuel is basically free in North America in comparison. So I guess everyone just fuels up fully all the time, but has to be cautious to reach the next gas station when travelling through the more sparely-populated areas...--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 10:19, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:: More usefully imagined as the front (or back) end of a horizontal column (or, twisting as it may, a pipeline) that traverses the journey made by the vehicle. As if (instantaneous variations excepted) you consume precisely the fuel that your vehicle passes 'through/around'. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.76.92|141.101.76.92]] 20:45, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::: Yeah. Maybe we should express fuel consumption in terms of the speed fuel needs to be drawn through a standard fuel line. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 21:01, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

fridge [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.147|172.70.126.147]] 14:22, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

The late [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._C._MacKay Sir David MacKay] wrote an excellent book, [http://www.withouthotair.com/ Sustainable Energy – without the hot air] (which is available free online).
On [http://www.withouthotair.com/c2/page_24.shtml this page] he talks about the units he uses in the book: kWh for energy ("one unit") and kWh/day for power - becuase it's simple for lay-people to understand - how many units does this appliance use per day.
It's a good book if any of you are interested in sustainable energy (although it was written in 2008, so some bits might be out of date by now) {{unsigned ip|172.70.85.33|14:33, 15 January 2025}}

If anyone's curious, I found an online gallons per square foot calculator: https://www.omnicalculator.com/construction/gallons-per-square-foot [[Special:Contributions/172.71.223.6|172.71.223.6]] 15:54, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

The answer to Cueball's question is likely NO in the US and YES in the UK, due not just to gallon size but also fridge size (a model like that is a particularly large fridge, when I bought one 10 years ago going for the smallest available I had to modify my cabinet above the fridge as there wasn't one less than 6'8"- the fridge hole was 6' previous).[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 16:02, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

I disagree with this comic, and I think the final paragraph in the explanation about Hubble's constant best explains why. [[User:Beanie|Beanie]] [[User talk:Beanie|talk]] 15:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:It doesn't make any sense to 'disagree' with an observation.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.245|141.101.98.245]] 09:36, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
::"[My] Pet peeve" so the comic is expressing an opinion [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.36|172.68.3.36]] 03:38, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

Hubble's constant can be expressed in reciprocal seconds, but it should not be expressed in Hz. Hz are reserved for repeating phenomenon. There is insufficient evidence of a cyclic universe. Using Hz could be an attempt to insert an unwarranted assumption into cosmology. This type of subtle "propaganda through choice of units" happens fairly often. Changing units can give a different perspective. Usually this will be through simplification because there is no algorithmic method to choose useful complex units.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.69|172.71.167.69]] 18:32, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:So you think we should represent it with {{w|Becquerel|becquerels}}? [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 02:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

Technically, kWh should be written as kW⋅h or kW h, because it literally means "kilowatts multiplied by one hour", not "kilowatts per hour" as many people assume. However, almost nobody writes it correctly. (kW/h is sometimes also seen, but egregiously incorrect.) Also, particularly now that electric vehicles are becoming more popular, people often get confused between kW and kW h. The car can charge at a peak or average rate expressed in kW, but energy billed by a charging service provider is expressed in kWh. People frequently either add or remove the "h" incorrectly because they don't understand the difference. In some places like India, a kilowatt-hour is simply referred to as a "unit" to avoid confusion. In my opinion, it was an enormous mistake to use kWh when we could be using mJ instead, which I think is probably something close to the point Randall may have been trying to make. Anyway, I wasn't sure if there was a place for any of this random trivia in the article itself, but feel free to use it. [[User:Equites|Equites]] ([[User talk:Equites|talk]]) 17:11, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
: No!. TF?. ms is meter times seconds, m/s is meter per second. There is NOTHING wrong with kWh, it literally means kW times hours, and CANNOT mean anything else. kW per hour would be kW/h.. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.34|172.71.160.34]] 12:41, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:: Technically, the SI would have you write m s for meter-seconds and ms for milliseconds. Thus, similarly, it should be kW h for kilowatt-hours, not kWh. It is unambiguous either way, but the standard is the standard. But that is a totally bizarre thing to get hung up on. Also, Equites's suggestion to use millijoules instead was maybe not well thought-out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.15.234|172.68.15.234]] 17:45, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Relevant XKCD… I mean relevant YouTube video: "Cursed units" 1 and 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkfIXUjkYqE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg7xe8MkJHs [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:31, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

: Highly relevant, in fact. The first video referred to the kilowatt-hour as "cursed", which became a highly polarizing issue in the comments, something that was addressed at the beginning of part 2. Assuming these responses weren't cherry-picked, I get the impression that there are a lot of people on both sides of this. It seems like the same kind of thing we're seeing in this very comment section. [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 18:10, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

I always wonder why people here prefer liter/m^2 for the amount of rain. Where the same number as mm is way easier to imagine. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.99|172.68.50.99]] 18:14, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
: At first, I was wondering if you would have rather had it in microliters/mm^2, but you meant the column height of the rain, like inches are used in the US. Along the line of L/m^2, something like mL/cm^2 might be nice considering the density of water, although the value also would be different by a factor. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 20:51, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
: That's the neat thing about the metric system, they are trivially simple to convert. 1l/m² is exactly 1mm. The fact that the meteorology uses the former just stems from the fact that that's how they measure it. The catch the rain on an area of 1m² into a beaker that contains some volume which is measured in liters. What annoys me though, is that noone seems to be talking about how terribly inefficient the fridge in the comic is. Mine only needs a tenth of the one that Whitehat tries to sell, and that's not even particularly good. --{{unsigned ip|162.158.203.28}} 21:21, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:: UK measurements, once it gets to weather reports/forecasts, tend to be in millimetres (or centimetres, where more for the layperson who don't need mm-resulution; or occasionally recast as 'old money' inches, with ''really'' bad rain events summarised in relation to whole feet), which is implicitly the depth to which ''any'' area would be filled (in a case where large catchment + funnelling valley situation is concerned, suffering from the run-off, might be ''reported'' as "equivalent to ''N'' feet of rain", down where the bad effects get concentrated, but this is not a meteorological measure as such).
:: Not sure I've ever seen volume/area as an end-result figure (might be relevent as an intermediate for measurement/calculation, especially when discussing the funelling effects of the given local geography), but of course it's trivially relatable.
:: Density of water would only figure in from replacing litres with kilogrammes (litres are 1/1000th of metres³ and any m² is 10,000 times the cm² (or millilitre), so a factor of 10 between L/m² and mL/cm²; divide L to mL by 1000, times m² to cm² by 10,000, => 10x) but I always find it useful to know that three 2L bottles of pop are (very close to, going by the nominal water content alone) 6kg... makes me feel better about lugging the weekly shopping home, where these might be the single most significant part of the weight. More usefully than cross-converting into length-cubed measure. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.69|141.101.98.69]] 21:42, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Isn't the point that KwH/day can be simplified to Watts (an average perhaps, but still) {{unsigned ip|162.158.41.72|21:24, 15 January 2025}}
: Yes, the joke seems pretty clearly about watts or kilowatts, not megajoules. Using megajoules doesn't result in any units being canceled; the denominator remains "/day". [[User:BatmanAoD|BatmanAoD]] ([[User talk:BatmanAoD|talk]]) 23:52, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

If the argument for kWh/day is that it's easy for the consumer to understand how it will affect their electricity bill – then kWh/month would be the right choice, because I doubt anyone receives an electricity bill every day. But the salesman prefers 3 kWh/day because it sounds like a smaller number than 90 kWh/month. And of course, if electricity bills were written in joules instead of illogical watt-hours, then MJ/month would be the easiest for the consumer. {{unsigned ip|162.158.134.90|22:31, 15 January 2025}}
:Per-month is tricky. You seem to assume month=30 days, when it can be 28-31 and is only 30 days a third of the time. Per quarter(-year) is a bit more consistent, less fractionally variant ''and'' closer to most utility bill frequencies as well, if you're looking for something not as eye-wateringly frightening as an annual estimate (which 'only' varies every 4.1237... years, on average). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.47|172.70.163.47]] 00:21, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:: "''Per-month is tricky. You seem to assume month=30 days, when it can be 28-31...''" My electric bill for December 2024 is 33 days. The company closes the book when it is convenient, not per some calendar. --[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 05:22, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Which is why electric consumption per month is even more tricky. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:33, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::It's still per some calendar. Just a calendar
of the electric company, that you're not privy to.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.245|141.101.98.245]] 09:36, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::: facepalm and yes you are right, if you include that the meter reader may be a week late because of healing from pet related off work time from reading an electric meter in a back yard. And usually the person who turns the reading into a bill isn't sick. ... Pretty sure my electric company really loves the "phones home every 83 seconds" new meter they installed a few yag. The old and new meters are pretty much a wall wart with a screw on shield. I was surprised by no dead spiders in the socket on the replace.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.72|172.70.34.72]] 00:23, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
::It's an average. We're not talking specifically about February. You could multiply by 365.24/12 and get 91.31 kWh/month on average – but there's only one significant figure in 3 kWh/day. White Hat doesn't say 3.000 kWh/day. You have to round 91.31 to 90 to avoid false precision.
::The stated average is an estimate based on assumptions about how much you'll fill the fridge, how often you'll open the door, how long you'll leave the door open, the room temperature in your kitchen, how much surrounding cabinets will restrict air flow across the condenser, et cetera. The combined uncertainties make it meaningless to state a highly precise power consumption. The length of the month is just one of many sources of variation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.90|162.158.134.90]] 10:40, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Ahem... "multiply by 365.24'''25'''/12". As anyone with a fridge at least 125-years-old would appreciate... ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.178|141.101.98.178]] 12:23, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

I suspect this comic is inspired by the much more common pet peeve of incorrect/nonsensical units, frequently encountered in similar contexts. I'm so used to hearing kWh mistakenly written simply as kW, that I initially misread and assumed that's what the comic is about. That's a particularly common example, where you'll hear battery capacities listed in kW, or instantaneous power described in watt-hours. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 09:53, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:{{w|Calorie#Chemistry and physics|Calories}} vs. {{w|Calorie#Nutrition|calories}}, also... ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.178|141.101.98.178]] 12:23, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
: Yeah, get it straight people! Instantaneous battery discharge rate should be in some scale of watt-hours per second :P All this hassle because apparently nobody likes Joules or Coulombs as a unit. Besides the obvious unit cancelation thing, why would kilowatt-hours be more of a thing than watt-seconds anyway, since they are the same general order of magnitude? {{unsigned|SammyChips}} SammyChips 16:05, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

It could be worse.. I keep seeing TVs marked in kWh per 1000 hours... That is just insanity pure and simple.. It is in fact Watts!!![[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.34|172.71.160.34]] 12:38, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:This is even some kind of a "standard", officially. See first image in here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_4484
:Also, world power consumption is almost exclusively represented in TWh per year, because TW is obviously not a thing. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.6|172.68.50.6]] 13:42, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:That whole kerfluffle is mentioned in the "Cursed Units 2" video linked above. [[User:AdmiralMemo|Admiral Memo]] ([[User talk:AdmiralMemo|talk]]) 01:58, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Can I be the obnoxious arse that points out that a 125W fridge will NOT be pulling 3kWh (or 3 units?) per day? Fridges run a compressor which makes the cold happen (via science and magic) and when there's enough cold in the box, it'll click off until cold is lacking. The durations will depend on ambient temperature, however observing my (oldish) fridge, it seems to run for about fifty seconds every four or five minutes.
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.92|141.101.69.92]] 18:45, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:Fridge is actually heating device: it heats up your kitchen by pumping the heat from inside to outside. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:32, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:: It's actually a heat pump, moving heat from one location to another. Whether a heat pump is a heating device or a cooling device depends entirely on your perspective. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.148|172.69.246.148]] 23:17, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
::: It heats your kitchen more than it cools the inside. QED. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:13, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

There is actually a good reason to differentiate between Wh/h (energy over time) and W (power): Non-constant consumption. If the fridge consumes 3kWh/d, its compressor will be rated in the 300-400W nominal range (the thermostatic controller will cycle the compressor on and off; for a modern fridge-freezer combination, a typical duty cycle would be in the 25-30% range). The unit nameplate will say "400W" because that's the rated power the electrical installation will have to be designed for (how many of these fridges can you put on a 20A breaker etc.). This is only determined by the physical properties of the compressor motor. The energy consumption additionally depends on insulation, internal space of the cabinet etc. etc. and only makes sense as a time average (due to the intermittent operation of the compressor). Not sure about US rules, but here in Europe, there's a standard energy class label for fridges which specifies kWh/a as a primary means of comparison. (Averaging over a year has the advantage that you can test against a standardized profile of ambient temperature change between summer and winter).
[[User:Ogehrke|Ogehrke]] ([[User talk:Ogehrke|talk]]) 21:28, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
: Instead of overcomplexificationing the units, all you need to do is write "average power consumption" on the label. Also, none of that is an argument against using joules per year instead of joules per second times hour per year.

The explanation incorrectly states that fuel efficiency in the metric system is measured in km/l. It's not. It's measured in l/km, so it reduces to area, not 1/area.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.77|172.71.182.77]] 22:40, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:I recall seeing a book in my youth about "understanding units" that included great things like viscosity and explanations for why E=mc² cancels units properly. But they got to gasoline consumption, and used the analogy that the "area" represented here is the equivalent of the area of an adjacent trough of gas that would have to be scooped up by your car to keep it running. Very interesting way of illustrating unit cancellation. [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 23:05, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

Am I the only one bothered by the low ceiling? I hate rooms where I can't stretch without bumping. I had to come here to make sure I hadn't miscalculated the ceiling height. [[User:DougM|DougM]] ([[User talk:DougM|talk]]) 00:21, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:Just assume that Cueball is using british gallons to further mess with the units. As the explanation that makes the room 2.44m which is a pretty standard - although still not very high - room height. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:29, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Isn't there a joke about the salesman as well? Maybe I'm thinking too european, but kWh x 365 days = 1095 kWh/year seems ridiculously high to me. {{unsigned ip|172.70.247.41|12:10, 17 January 2025}}

German weather forecasts report rain as liters per square meter instead of millimeters. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.87|172.69.109.87]] 12:55, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

re "there are cases where uncancelled units can be helpful to understanding the concept", something about mixing ratios could be added. E.g. 10g/kg and 10mL/L are both 1% ratios, but expressing them as uncancelled makes it clear that one is a ratio by mass and one is a ratio by volume. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.208.76|172.70.208.76]] 21:12, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:also dosages for medicine. At least for pets it is often mg/kg. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 13:07, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:If a railroad company wants to build track across my farm, I want to know how many ACRES of good arable farmland I will lose PER MILE of track they build. Oh sure, you could tell me how many millimeters, or how many fathoms, furlongs, or light years, but doing so would only force me to convert it to something useful: how many acres per mile. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.215.42|172.70.215.42]] 23:02, 25 January 2025 (UTC)
::Sounds like you know how many miles "across your farm" is. If you've got a square/rectangular plot and you know the angle the track will go, edge to opposite edge (not clipping corners, not twisting or turning), then the result of the "acres per mile" of any given cut-across (more for a multilane highway, less(+temporary?) for digging a pipeline in, somewhere in-between for railway, depending upon any spread from the rail-bed for how much of a cutting/embankment they might need to add).
::I think I'd rather work it out from the other direction. Tell me the effective (mean) width of the intrusive works, and then look at what path they're proposing to go over (what may be more important, even than the pure quantified footprint, is it it requires demolishing some or all of a building/utility feature - and what, if any, plans they have for bridges/underpasses/on-grade-crossings to unsever each side's now separate areas) and total area derives at least as easily as from a width*length calculation as for an (area/length)*length.
::Being very near to a (first proposed, then vastly realigned, now totally cancelled) new railway project, myself, I studied the early/later proposals a lot (initially, it impacted some urban and rural bits of land quite near me, the revamped version went through other bits that I knew well and went so close to some new-build housing that some residents had their places compulsarily purchased with a view to having to be demolished, with neighbours and even others on the furthest edges finding their effective house-prices plunging to more than 50% loss in just the teo or three years since they'd been built as premium housing). Apart from just the total fuss of having a railway (intended to be) built across one's land, and the attendant construction-disruption, it seemed that both farmer and homeowner mostly had to concern themselves with the spread (temporary, during construction, and permanent once the true boundaries had been eventually been established) as the biggest factor, once the path was known to either cross or straddle your personal land-boundaries.
::Or maybe I don't appreciate your own personal priorities. Perhaps you're thinking area/length ≈ compensation_factor, and you don't care how long/if it crosses, so long as the return from surrendering is commensurate against alternative schemes' compensating factors? But even that seems like it's be better discussed using $/acre, or similar measures. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.116|172.70.85.116]] 01:03, 26 January 2025 (UTC)

I used to tell people I work 7.5 hours per day, but after reading this comic I'm going to switch to saying I work 0.3125 with no units. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.36|172.70.162.36]] 22:48, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
:Go the other way and ''add'' combinable units... 0.3125 Hertz-seconds. Or go ''really'' wild with the ratio. I'm sure you could work out how many "lumen per hectare-luxes" it would be (3125?)... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.119|162.158.74.119]] 23:22, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3044: Humidifier Review

2025-01-30T09:08:52Z

Hkmaly:

Talk:3041: Unit Circle

2025-01-22T23:12:04Z

Hkmaly:

First [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.72|162.158.175.72]] 23:00, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

This would actually be so helpful for my geometry class right now '''[[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]][[User talk:42.book.addict|Talk to me!]]''' 23:06, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
:Are you saying you have problem with abstract thinking? Why should matter if the unit circle had radius 1 yard, 1 foot, 1 meter or 1 lightsecond? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:12, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3038: Uncanceled Units

2025-01-16T22:32:15Z

Hkmaly:

Talk:3012: The Future of Orion

2024-11-15T21:48:52Z

Hkmaly:

this is my second first comment. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 17:47, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
:This is my first second comment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.8|162.158.63.8]] 17:56, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
::I plead the third. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.136.188|172.69.136.188]] 19:57, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

okay we need to destroy the stars, any suggestions? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 19:02, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
:Don't worry, the [https://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4264 insects] should take care of it. (If the rocks don't do it first) [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 20:23, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Maybe add a reference to #1020? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.100|172.71.147.100]] 19:43, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

now instead of a hunter [[1020: Orion Nebula|with a dong]], its a dinosaur with diarrhea! [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 19:47, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

"There are no dinosaur constellations, because dinosaur fossils had not yet been discovered when constellations were first being named in around 3000 BCE." Faulty logic, compare: "There are no microscope constellations, because microscopes had not yet been discovered when constellations were first being named in around 3000 BCE." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.221|162.158.154.221]] 20:03, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
: {{w|Microscopium|link}}. Besides, weren't legends about dragons blamed on people finding dinosaur bones? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:48, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Has anyone figured out how far in the future Randall has projected the new star positions? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.5|172.69.135.5]] 21:04, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3012: The Future of Orion

2024-11-15T21:48:33Z

Hkmaly:

this is my second first comment. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 17:47, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
:This is my first second comment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.8|162.158.63.8]] 17:56, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
::I plead the third. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.136.188|172.69.136.188]] 19:57, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

okay we need to destroy the stars, any suggestions? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 19:02, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
:Don't worry, the [https://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=4264 insects] should take care of it. (If the rocks don't do it first) [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 20:23, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Maybe add a reference to #1020? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.100|172.71.147.100]] 19:43, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

now instead of a hunter [[1020: Orion Nebula|with a dong]], its a dinosaur with diarrhea! [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you want to]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 19:47, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

"There are no dinosaur constellations, because dinosaur fossils had not yet been discovered when constellations were first being named in around 3000 BCE." Faulty logic, compare: "There are no microscope constellations, because microscopes had not yet been discovered when constellations were first being named in around 3000 BCE." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.221|162.158.154.221]] 20:03, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
- {{w|Microscopium|link}}. Besides, weren't legends about dragons blamed on people finding dinosaur bones? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:48, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Has anyone figured out how far in the future Randall has projected the new star positions? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.5|172.69.135.5]] 21:04, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3008: Proterozoic Rocks

2024-11-12T04:21:26Z

Hkmaly:

So the last panel refers to the unseen birth of a rock? How are rocks even born? {{unsigned ip|172.71.148.124|06:44, 7 November 2024 (UTC)}}
:Farther - does is mean father back, or further ahead in time? If ahead it could mean Randall do not think there will be any eyes left to see in 500 million years time. Which is not unlikely. Earth will not stay inhabitable much longer than that (probably 800 million years, then the seas will have evaporated). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:30, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:A few ways. Fusion likely formed many elements, and neutron star death possibly the rest of the naturally occurring ones. When those started sticking together they would form rocks. The type likely being referred to here is probably sediment being compressed and former a cohesive stone, magma crystalizing, or compression of the latter two types of rocks into different types of rocks. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.124.222|172.71.124.222]] 06:52, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:I think in this context it was by up welling magma and they are only rare because plate tectonics and erosion has recycled 99.9X% of them. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:58, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:First the mommy rock and the daddy rock fall in love... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.175.16|172.71.175.16]] 15:19, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::A stork with a very strong neck is involved.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.161|172.70.162.161]] 09:54, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
:::I think there's a cabbage patch involved somehow, but I'm not sure where it fits in. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.31.46|172.71.31.46]] 14:51, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

Makes me think of the manga ''Houseki No Kuni'' (''Land of the Lustrous'') and how effortlessly it depicts thousands and millions of years passing in a blink. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.228|162.158.159.228]] 08:00, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Guess Randall didn't want to acknowledge the results. Can't say I blame him. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:16, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:Well it did end in an all black panel... Like his mood. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:30, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe he thinks she can still win? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.31.39|172.71.31.39]] 13:05, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::She can still win. Certain states, like Oregon, changed their voting laws and are still counting and will be a week from now as they wait for mail in ballots, which by law can be counted as long as they were postmarked within 8 days of the election, to be counted. In addition to that, as Vice President in charge of the Senate, she could refuse to certify the election. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 19:42, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
:::Refusing to certify the election isn't the same thing as 'winning' (even if certain people might think it is...).[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.199|172.70.90.199]] 16:47, 11 November 2024 (UTC)
:Oh, I think everything in this comic speaks that Randall is acutely aware of the results. Meditating on eon-old stones is a mental health exercise. I feel him. - and gave the explanation a try. [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 13:49, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Oh, I ''like'' that title text. It has a poetic quality. (It refers to when various part of animal anatomy first evolved, but does so in a really nice way.) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.24|162.158.74.24]] 08:47, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

I'd suggest that the explanation should at least include the other interpretation of "farther", namely "farther back in time". I think that's the more obvious one, personally: he's saying these rocks are a billion years old, eyes evolved 500 million years ago and that vast abyss of time "stretches back as far as the eye can see ... and then 500 million years farther" [back]. As in, these rocks existed for 500 million years in a world where there were no eyes. Right? I don't know how the future got involved, it seems to be pretty clearly about the past.[[User:ModelD|ModelD]] ([[User talk:ModelD|talk]]) 14:25, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah, that description of 'farther back in time' really seems to make more sense here, since the comic talks about how the rocks were there for roughly that long before eyes existed, and it keeps with the poetic, reflective nature of the rest of the comic, while the future interpretation feels like a bit of a jump from one theme to another. [[User:UnbiasedBrigade|UnbiasedBrigade]] ([[User talk:UnbiasedBrigade|talk]]) 15:03, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
: I concur. This is the interpretation I had before coming to explainxkcd. I think that efforts to make the cartoon be about current events impose a meaning on it that the cartoonist is not yet ready to express. The cartoon appeared very late, and (speaking of imposing a meaning on a cartoon) I imagine Randall struggled mightily to come up with an idea that was not some variation on a fireball of wrath consuming the USA and everything in it. I would also remove the climate-change reference as an overreaching interpretation. For what it's worth, Randall's living depends on computer use by his audience, and computer use is a massive contributor to anthropogenic climate change. I have read repeatedly that, in order to persuade someone to adopt a desired behavior, the proponent has to model it. In this case, by massive reductions in personal energy usage ... which will simultaneously make your life miserable and put you out of the public eye, where no one can see the correct behavior you're modeling. How I learned to stop worrying and love carbon dioxide. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.42.96|162.158.42.96]] 15:13, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::Possibly that was my own doomsday mindset. I see it's been edited to correct this. :-D (N.B.: Fwiw, Randall depending on computers does not mean he can't be worried about and active against climate change.) [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 17:21, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::: Many (most? all?) of us (profess to) worry about topics such as climate change, and sell actions we (think we) have taken to promote "correct" policy and behavior. My point is that, if the actions we sell do not conform to our daily practices, we present ourselves as clueless at best, and deliberately, and self-servingly, hypocritical at worst. Speaking of last Tuesday ... A Doonesbury cartoon, some (egad) decades ago, which I wish I could find, forcefully made the point, by having a Black man respond to Michael D's pontifications about climate change, "You've [deleted] the world with your energy use, so now we don't get to have any?" Ultimately, we will say and do anything that makes us look good to our homies ... until it means me. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.179|172.71.150.179]] 18:31, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::::Most of those ideas to promote "correct" policy are stupid. The POINT of prevent climate change is to ensure our civilization can continue. If we stop living, figuratively OR literally, who will we be preserving the climate for? I don't really care what shape we leave the Earth in for cockroaches, besides, they won't mind either, they can adapt. Therefore, we need to find a way how to make climate better (or not as bad as currently predicted) WITHOUT destroying ourselves. Most likely it means new technology, because new technology solved MUCH more problems in history than appeal to people's altruism and better self. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:19, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::::: I invite consideration of where the energy, and the raw materials (both heretofore abundant, now no longer), for this miracle new tech are going to come from. Being mindful of this site's purpose, I write no more. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.82|172.68.23.82]] 15:30, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
:::::: What about seawater? There's 33 grams of deuterium in every cubic metre of seawater, and quite interesting amount of gold, copper and other metals. Or maybe we will finally start being able to get energy from Sun, I heard there is some progress in that area :-). Or, we can continue appealing to people's better self until people who don't make us extinct. Europe may be willing to commit economical suicide in name of fight with climate change, but China doesn't show any signs of that and is not alone in that. Or, well, cockroaches. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 04:21, 12 November 2024 (UTC)

: There's really no good reason for imaginging the "further" is "further forward" if you've just been talking of looking back. Imagine being given directions to go back towards where you noted a prior landmark and then go further, that wouldn't mean return to here and then go onward again. As such, I've reworded the "future extinction" bit entirely in the other direction (it might mean a different treatment of the "mood explanation" now in the Trivia, but meshes with the comic itself). I pondered adding that, even before 'eyes', there were different phases of light/illumination (and/or shadow) sensitivity that would have meant that day/night (or at least hot vs. cold rocks) and things such as looming predators or overhanging shelter would still have been 'sensed', so being "dark-blind" would have been not necessarily a thing, but instead I just alluded to the Sun still shining (or glowing lava still illuminating, as with the Moon and its pre-fragments whenever they were up above) to aid an actual visit to that era by a time-tourist, and that it's just a selective regression (or a limited degree of retro-posession of any contemporary entity) that leads to "having nothing to see with/by". But to properly expand these extended philosophies in the Explanation would probably clutter up the existing text too much. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.219|172.70.160.219]] 16:53, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Um. Pretty sure this comic has nothing to do with the 2024 election. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.23|162.158.174.23]] 15:14, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
: It seems at least mildly relevant. It's a huge, recent event; of a sort that Randall is known to care a lot about; and the meditative mood being evoked seems appropriate. I wouldn't call it an "election comic" or anything, but the trivial is certainly relevant. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.132|172.69.58.132]] 16:18, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
: I would not be surprised to see this sort of thing unrelated to the current events (it shares a viewpoint given in such as [[1198: Geologist]], which is <s>almost</s> worth an in-article back reference), but I also think that it's not unlikely that the "mood" of the piece (looking back into "the black", perhaps) is prompted by what we can assume Randall is feeling about current events. Not quite the old "Sad Comics" category, but reflective, and different from what we might have seen under more jubilant (for Randall, at least, but also for many others) times down the different trouser-leg of time. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.219|172.70.160.219]] 16:53, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Oops, I read the 16:14 version https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3008:_Proterozoic_Rocks&oldid=356138 , decided to edit the article and didn't notice that it had already been changed. I don't know if I should remove my edit or merge the 2 edits? [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 16:40, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:If this was my edit (regarding the "Further back"), I might remerge (to my satisfaction) if you haven't already.
:I've noticed, recently, that there's ''occasionally'' an inadvertent way past Edit Conflicts without a warning (though I got one just here and just now, because of your edit just above!), which I'm sure used to be better handled. But could just be one of those things. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.219|172.70.160.219]] 16:53, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

I removed the climate change stuff from the Trivia section, since it seems so far removed from this comic. Tying the meditative mood of the comic to the presidential elections was a stretch, in my opinion, but I left that portion there, as I could see someone making that connection, especially given Randall's political opinions. {{unsigned ip|172.71.154.141|18:48, 7 November 2024 (UTC)}}

This comic shows how rocks are the second-coolest thing ever. (The coolest is obviously SPAAAAAACE) -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 13:45, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

This is so poetic (and accurate, except for the numbers), that even a Young Earth Creationists cannot stop from saying, "awww." BTW, for those earliest times we repeat extremely ancient oral tradition, saying that "the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep." Totally consistent with this comic. [[User:Yamaplos|Yamaplos]] ([[User talk:Yamaplos|talk]]) 16:56, 8 November 2024 (UTC)

I was completely baffled/ confused by "2500 to 538.8 million years ago" - what I read was "2500 years ago to 538.8 million years ago," BUT what it means is "2500 million years ago to 538.8 million years ago". I'm a newbie here, so I don't feel like I should edit the actual page [[User:Tarlbot|Tarlbot]] ([[User talk:Tarlbot|talk]]) 20:00, 8 November 2024 (UTC) ''note: four tildes to sign, not three or five''

Talk:3008: Proterozoic Rocks

2024-11-07T20:19:00Z

Hkmaly:

So the last panel refers to the unseen birth of a rock? How are rocks even born?:
:Farther - does is mean father back, or further ahead in time? If ahead it could mean Randall do not think there will be any eyes left to see in 500 million years time. Which is not unlikely. Earth will not stay inhabitable much longer than that (probably 800 million years, then the seas will have evaporated). --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:30, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:A few ways. Fusion likely formed many elements, and neutron star death possibly the rest of the naturally occurring ones. When those started sticking together they would form rocks. The type likely being referred to here is probably sediment being compressed and former a cohesive stone, magma crystalizing, or compression of the latter two types of rocks into different types of rocks. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.124.222|172.71.124.222]] 06:52, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:I think in this context it was by up welling magma and they are only rare because plate tectonics and erosion has recycled 99.9X% of them. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:58, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:First the mommy rock and the daddy rock fall in love... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.175.16|172.71.175.16]] 15:19, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Makes me think of the manga ''Houseki No Kuni'' (''Land of the Lustrous'') and how effortlessly it depicts thousands and millions of years passing in a blink. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.228|162.158.159.228]] 08:00, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Guess Randall didn't want to acknowledge the results. Can't say I blame him. [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 08:16, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:Well it did end in an all black panel... Like his mood. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:30, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:Maybe he thinks she can still win? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.31.39|172.71.31.39]] 13:05, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:Oh, I think everything in this comic speaks that Randall is acutely aware of the results. Meditating on eon-old stones is a mental health exercise. I feel him. - and gave the explanation a try. [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 13:49, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Oh, I ''like'' that title text. It has a poetic quality. (It refers to when various part of animal anatomy first evolved, but does so in a really nice way.) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.24|162.158.74.24]] 08:47, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

I'd suggest that the explanation should at least include the other interpretation of "farther", namely "farther back in time". I think that's the more obvious one, personally: he's saying these rocks are a billion years old, eyes evolved 500 million years ago and that vast abyss of time "stretches back as far as the eye can see ... and then 500 million years farther" [back]. As in, these rocks existed for 500 million years in a world where there were no eyes. Right? I don't know how the future got involved, it seems to be pretty clearly about the past.[[User:ModelD|ModelD]] ([[User talk:ModelD|talk]]) 14:25, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:Yeah, that description of 'farther back in time' really seems to make more sense here, since the comic talks about how the rocks were there for roughly that long before eyes existed, and it keeps with the poetic, reflective nature of the rest of the comic, while the future interpretation feels like a bit of a jump from one theme to another. [[User:UnbiasedBrigade|UnbiasedBrigade]] ([[User talk:UnbiasedBrigade|talk]]) 15:03, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
: I concur. This is the interpretation I had before coming to explainxkcd. I think that efforts to make the cartoon be about current events impose a meaning on it that the cartoonist is not yet ready to express. The cartoon appeared very late, and (speaking of imposing a meaning on a cartoon) I imagine Randall struggled mightily to come up with an idea that was not some variation on a fireball of wrath consuming the USA and everything in it. I would also remove the climate-change reference as an overreaching interpretation. For what it's worth, Randall's living depends on computer use by his audience, and computer use is a massive contributor to anthropogenic climate change. I have read repeatedly that, in order to persuade someone to adopt a desired behavior, the proponent has to model it. In this case, by massive reductions in personal energy usage ... which will simultaneously make your life miserable and put you out of the public eye, where no one can see the correct behavior you're modeling. How I learned to stop worrying and love carbon dioxide. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.42.96|162.158.42.96]] 15:13, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::Possibly that was my own doomsday mindset. I see it's been edited to correct this. :-D (N.B.: Fwiw, Randall depending on computers does not mean he can't be worried about and active against climate change.) [[User:Transgalactic|Transgalactic]] ([[User talk:Transgalactic|talk]]) 17:21, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::: Many (most? all?) of us (profess to) worry about topics such as climate change, and sell actions we (think we) have taken to promote "correct" policy and behavior. My point is that, if the actions we sell do not conform to our daily practices, we present ourselves as clueless at best, and deliberately, and self-servingly, hypocritical at worst. Speaking of last Tuesday ... A Doonesbury cartoon, some (egad) decades ago, which I wish I could find, forcefully made the point, by having a Black man respond to Michael D's pontifications about climate change, "You've [deleted] the world with your energy use, so now we don't get to have any?" Ultimately, we will say and do anything that makes us look good to our homies ... until it means me. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.179|172.71.150.179]] 18:31, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
::::Most of those ideas to promote "correct" policy are stupid. The POINT of prevent climate change is to ensure our civilization can continue. If we stop living, figuratively OR literally, who will we be preserving the climate for? I don't really care what shape we leave the Earth in for cockroaches, besides, they won't mind either, they can adapt. Therefore, we need to find a way how to make climate better (or not as bad as currently predicted) WITHOUT destroying ourselves. Most likely it means new technology, because new technology solved MUCH more problems in history than appeal to people's altruism and better self. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:19, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
: There's really no good reason for imaginging the "further" is "further forward" if you've just been talking of looking back. Imagine being given directions to go back towards where you noted a prior landmark and then go further, that wouldn't mean return to here and then go onward again. As such, I've reworded the "future extinction" bit entirely in the other direction (it might mean a different treatment of the "mood explanation" now in the Trivia, but meshes with the comic itself). I pondered adding that, even before 'eyes', there were different phases of light/illumination (and/or shadow) sensitivity that would have meant that day/night (or at least hot vs. cold rocks) and things such as looming predators or overhanging shelter would still have been 'sensed', so being "dark-blind" would have been not necessarily a thing, but instead I just alluded to the Sun still shining (or glowing lava still illuminating, as with the Moon and its pre-fragments whenever they were up above) to aid an actual visit to that era by a time-tourist, and that it's just a selective regression (or a limited degree of retro-posession of any contemporary entity) that leads to "having nothing to see with/by". But to properly expand these extended philosophies in the Explanation would probably clutter up the existing text too much. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.219|172.70.160.219]] 16:53, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Um. Pretty sure this comic has nothing to do with the 2024 election. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.174.23|162.158.174.23]] 15:14, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
: It seems at least mildly relevant. It's a huge, recent event; of a sort that Randall is known to care a lot about; and the meditative mood being evoked seems appropriate. I wouldn't call it an "election comic" or anything, but the trivial is certainly relevant. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.132|172.69.58.132]] 16:18, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
: I would not be surprised to see this sort of thing unrelated to the current events (it shares a viewpoint given in such as [[1198: Geologist]], which is <s>almost</s> worth an in-article back reference), but I also think that it's not unlikely that the "mood" of the piece (looking back into "the black", perhaps) is prompted by what we can assume Randall is feeling about current events. Not quite the old "Sad Comics" category, but reflective, and different from what we might have seen under more jubilant (for Randall, at least, but also for many others) times down the different trouser-leg of time. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.219|172.70.160.219]] 16:53, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Oops, I read the 16:14 version https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3008:_Proterozoic_Rocks&oldid=356138 , decided to edit the article and didn't notice that it had already been changed. I don't know if I should remove my edit or merge the 2 edits? [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 16:40, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
:If this was my edit (regarding the "Further back"), I might remerge (to my satisfaction) if you haven't already.
:I've noticed, recently, that there's ''occasionally'' an inadvertent way past Edit Conflicts without a warning (though I got one just here and just now, because of your edit just above!), which I'm sure used to be better handled. But could just be one of those things. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.219|172.70.160.219]] 16:53, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

I removed the climate change stuff from the Trivia section, since it seems so far removed from this comic. Tying the meditative mood of the comic to the presidential elections was a stretch, in my opinion, but I left that portion there, as I could see someone making that connection, especially given Randall's political opinions.

Talk:3007: Probabilistic Uncertainty

2024-11-05T02:34:28Z

Hkmaly:

Emotional spirals are useless. I've been coping by pretending we're in scenario 1, it keeps me sane. If I'm wrong, I'll jump off that bridge when we come to it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:23, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:And I have a friend whose strategy is baking. It's both therapeutic and delicious. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:41, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

:I see I don't know US geography well: which bridge you can jump from to leave it? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:34, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

I can't help but think that at preparing for the negative outcome regardless of which outcome is more likely (unless that outcome is *very* unlikely) is a healthy thing to do. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.141|172.71.147.141]] 20:30, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

This comic appeared the day before the 2024 United States Presidential Election. At publication time, polls were strongly suggesting about a 50/50 odds that either major candidate would win. Recent news items included advice from mental-health professionals on how to deal with election-related anxiety. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.195|172.71.167.195]] 20:32, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Definitely related. This should be in the text, not in the comments, frankly. The yanks are going nuts about the election right now. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.124.243|172.71.124.243]] 20:57, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:Did the advice suggested narcotics? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:34, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

My personal policy is to expect and prepare for the worst. That way I can be surprised when it doesn't happen, and not surprised when it does, rather than the other way around. I don't "do" emotions, so it's basically just planning and mumbling colloquialisms involving the digestive system... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.64|172.71.134.64]] 21:31, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

I can't help but feel that it's mostly Democrats that are anxious, where Trump winning is the bad case. Not being an American I don't have much perspective. Are many Republicans likely to also be anxious, and if so, why? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.170|172.69.60.170]] 21:55, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

From what I've seen the ones in public-facing forums seem pretty indifferent. They do talk a lot about election fraud though. {{unsigned ip|172.70.34.117|22:42, 4 November 2024 (UTC)}}

I like that the comic leaves "good" and "bad" open to interpretation.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.83|172.70.211.83]] 22:29, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:He doesn't want to start fights in the comments/discussion pages/replies! Good to see him appealing to no specific demographic in this one. -[[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 22:40, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
::Considering that the "Harris for President" banner is still active, I'm not sure I agree with that. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.4|172.68.22.4]] 22:53, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:::yeah, for that reason i think it's more just so the comic can have further longevity, as this way it can be applied to any number of things with two outcomes, not just the current election [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.193|141.101.109.193]] 00:02, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
::Well, so far so good ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:34, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Re [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3007:_Probabilistic_Uncertainty&oldid=355799 Further, with regards to N/A - the odds of "precisely" 50/50 are probabilistically zero]: Bear in mind that with the Electoral College system and the fact that only 7 US states are "likely in play," we are talking only hundreds or thousands of realistic possibilities. The odds of a 269-269 tie in the Electoral College are far more than 0. One possibility of a tie that is "on the radar" is if the Republicans take Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and the 2nd Congressional District of Nebraska (which is very likely to go Democratic) and the Democrats take Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. If you consider just the 7 "in play" states but Arizona "flips" from Republican to Democratic, there are 3 combinations that yield a 269-269 tie. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.249|172.70.210.249]] 01:29, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Re '''We contacted several researchers who are experts in emotional spirals to ask them, but none of them were in a state to speak with us''': Is it a stretch to think that the emotional-spiral experts were all "in Puerto Rico" (which is not a state), emotionally speaking? In the last week a supporter of one of the candidates insulted Puerto Rico and by extension, people of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican descent, causing an emotional uproar all over the inter-tubes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.210|162.158.90.210]] 01:37, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3006: Demons

2024-11-02T01:15:42Z

Hkmaly:

Instead of an iron pitchfork, he probably uses a silver hammer! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.54|172.71.26.54]] 16:34, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

🤓☝ moment [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]])
20:03, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:Why are his hands backwards??? What did you do to him?! [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 21:36, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

Note that while boiling souls in oil or casting them into flame pit is traditional, multiple authors already made the observation that it's not really that effective and that modern devils would likely go for psychological torture instead. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:15, 2 November 2024 (UTC)

==New category: Infernal Strips==
What do you think about a new Infernal category for strips with demons or in hell? There are quite a few. [[501]], [[533]]... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.10|172.70.47.10]] 17:56, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:I agree. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 18:04, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:: I just tagged a half-dozen strips, but a site admin will have to create the category page itself. It turns out there was some overlap with a "Religion" category, whodathunkit. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.243|172.70.46.243]] 19:01, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:::They were tagged inconsistently (at least two different forms of the category). And as they were all redlinked I undid them all anyway.
:::The proper process is more like:
:::# Say something like ''Hey, I think we need a "Category:<Foo>"'',
:::#* To justify it, identify a handful of comics (or all of them, if you're being thorough). Unless perhaps the comic is called "SOMETHING SOMETHING NUMBER 1" and it very much looks like it's going to be the start of a series, although still might be best to wait for "SOMETHING SOMETHING NUMBER 2".
:::# Get comments (e.g. ''Yes, a good general idea, but it should probably be "Category:<Bar>" to be consistent/accurate/properly-inclusive/etc'') and additions (''Yeah, and comic in #1234 would fit too!'')
:::# When someone who can (e.g. 42, there) decides it's been successfully argued to an agreement (YMMV), they use the final list (and the agreed upon name) to create the category and at least start the process of adding the category memberships.
:::To be honest, though I agree about the relevence of the created [[:Category:Rockets]], as just done, I also think that one was done far too quickly. I'd at least wait a few days after the last "Good idea!", just in case someone who checks in regularly but not frequently (e.g. once a week) has any wise words to add. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 22:14, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

==New category: Classical Thought Experiments==
While I'm at it, I'd also suggest a new category for Classical Thought Experiments, everything from Maxwell's Demon to Schroedinger's Cat to the Trolley Problem. Readers may be familiar with some, but not all of the classical references, and it would be nice to have them all accessible from the same page. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.243|172.70.46.243]] 19:01, 1 November 2024 (UTC)
:I can see something like this being useful. Not ''entirely'' sure of the name, but maybe, and I'm not sure what a better one would be. (To start off the discussion, as described above.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.21|172.70.58.21]] 22:17, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

There's some [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_(thought_experiment) other demons] made famous by thought experiments. I wonder how Maxwell's Demon would get along with the Evil Demon that tricks people into thinking they're 17th century philosophers. And I'm sure Laplace's Demon already knows how they'd get along. [[User:DanielLC|DanielLC]] ([[User talk:DanielLC|talk]]) 23:36, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

Talk:3002: RNAWorld

2024-10-25T00:40:07Z

Hkmaly:

Is any of this specific to Disneyland or could it be Disney World, which would be more fitting for the title? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.93|172.70.43.93]] 18:43, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
:Yes, Ariel is from The Little Mermaid, which is a Disney film, Ratatouille is another Disney film, and Elsa is from Frozen and Frozen II, both of which are Disney films. I believe that RNAWorld is a play on Disneyworld. [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 19:04, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
::I'm sure .43.93, above, understands that they are definitely Disney characters that are equally relevent to either Disney World or Disneyland (or Eurodisney, or...). It's the "World" bit that was important (and now is correctly referenced, so far as I can see). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.10|172.69.194.10]] 19:48, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
:::Pfft. "Euro Disney" is 'so' 1994. It reminds me of the arguments I had with people ~20 years ago who honestly thought the currency in much of Europe was officialy the "Eurodollar". Sure, Joachimsthal is in Europe... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.172|172.71.103.172]] 21:11, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
::::Depends what they meant by {{w|Eurodollar|'officially'}}, and when. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.186.107|172.68.186.107]] 22:08, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

the rat's name is Remy [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 20:06, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

What should we call the girl with the Mickey/Minnie ears? Or is a physical description good enough? [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 01:08, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:Is he not a boy? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.206|172.70.90.206]] 02:59, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
::can't tell tbh [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 06:31, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:::'He' has short hair and no ponytail, so probability 79% a XY mutant (all men are ;-) )' so for symmetry, how about Jack? [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:16, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:::: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1662:_Jack_and_Jill --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.252|162.158.134.252]] 09:07, 24 October 2024 (UTC)

There is no real evidence for abiogenesis. There have been many "theories" through the centuries which are now viewed as pseudo-science. A theory is simply an unproven belief. The number of people who belieeve this unproven belief does not have an affect on whether it is real or wrong. --[[User:Inquirer|Inquirer]] ([[User talk:Inquirer|talk]]) 20:12, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:Once there was not life, now there is. You can argue exactly what form the abiogenesis took, but not that there was something (insert your favourite hypothesis or legend here, to taste) that happened to (at least once, but no less than once) change the state of affairs. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.142|172.70.162.142]] 20:22, 24 October 2024 (UTC)

::You and I agree that life had an origin. But, science is unable to demonstrate, at present, how life came about. Some have speculated that "life" on earth is a result of "seeding".

::Your comment is like arguing that correlation is proof of causation. There have been many innocent people convicted of crimes because of this kind of thinking. In the UK, parliament created a Corpus Delecti law because a man had been executed for a murder and the supposed victim later came home from an overseas trip.

::The point I was making is that the fact that life exists is not proof of how it originated.--[[User:Inquirer|Inquirer]] ([[User talk:Inquirer|talk]]) 21:10, 24 October 2024 (UTC)
:::It is, however, proof that it originated SOMEHOW. Unless you propose that life got on Earth from future. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:40, 25 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2998: Ravioli-Shaped Objects

2024-10-17T05:15:19Z

Hkmaly:

I think its a missed opportunity not to include the 'bulging lithium battery' themed throw pillow.[[User:Xurkitree10|Xurkitree10]] ([[User talk:Xurkitree10|talk]]) 22:04, 14 October 2024 (UTC)
: [https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=455ef0c0e7ccb718&rlz=1C5CHFA_enPT1102PT1103&sxsrf=ADLYWILokQZ6eE3TWl2J_c07q1iHNDGgjw:1729080251272&q=%27bulging+lithium+battery%27+throw+pillow&udm=2&fbs=AEQNm0Aa4sjWe7Rqy32pFwRj0UkWd8nbOJfsBGGB5IQQO6L3J_TJ4YMS4eRay1mUcjRHkZwkNnuzbvXdHSnZt8SI-ypebpRXuYkgug6DK-4Ut13H99ktA8Mqi1OEFqdR-eK48bJa__90OMgplgEoZnWValhUQ343gp_exU8Evdjtace2RF7oLL9h99qRkTgUJWLIWwzoXToL&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj72qjx7ZKJAxVOYPEDHe8mDMkQtKgLegQINxAB&biw=1920&bih=968&dpr=1#vhid=fdx7hJP7669_DM&vssid=mosaic Oh, these actually exist]--[[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.35|172.64.236.35]] 12:07, 16 October 2024 (UTC)
:: Although technically, the pillow itself is normal, it's the overlay / cover which is battery themed. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:08, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

Battery stories.
One of my backup batteries has started bulging so much I wrapped it in duct tape to hold the case onto it. It still works if I joggle the connectors well, but I’m worried.
Another time, I was trying to repair a cell phone but accidentally pierced the battery with my tiny screw driver. It started sparking and smoking and emitting dense dark noxious smoke. I threw it, it landed on a chair and burst into a small fire. The building filled with the dense noxious smoke, setting off all the alarms, coughing, opening the windows. When the fire calmed down (it didn’t spread) the chair seat was burnt in the shape of the battery, as well as the phone was bent and discolored and unusable in every way. But it still had its electronics in many parts. I want to image that flash chip and get my files!
A kid also once told me, they had an old phone they had taken to a very cold event (lithium batteries can hold power in proportion to temperature, so sudden drops could be a problem), and it started emitting s whining nosie. They threw it for safety, and it exploded away from them, according to their story.

Now, people also sell large expanded batteries for cell phones, which don’t fit in the case, and people mod or bend the case to get more power for their phones. Phone hacking, in some areas, has been getting easier and easier as information on it spreads and as design norms for phones stabilise. I used to mismatch phone batteries to save money and waste, but I was young and I would do crazy things like bunching up internal foil from candy wrappers, or bending paperclips, or pulling copper strands from discarded wires, and with my youngster manual dexterity i could measure the right voltages and jam, tape, or solder the disparate batteries to the internal connectors, and forcing the phone back on would then indeed yield things that looked like Randall’s drawings here.

Since traditional lithium batteries stop working after a few years, there’s pressure for people to do home battery mods.

But I bet nowadays you can find all sorts of clear descriptions of how to do these various things much better than I used to all over the internet somewhere, maybe even 3d print designs for parts. Maybe even a robot or drone exoskeleton for your phone, connecting with usb-serial or bluetooth or wifi.

So according to Randall it’s totally safe to use my bulging lithium backup battery (even if a screen is a little cracked)? {{unsigned ip|172.69.59.66|22:29, 14 October 2024}}

Should we create a group/series for comics containing confusion matrices? This now makes 5, with the other 4 being 2963, 2813, 2420 and 1890. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.184|108.162.250.184]] 22:50, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

Nevermind I just realised that this group exists, my bad. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.210.124|172.68.210.124]] 22:53, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

I wasn't expecting a comic about spicy pillows but I think it's awesome that we got one. I do think there should be mention of or links to how to safely dispose of expanding lithium batteries such as [https://www.call2recycle.org/ Call2Recycle] in the explanation, even if it's just to spread awareness about the dangers of spicy pillows and the proper disposal of them. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 23:36, 14 October 2024 (UTC)

spicy pillows yummy [[User:CalibansCreations|'''Caliban''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 07:41, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Shouldn’t the bottomright square be yellow or even red? (I see it is mentioned in the explanation already) - - [[Special:Contributions/172.71.103.178|172.71.103.178]] 09:26, 15 October 2024 (UTC)
: I'm assuming that Randal has the experience in his community of never having an issue with installing an expanded battery. The comic appears to be saying that rumors that this is dangerous are false. But I don't know, maybe he's getting senile. In the "internetizen" or "hacker" spirit of the comic's demographic, trying out alternative approaches than the mainstream is (or was) the celebrated norm, and leads to many new discoveries that are (or were) shared online. There might be more information on irc or twitter. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.129|108.162.245.129]] 23:17, 15 October 2024 (UTC)
:My interpretation is that yellow indicates "weird" rather than safe/practical. Two two yellow-marked squares are no unsafe or impractical, they are merely weird. Having a bulging phone battery is not weird, and because it still functions (despite being dangerous/damaging), it can't be red either. I do think it's an odd choice though, emotionally. [[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 09:41, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

In the phone/pillow square, we can see an edge under the front of the pillow, so maybe Cueball split the phone opened and placed the pillow between the parts. That would explain the red color. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.127.99|162.158.127.99]] 12:43, 15 October 2024 (UTC)
:If the intent is to put each battery/non-battery-substitute 'in' the battery compartment, then this makes sense. Given that it's typically a tight-tolerance fit (so that even a slightly 'blown' battery is hard to insert, or at least get the cover back over), anything bigger than the original battery will protrude, or at least distort the case heavily. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.55|172.71.26.55]] 14:38, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

It seems like Randall forgot to hide the sketch in the bottom left cell. {unsigned ip|162.158.167.83|20:50, 15 October 2024}}

Please do not eat old Samsung batteries. [[User:Psychoticpotato|P?sych??otic?pot??at???o ]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 21:01, 15 October 2024 (UTC)
:Nor drink, nor use as headrests. Thank you fandoor your cooperation. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.191|172.68.22.191]] 23:50, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

: Eating a lithium (IIRC) battery is good for one and those about iff one is a zombie in Z Nation ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3843168/ ) Otherwise? Yikes.
Aside: I'd advise against thinking that xkcd is an advice column. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.213|172.70.134.213]] 02:58, 16 October 2024 (UTC)

:Please do not eat other brand of lithium batteries either, no matter their age. Do not eat Apple batteries. Do not eat Google Pixel batteries. Do not eat Xiaomi batteries. Do not eat Huawei batteries. Do not eat Honor batteries. Do not eat Motorola batteries. Do not eat rechargable AAA batteries. Actually, do not eat non-rechargable AAA batteries either, although those are not lithium-based. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:15, 17 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2998: Ravioli-Shaped Objects

2024-10-17T05:08:48Z

Hkmaly:

Talk:2982: Water Filtration

2024-09-11T22:35:44Z

Hkmaly:

On the activated carbon filter, that's a double entendre, referencing both activated charcoal filters often used in filtration systems and the nearby neutron source, which is radioactivity activating the carbon. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.23|172.71.254.23]] 04:32, 7 September 2024 (UTC)Corsac

There are a bunch of processes shown that are real, but not actually used in water filtration. For example, electrolysis is used to make hydrogen and oxygen gas, and reverse electrolysis is used in fuel cells to produce electricity, but the electricity cost of doing these steps to purify a useful amount of water would be prohibitive. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.14|162.158.159.14]] 06:18, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:On the other hand, it would be a kind of "extra-intense distillation". We already basically have been "distilling water", as I see it, with the autoclave/condenser pairing that would certainly leave any remaining dissolved minerals or particulates behind. By splitting then recombining the component elements (and some basic gas-chromatography process, not shown) then you'd inarguably get water out that's about as pure as you can hope for in even the most {{w|The Waters of Mars|paranoid fantasies}} about the need for clean water.
:...of course, here it's not even the ''most'' energetic attempt to further 'refine' the components of "watery matter", with the assumed luxury of having energy (and indeed water) to burn... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.219|172.69.194.219]] 06:39, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:Yes; I'm wondering if we should be a bit more specific than just "real" vs. "fake". Some of the processes would work, but wouldn't make the water purer; some are impractical but feasible; some aren't possible at all. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 16:10, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Regarding condensers: Condensers are a real method of purifying water, although perhaps not commonly used to demineralize household well water. I frequently buy "purified" water that has been distilled which is simply boiling the water and then condensing the steam into pure water. This is great for use in tea pots or egg cookers or humidifiers to avoid mineral buildup inside the pots. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Regarding adding the well-water back in at the end: "Purified" water is often sold in the baby aisle for use in mixing baby formula, but the labels indicate that minerals have been readded to the water, which of course means it is no longer pure, and would not be useful if I want to avoid mineral buildup in a tea pot. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 14:35, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

This comic made me realize how to fund space exploration: selling "artisinal space water" to gullib- I mean, discerning rich people. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.151|172.69.246.151]] 15:48, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

I have silt, iron, manganese, and microbes in my well.

In a real life, the first step will be mechanical filters: frog-screens, leaf nets, sand or paper media. In my well-water this takes most of the yuck out (as brown sludge).

Home-scale UV treatment is commonly sold (and apparently used; spares available) for spot-treating rural well water. Industrial UV exists for very expensive 'pure water' which must not make anybody sick. ALL water gets germs; UV may have less side-effect than Chlorine or Bromine.

Condensing (and distilling!) are standard household appliances for DIY distilled water. 'Activated' Carbon elements are VERY widely sold for taking taste/smell out of tap water.

"Water softening" (several types) is bog-standard technology out beyond the city mains. ([[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 19:08, 7 September 2024 (UTC) ...cntd below)
:Please sign your comments. And yes, it is. But not immediately before filtering by reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis should remove almost all solutes, so the resulting pH should be very close to 0 and the concentration of no chemical except water should be significant. Water softening before or after is unnecessary. Don't get me wrong; RO is not perfect. But water softening is only ever necessary to remove large amounts of minerals that can leave scale, and that isn't an issue with high-purity water. [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 08:03, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
::NB, the comment ''was'' signed, if you check. This was fifth of sixth straight 'level zero indented' comments. Personally, if I'm not replying (sitting after any number of ":"s, per line) I prefer to add a <code><nowiki> </nowiki></code>-tag to force the linefeed (that isn't rendered, otherwise), rather than make it double-LF and potentially ''look'' like separate contributors.
::It also helps if it's written to look like it's the same contributor (disjointed paragraphs switch narratives seemingly at random don't help... ''especially''), but it isn't foolproof (and unsigned+signed contributions can look like one slightly rambling contributor, hence why signing does need to be added wherever necesary).
::But it's all in the eye of the beholder, some of whom may be the posters concerned and be absolutely sure that the future confusion won't exist. And sometimes (''very'' occasionally), there'll be a wish to interleave a comment specifically against an 'inner paragraph' of the wider message you're replying to. You can perhaps copy the 'official' signature of the original flow, like I did here. Can get messy any which way, of course.
::Some people might even think it better to (at least in non-reply additions, zero-coloned) just stick to one long rambling no-break paragraph. But I usually find that inelegent both in reading the Talk page and in its edit-source. Being terse and to the point perhaps helps, though, if possible. Not that I'm good at being laconic, as you can see! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.48|172.70.163.48]] 11:35, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Of the radioactive treatments, Radon is not mentioned; surely this kills a few germs?
[[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 19:08, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:Using radon would be a bad idea. Even if one got all of the radon out afterwards (e.g. by {{w|sparging}}), it would leave behind radioactive daughter products, as well as the lead at the end of the decay sequences. Granted, {{w|Radithor|radium-enriched water}} was a commercial product, back in the day, but... still a bad idea. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 21:58, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
::Yeah, the philosophy tended to be "if it fluoresces, it impresses!", in the {{w|Radium fad|pseudoscientific quackery}} of the time... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.183|172.69.79.183]] 23:15, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
:Wait ... you have filters which turn frogs to brown sludge? Is that legal? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:24, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
So much that I didn't notice in my first forty minutes looking at the comic while thinking "uhmm wut no! ! !" Y'all are why I come here especially when I think I thought I understood it and didn't need it explained. BTW? Are some for which the explain cannot be complete. The user interactive recent one with squirrels, fans, balls and things that made it kinda a pinball game but most assuredly not (mostly) come to mind. Thank you all. (Edited for clarity}[[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.54|172.70.43.54]] 04:19, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.34|172.70.39.34]] 04:28, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Are we talking about water treatment, water filtration, or water purification? Because blending water and using UV are useful tools in water treatment but are not filtration and are pointless for purification. Treatment is anything done to make the water healthier or more pleasant to drink or better for equipment. Filtration requires physical separation of water from contaminants (which would not count most of these processes, and some, such as electrolysis, kinda break the definition water systems use since they separate at too fine a level to really count as a water filter anymore, despite the comic name). Purification is the elimination of anything that isn't water. I thought part of the joke was that it was supposed to be treatment for home faucets for drinking purposes. I wouldn't care except it would change the classifcation of the columns. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.122|172.70.178.122]] 10:49, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Some references on how hypotonic water doesn't harm human beings:
https://www.medicinenet.com/is_drinking_distilled_water_good_or_bad_for_you/article.htm
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317698#is-it-safe
[[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 12:58, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
:There's degrees of harm. Generally agreed that the danger isn't anywhere as bad as the 'scare stories'. (As per edit-comments, you don't explode from osmotic pressure by trying even a squirt of the ultrapure water sat around in school chemistry labs, but it probably saved having to resupply so much if incautious pupils didn't glug it down constantly.)
:For example, https://www.webmd.com/diet/distilled-water-overview certainly says that it's safe, but still does point out that...
::Distilled water lacks even electrolytes like potassium and other minerals your body needs. So you may miss out on a bit of these micronutrients if you drink only the distilled stuff.
::Some studies have found a link between drinking water low in calcium and magnesium and tiredness, muscle cramps, weakness, and heart disease. Also, distilled water may not help you stay hydrated as well as other kinds of water.
:...and this is reflected in many of the respectable "is it safe/dangerous?" articles. (The medicinenet link you give actually goes into more detail on these points. Don't know about medicalnewstoday, as I can't even easily get past its "privacy notice" 'cookiewall', the way it's configured.) Thus if we're discussing ''why'' we're adding this at all (and end up with "isotonic" being a buzzword, because it sounds better than "flavoured sugar water with some mineral salts"), I had tried to explain why it could be ''thought'' necessary to proportionately undo basically the prior (often unnecessary/improbable) purification process. Couched in terms (I imagined) would not promote the "your body asplode!" myth, either. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.90|172.70.91.90]] 13:33, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

::I don't feel like an edit war, but in fact ions are not lost, period. The gut actively transports ions ''in'', the osmotic pressure difference is nowhere near enough to remove ions that way. You don't get the ions in tap water, but they aren't actually nutritionally significant for essentially anyone.[[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 01:54, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

::: I don't think you're arguing about quite the same thing, if you want my opinion. But - unlike you lot - I'll not expand huge paragraphs on this issue. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.201|172.70.91.201]] 10:29, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

::: You may lose more ions in mouth than in gut. Nevertheless, it's not dangerous amount, and while ions in tap water can be handy and may allow you to survive longer without eating (especially when sweating), if you eat normally, balanced diet, you get much more nutrients in food than in water. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:35, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

"It is unclear what happens to the neutrons present in the oxygen nuclei" They're used in the Neutron Source. [[User:Vkapadia|Vkapadia]] ([[User talk:Vkapadia|talk]]) 20:01, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2982: Water Filtration

2024-09-08T05:24:38Z

Hkmaly:

Talk:2973: Ferris Wheels

2024-08-19T22:49:23Z

Hkmaly: /* Just HOW fast? */

Where is the Cueball shouting "wheee!!"? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:59, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
: Probably dead if he was on the 3rd wheel. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.90|172.70.46.90]] 12:18, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

In the transcript I described how the cars are hanging, but I'm worried I've gone too far from transcript to explanation. Hopefully someone can improve it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:02, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
:No direct explanation and links should be given in the transcript. I have removed it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:31, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

There's no category for "X fired me because" comics. There probably should be. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:06, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
:If you can list some more than this and the one already mentioned [[2935: Ocean Loop]] it might be relevant. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:31, 17 August 2024 (UTC)
::I could not help my self and searched and found these:
:::[[1428: Move Fast and Break Things]]
:::[[1815: Flag]]
:::[[2219: Earthquake Early Warnings]] (title text)
:::[[2728: Lane Change Highway]]
::I also remembered this one [[2447: Hammer Incident]], but it does not say he got fired, although I'm sure he did.
::Same might happen to Steve in [[1532: New Horizons]] but again not mention the fired word.
::Here is one that got fired but not like that [[649: Static]].
::Fired not mentioned but implied here: [[1852: Election Map]].
::Same with this one: [[1985: Meteorologist]]
:::I'm not sure if all comics someone is fired for incompetence should go in such a category, or only those where it is directly mentioned, basically as first suggested? So until someone chips in I'm not going to create the category. For what should the name be and which of these comics should be included? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:58, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

I once attached the motor of a Lego ferris wheel directly to its axis instead of the beginning of the gearing system. Not only did all the cabins fly across the room, the entire thing dismantled itself. Worth it! [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 01:03, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

Re. the trivia - the second wheel may have all its spokes, but the one near the six o'clock position doesn't appear to be moving, which is perhaps even more worrying than the missing one on the first wheel.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.87|141.101.98.87]] 13:59, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

== Just HOW fast? ==

I was vaguely surprised to see nobody had done the math yet. So here it goes -- someone more confident in editing the main entry can feel free to adapt this if you think it's interesting enough (I doubt anyone would want to read the math as I wrote it). But first, someone please check my work. :)

I opened the comic in a pixel-level photo editor and took some quick measurements. The wheel on the left seems to be approximately 160 pixels wide, whiile the inner hub is about 14 pixels high.

So the gear ratio is 160:14 or about 11.04 Just for simplification, let's call it a 10x ratio.

The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferris_wheel#The_original_Ferris_Wheel original Ferris Wheel] took about 20 minutes to load and unload passengers, then ran for 9 uninterrupted minutes for another, full, rotation. So again, let's round up and say the wheel on the left takes about 10 minutes to go around once.

The middle wheel, then, would take a minute. And the last one, a tenth of a minute, or 6 seconds.

The original wheel (again) was about 265 feet【80.77 m】 across, or a circumference of 832 feet【253.59 m】. So if these wheels are the same size (why not?), any car on the right-most wheel would move about 832 feet【253.59 m】 in 6 seconds, or 138 feet【42.06 m】 per second, which is about 94 miles【151.28 km】 per hour (151 kilometers per hour).

I can see why he was fired.

Taking the reverse: The rightmost wheel would take about 10 minutes for a rotation, the middle wheel, 100 minutes (1:40) and the left most, 1000 minutes (16 hours and 40 minutes).

Actually, if you move slow enough that the right wheel can load and unload (let's say 20 minutes, just like the original wheel), it'd take over a day to load the left wheel.

@DarthNull@infosec.exchange [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.87|172.70.175.87]] 20:58, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

This Amusement Ride manufacturer has a helpful diagram of rotational speed on their website: https://www.sinorides.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-ferris-wheels/#q11
The example wheel happens to have 18 gondolas, just like Randall's and appears to be roughly the same scale. The sample values they provide are a linear speed of 4 m/s at the edge of the wheel and a rotational speed of just under 3 revolutions per minute. My best guess at the gearing ratio of Randall's belt driven wheels is 10:1, so if the left wheel is being driven at normal speeds, the center wheel would be 40 m/s or 30 rpm and the left wheel would be 400 m/s or 300 rpm. This exceeds the square root of the specific strength of standard steel, so we'll need to hope that the right most Ferris wheel is made of a particularly strong alloy. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.97|172.69.71.97]] 21:19, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

: Ah, well, I started down my own road for calculations, based upon the assumption that they were 75 feet【22.86 m】 diameter (from the height of the figures, assuming that the ones I actually checked definitively up to 6ft【1.83 m】, give or take, although pixel-counts upon antialiased graphics can be quite inaccurate the fewer 'apparent' pixels there are). As a truck-portable/mounted fairground-style ride, it's probably quite a bit smaller than the 'original Ferris wheel' and many of those 'permanent' wheels (London Eye, theme park rides, etc) that are built specifically to be architectual 'statements'/tourist-magnets. I'm thinking more the kind that you'd see in Grease (though that one's 55-foot【16.76 m】, apparently) or the one that 'Night Monkey' had to deal with in Spiderman: Far From Home. I also looked up [https://www.giantwheel.co.uk/35m-vision-ferris-wheel-hire/ actual specs] (that's 35m, ~105ft【32 m】 and 0.5rpm, so not too far off my initial assumptions). There also was a rather larger 60-metre (197 ft) {{w|Wheel of Sheffield|semi-permanent}} transportable version with 13 minute continuous 'ride', but that'd be completely out of scale to those depicted.
: If there are any actual 'carnies' out there who know what kind of thing actually gets used at County Fairs in the US, that might help. (Here in the UK there's currently a Fun Fair about a quarter of a mile from my house, at the moment - though I'm not there at the moment, but they have no 'big wheels' of that kind, only the more energetic types that ''do'' fling their riders around, like the "Terrifying Claw" and various other heavy duty hanging and/or spinning-seat rides.) ((Slightly ninjaed, now, by the above contribution.))) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.197|162.158.33.197]] 21:37, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

I can't help but think of this as Randall wanting to make an upscaled version of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkiJZKJfpY Steve Mould's Spintronics video] from a year ago... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.126|172.68.50.126]] 21:54, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

Given that air resistance increases exponentially with air speed, this setup would actually act as its own speed regulator, with the main factor being the torque of the power source. Which wheel is powered would not matter much [[Special:Contributions/172.71.118.167|172.71.118.167]] 22:05, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
:Drag is quadratic, not exponential. You aren't trying to quantum tunnel through the air until you reach relativistic velocities, and then length contraction means going faster decreases drag, which doesn't help regulate speed at all. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.49|172.71.146.49]] 21:06, 18 August 2024 (UTC)
::Length contraction or not, if you get to relativistic velocities, the kinetic energy requirements will DEFINITELY go exponential, so it will regulate the speed. Of course, there is no material which would be able to withstand such velocities, so it's just theoretical limit. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:49, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

If you powered the middle one, you'd end up with one moderately exciting ride, one normal ride and one really long ride, which would be highly impractical, but not overly dangerous (depending on the structural strength of the fast wheel). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.142.88|172.71.142.88]] 23:08, 16 August 2024 (UTC)

The ratio is listed as 12.5:1, but then the calculations are done using a ration of 20:1. The 12.5 seems to be more accurate, given the drawing, but in the comments here, someone else measured the pixel ratio as 11.04. I think 10 or 12.5 would be fine, but it should be consistent. Knowing the ratio ahead of time would also make the rotation calculations easier to explain. We should probably use the pixel technique to estimate the diameter too. I don’t have access to measuring tools right now, but it’s about 20 times the height of the tallest person, so roughly 120’【36.58 m】. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.87|172.69.34.87]] 00:32, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

:I am surprised that everyone seems to be doing calculations by counting how wide circes are in pixels and nobody is doing calculations based upon the angle of the (buckets? seats? cars?). What is the fastest speed for the left wheel that leaves the seats hanging down to the precision of the image? What is the slowest speed for the right wheel that leaves the seats splayed out like that? (let's ignore that one seat...) What speed for the center wheel would account for the angles of the seats? Are the answers consistant with the previous calculations based on ratios?

:Also, real ferris wheels stop and start so new passengers can get on. Not only would that change the rim speed vs RPM figures but it would make it hard to unload the corpses and load fresh victims on to the right wheel. :( Source: My summer working as a carny. I was on the tilt-o-wheel but the ferris wheel was right next to it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.126|172.69.34.126]] 13:53, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

::I'm not sure that the physics are depicted accurately enough for that. The net acceleration should be 1g gravity down, plus a radial component depending on the rotational velocity. The 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock positions should have the maximum deflection from hanging vertically. That's kinda the case on the 3 o'clock side, but not the case at 9 o'clock. Note, that ignores wind resistance, but even at the higher rotational speed, wind resistance should be pretty negligible for the middle wheel (9 mph if the existing discussion is to be believed). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.99|172.71.22.99]] 14:44, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

;Are the transcript eds going to go into the speeds depicted?

Should the transcript involve the diameter ratios when explaining the speed depiction gray lines? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.83|172.70.211.83]] 23:06, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
:Such analysis is going towards the speculative. Perhaps we can say that the wheels are <so many> people-heights high, but that doesn't give us any actual definitive speeds to go with the lines, with no actual given first-wheel speed (two minutes a spin? three minutes per spin? thirteen minute 'trips'?). It might be reasonable to mention the hub-to-rim ratio details, but the speed-lines just need to be subjectively described. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.3|172.70.58.3]] 23:24, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
::No explanation and links should be given in the transcript. I have removed it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 19:30, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

By my measurement, wheel1 (outer) is 203 pixels from left edge (at the belt 'grip surface' radius, i.e. as far in as the outer-black-line is before it becomes 'background white' wheel rim), wheel2 hub is 16 pixels (likewise), wheel2 outer is also 203, wheel3 hub is 15 (debatable). Wheel3 (outer) is 202, but the relevence here is more that it's 238 pixels from gondola-bottom to gondola-bottom. (Wheel1 hub is 15, but doesn't even have that relevence.) Can't measure the verticals of the outers, because of the supporting structure, but the the vertical hub measurements agree exactly with the horizontal spreads (which at least means that Randall can draw circles reasonable accurately). 203/16=12.6875, 203/15=13.533... Maybe I should be looking a pixel further out, which gives 204/17=12 or 204/16=12.75. 1:12 (and, by extension 1:144 for the both) seems nicely numbered slightly better and more symbolically than 1:12.5 (or 2:25) and its square (4:625) might be, whatever choice of measurements came up with that. - The tallest figures are 10 pixels high (maybe you could stretch some to 11, depending upon where you 'zero' the ground-line), meaning 20(and-a-bit) figure-heights (some are smaller, single-pixels could be variations/stereotypically slightly smaller females, but I think there are clear child/adolescent figures as part of/all of some groupings, whether by deliberate artistic design or just a matter of how the quick squiggles turned out). 120ft (6 foot figures) is not really far off the 35m mentioned above (with the wrong feetwise equivalent!) as an actual wheel of 0.5rpm. So 6rpm and then 72rpm. 22m radius (taking a decent round figure, whilst metrifying the extended width of the) at that speed seems to be 128g (if I've not messed up), a nice 'round' figure to a nerd. But that'd be at the base of the gondalas, and decrease (bit by bit) if you move even a pixel 'inward' from the that (and a 128g centrifuge isn't going to have a paper-thin floor!)... Plenty of open questions/rooms for error in all that, so not at all worth giving as an Explanation calculation, nor Transcript detail, but it's where I personally ended up. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.134|172.68.205.134]] 00:11, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

Ferb, I know how we're gonna execute war criminals today! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.88|141.101.99.88]] 10:52, 17 August 2024 (UTC)
: Hey, where's Perry's corpse? [[User:B_for_brain|B for brain]] ([[User_talk:B_for_brain|talk]]) ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg4bo-hj-mDyOOUp_Yp0pug youtube channel] [https://bforbrain.weebly.com/ wobsite (supposed to be a blag)]) 17:46, 17 August 2024 (UTC)

Assuming they're 'travelling' wheels, an [https://www.fabbrigroup.com/ferris-giant-wheels/ferris-wheels-14-40/ferris-wheel-26/ 18 gondola version], somewhat like the ones depicted (with a little artistic licence), carries up to 108 people at a time and 720 passengers per hour. So 9 minutes per person-trip (not sure we can say that's one full turn, could be a multiple thereof, depending upon how it is operated, so 1/4.5 rpm or 1/3 rpm, etc). As a further datum point. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.205.179|172.68.205.179]] 23:46, 18 August 2024 (UTC)

There has just been an unpleasant fire on a Ferris wheel in Germany ([https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/18/more-than-20-injured-in-ferris-wheel-fire-at-music-festival-in-germany Guardian article]). Was somebody trying this? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.223.108|172.69.223.108]] 17:43, 19 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2972: Helium Synthesis

2024-08-16T03:07:13Z

Hkmaly:

I had imagined that, rather than destroying the entire universe, they just somehow made a big bang INSIDE THE MACHINE that they could somehow obtain helium from safely. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.109.166|141.101.109.166]] 07:34, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:I get the impression that, like an abbreviated version of the cyclical {{w|Big Bounce}} hypothesis, they did indeed recreate the conditions for a (sufficiently similar) universe.
:The question as to whether they obliterated their current one (in a short-sighted and {{w|Instrumental convergence#Paperclip maximizer|paperclip-maximiser}}-like effort that disregards the safety of their current existence) or create a new instance of universe-within-the-universe (like [[2688: Bubble Universes]], presumably with some way of [[248: Hypotheticals|bringing the stuff out]]) is left open.
:If the latter, it could be that the ''reason'' why each universe's helium-users are chronically short of helium is that their universe ''has'' been used as a source for the next-universe-out's helium by the equivalent outwards recursion of the very same people. (The former would imply a kind of {{w|The Last Question}} situation, only not with the same timing.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.118|162.158.74.118]] 08:25, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that you probably couldn't create a big bang in the lab capable of replaying the events of the current universe exactly without obliterating at least, as the explanation says, all the closest galaxies. If new inflation pushes the existing universe apart, it's still smeared quite thinly outside the new expanding edge.
:::You think in such three-dimensional terms - and I don't mean it as a praise, just like the Borg Queen. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:07, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
::But I really like the idea, it's kind of like Rick's car battery in ''Rick and Morty'', one of my favorite episodes. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.4|172.70.210.4]] 08:34, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:::What if inflation doesn't disturb the matter and space around it, it just shrinks the apparent size of the matter inside it to create the expanded space relative to observers inside, by curving the interior spacetime and distorting the gravitational field to block it from its surroundings? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.45|172.70.206.45]] 10:04, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::::Black hole universe, anyone? https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.11608 video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71eUes30gwc [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.192|172.71.147.192]] 18:16, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:::[https://wiki.lspace.org/Roundworld Universe within a (continuing) universe] isn't exactly hard to imagine. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.216|162.158.33.216]] 13:07, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Could this comic maybe be a reference to a certain popular space video game? Sadly, in what I call a reverse spoiler, I cannot tell you which game I mean without massively spoiling that game. I hope some people know which one I mean and can reply basic on that guess. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 09:30, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
:If it's [https://www.mobiusdigitalgames.com/outer-wilds.html Outer Wilds], there's nothing here that's a gameplay spoiler, is there? Just for a pretty small part of the story, right? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.55|162.158.187.55]] 10:08, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
::[not OP] It's a pretty big story spoiler and it could be considered a gameplay spoiler indirectly, or it could it there was more specifity. It's fine to discuss it here. Most xkcd fans would love that game even if they can only watch play-throughs, I reckon. So I consider the discussion here a net positive, really, and I suspect most of the authors would too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.36|162.158.91.36]] 17:19, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2962: President Venn Diagram

2024-07-23T03:52:00Z

Hkmaly:

Another really timely comic. Biden just dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris yesterday. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Forget Biden, Hillary, and Obama. This is the endorsement that counts. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.23.199|172.68.23.199]] 01:58, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I suppose no one is allowed to say that the upper right circle is mislabeled. It was supposed to say incompetent, dishonest, and despicable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.25|162.158.90.25]] 02:07, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Well Kamala, you had a good run. Randall has the touch of death when it comes to picking political candidates. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.39|162.158.154.39]] 03:02, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

Randall angling for VP? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 02:59, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

I think Randall would be good president. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:52, 23 July 2024 (UTC)

The layout of this Venn diagram reminds me of https://xkcd.com/112/

Talk:2947: Pascal's Wager Triangle

2024-06-18T09:44:03Z

Hkmaly:

Apparently, if two people are writing a first draft at the same time, the wiki appends one to the other. Welp. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 02:29, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
:If you add another one it puts it beside the second, and you have Pascal's explanation.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.102|172.70.85.102]] 08:33, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

Some religions (such as my own) prohibit polytheism, so that's an added wrench in the works. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.119|141.101.98.119]] 06:56, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
: I think MOST religions are quite strict about the idea that you are supposed to CHOOSE single religion, preferably the one in question, and not trying to cover all bases by believing in multiple ones. Which is the answer to Pascal's Wager: choosing wrong God is likely to result in worse punishment than choosing none, so better NOT believe. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 09:44, 18 June 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2945: Broken Model

2024-06-13T21:34:00Z

Hkmaly: /* Carnivorous grass? */

If only Randall had included a cabbage somewhere... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.64.241|172.68.64.241]] 05:03, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:He included grass... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:50, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:The cabbage would consume nothing & nothing would consume the cabbage; it's a null value, so the mathematician left it out.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:55, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

This "terrifying alternate universe" thing goes all the way back to the 5th century before the Common Era:

The lion shall lie down with the lamb, and they shall eat grass.
Alas for the lion! He cannot eat grass, he shall be no more, unless he become a lamb.
Alas for the grass! There are too many lambs, it cannot grow, it shall be no more, unless it become thorns.
Alas for the lambs! They cannot eat thorns, they shall be no more, unless they eat each other -
yea, unless some become lions, and they eat enough lambs so that the grass may grow again.

Ergo, Heaven is Hell. QED. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.22.177|172.68.22.177]] 06:09, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:Yep predators are important, but only if they are the 20 and the prey are the 400. Else it is extermination for the prey. And if the predators only eat those kinds of animals also the end for them. Luckily the rabbits could eat grass. But what should the grass eat now there are no more foxes? ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:50, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

I wonder if the term ''hell'' is a reference to the paper [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24310043_A_slow_life_in_hell_or_a_fast_life_in_heaven_Demographic_analyses_of_contrasting_roe_deer_populations A slow life in hell or a fast life in heaven: Demographic analyses of contrasting roe deer populations] (2009). I couldn't find any earlier mention in this context. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.130.199|172.71.130.199]] 07:51, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:It's probably a reference to the realm mentioned in most religions where eternal punishment is dished out to uncool individuals based on their bad deeds. "Hell" is the reference here, not an article on deer populations, lol. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 17:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Anyone else with a sudden urge of writing a Zootopia fanfic ("No, Judy, NOOOOO!")? (Oh yes, the relevant pic exists. This is teh Internet.) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.174|198.41.242.174]] 08:44, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

That last paragraph is completely incomprehensible at time of writing. --[[User:Mushrooms|Mushrooms]] ([[User talk:Mushrooms|talk]]) 11:37, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Apparently, AI doesn't have a problem with redundant content - for example, the double mention of "Fox Hell" in the Title Text with two separate paragraphs. The AI generator also seems intent on commenting excessively on typical xkcd humor patterns. I feel like some of this extra AI content needs to be trimmed down just a bit, as it doesn't add value and just makes it look like a school essay instead of a human-readable explanation. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:44, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:Agreed.
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 16:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

It's rather obvious LLM was used here, especially the part where it only mentions the teacher saying "If this were an ecology class, I would have to fix that." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.32|162.158.146.32]]

== Carnivorous grass? ==

I feel like this grass exists, even though I've never seen it named. Looks like grass, but puts out thorns tough enough to penetrate bike tires, & can sometimes be found as a patch growing extra thick around a snared animal carcass?

: A quick search suggests that "carnivorous grass" with features like this is a trope in world-building games. However, you may be thinking of this {{w|Puya chilensis|real-world South American bromeliad}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.128|172.71.150.128]] 17:45, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Couldn't fungi be classified as carnivorous "grass"? [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 18:00, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
: I would say it would be stretch considering fungi is neither grass nor carnivorous. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 21:34, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2942: Fluid Speech

2024-06-06T00:10:29Z

Hkmaly:

I've noticed that this doesn't seem to be the case in all languages. For example, when native Polish speakers talk rapidly (even when speaking English), they enunciate every sound accurately in quick succession while flattening out the tone and rhythm of their speech. I wonder if this is because Polish is an inflected language where the grammar of the sentence is determined by endings of words rather than word order. Does anyone know if there have been any studies on this? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.49|162.158.74.49]] 23:12, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

:I'm not linguists but based on how many those are, definitely. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:10, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2932: Driving PSA

2024-05-14T19:59:30Z

Hkmaly:

Did the best I could on the explanation, even if it's a bit clunky. [[User:Trogdor147|Trogdor147]] ([[User_talk:Trogdor147|talk]]) 03:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Pretty lame strategy. Even with someone waving me on, when I get past them I'll look to the right to make sure. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:22, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: Right? Just pull into the median in front of the left-turners, then re-assess the situation. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 12:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
::Just an FYI: It's illegal to use turn lanes for merging, & illegal to wait mid-intersection. By law, you must not enter the intersection until the right-of-way is clear. No stopping partway through; that can get you a ticket.
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:07, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:: As a pedestrian (amongst my other road-uses), I occasionally have to cross a two-lane carriageway (to the median, then across the opposite two-lane carriageway) near a junction (roundabout, in the UK; and the first lane dedicated to turning in (left, equiv. to a US right-turn) to the side-road) and the initial lane is often either entirely empty or jammed up by those trying to turn into the retail park that sits there. I have to juggle the kindness of drivers who will slow (or stay stopped) to let me across their lane with the possibility of having other (faster-moving) traffic still coming up on the other lane. It's possible to use the twixt-lane white line as a kind of unofficial demi-median (the stopped driver will not forget that they let you go there), but I'd rather not surprise the through-traffic lane by giving them an alarming glimpse of a pedestrian maybe about to step out in front of them, so I might try to indicate to the kind driver (with friendly gestures) that I'm observing someone coming up on their offside (due to slight bend, on entry to the junction, they might not see them in their own offside mirror), perhaps even then stand back and wave them past because ''I'' can see a glut of offside traffic, from my head-height position. Or just avoid those times of the day when there's heavy shopping/commuting traffic causing that sort of problem.
:: (Yes, it ''is'' a proper crossing point. Dropped kerbs for those that need dropped kerbs, though not given pelican/zebra/etc explicit crossing markings and signage. An alternate way 'across' is a walk down to a canal that the onward road crosses by bridge, under that bridge on the tow-path and then back to meet the opposite side of the road.)
:: The junction-exit carriageway is far simpler. You can see when traffic is coming down the through-road ''or'' spinning round the island from the RP exit (or U-turning from the first carriageway!) and either there's a third-of-a-mile queue backed up from the next junction or there's no traffic impeding those going that way to leave me with space to cross.
:: The opposite crossing is a matter of the 'easy' junction-exit carriageway (as just given) plus an unrestricted view of the fast-lane, but then you need to catch the eye of any queued turn-lane vehicles (and look at what round-the-roundabout traffic might be holding the front of that queue up, in the near future) to make sure that when you take advantage of a clear offside then the subsequent nearside cars don't start shuffling up. And recognise the oblivious/inconsiderate/obtuse drivers by their general road positioning and attitude at the wheel. (It's a bit of an art, but stood me in good stead so far.)
:: There is also, elsewher, a ''particularly'' akward right-turn (UK, remember) onto a mainish road, that I sometimes need to drive round. It comes in as single-becoming-double lane, but these days that double is buslane and singular other (from the right, the double-becoming-single is also buslane nearside, except for inward turners who aren't in contention with me but ''are'' potentially view-blocking). Between the two carriageways (which merge, at the single-lane side, as two standard single contra-carriageways beyond an actual light-controlled staggered pedestrian crossing) is the central turning refuge that I potentially need to pause in to turn right, and left-approaching traffic may need to pause in (crossing my path) to turn into the road I'm emerging from. The most problematic are the turning-in cars that ''don't signal'' (or far too late), given that everyone (not a bus) has to keep right anyway on this widened stretch, but some of them are keeping right in order to turn right. And driver-to-driver visual communication (or even seeing if they're glancing in your direction/meeting your questioning gaze) is isn't helped by angled windscreens often drowning out (apparent) driver-on-driver visibility by the reflection of the sky above. So it pays to be cautious, and taking a moment before taking apparent cues (arm waves, light flashes, etc) as you think they might be intended. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.248|172.70.160.248]] 15:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Maybe they're not trying to kill Randall, but the person in the other lane. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.225|172.71.154.225]] 05:00, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:It doesn't even need to be a fatal crash. Maybe the person in the other lane is an obstetrician who will intercede in a complex childbirth, and this "accident" will be major enough that that no longer happens, and the child dies... [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 06:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
::Or possibly the aim is actually to engineer a meet-cute between Randall and the driver of the other car, so that a critical birth can (eventually) take place...[[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.249|172.70.160.249]] 08:24, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:::Well now I want to see a movie where there is a tragic accident and the dying words of one character to another that survives is to take care of their spouse (critically injured in said accident) and their turbulent and tumultuous relationship as they try to get over both survivors guilt and potentially blaming themselves/each other for the death of that first character. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.21|172.70.38.21]] 19:37, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Just curious, as I'm from Germany - does the USA have no traffic lights? [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.210|198.41.242.210]] 07:15, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: They do, and they are placed where you can actually see them --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 12:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: They do, and they're placed where they can be used for Captcha challenges.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.81|172.70.86.81]] 14:28, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Uncontrolled intersection with a left turn onto a 4-lane road? US road design, combined with US car-centric settlement planning, must have been made by those more clever, trying-harder assassins that Randall mentions in the title text, and it looks like they've got a lot of people on their list. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.229.131|162.158.229.131]] 07:20, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

: If it was a single lane street, and not three-lane road (or stroad), then accepting granting the right of way / waving in would be perfectly safe (assuming that you watch left). --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 07:23, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: This is very common in some areas such as Tucson, AZ. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.66|172.70.214.66]] 17:11, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
Ok, but... time traveller asassins don't get sent for random harmless people? Getting not one, but MULTIPLE asassins hell-bent on offing him suggests he's going to do something incredibly bad for the world that they're trying to prevent?? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.68|162.158.103.68]] 08:35, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: Randall isn't random and it's not entirely clear that he's harmless either.{{unsigned ip|172.70.91.146}}
: It seems reasonable to guess that the future assassins were sent to prevent Randall from writing this very same strip, as it was thwarting many of their other future asassination attempts. [[User:Rumormonger Omega|Rumormonger Omega]] ([[User talk:Rumormonger Omega|talk]]) 14:40, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: You are assuming the assassins are "good guys", it is just as likely that Randall will do something that most of us would regard as a good thing but it impedes the assassin's, or their master's, evil plan; akin to Skynet sending the Terminators to kill Sarah/Young John Connor to remove the human resistance as an effective counter to the machine uprising. There's also the possibility that Randall is part of a "butterfly effect" scenario where he doesn't directly do anything of note, but something he does will have downstream effects that result in someone else doing something impactful to the assassin's preferred future.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.56|172.70.135.56]] 16:01, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
: It's quite obvious that one of examples in What If 3 will be used to win World War IV. The assassins from losing side are trying to prevent writing the book, hoping that without it the other side never get so crazy idea. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:59, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Oh boy, a comic about my second-greatest pet peeve on the road! Now if only we could have an xkcd guide to using the acceleration lane. [[User:Phil Srobeighn|Phil Srobeighn]] ([[User talk:Phil Srobeighn|talk]]) 09:51, 14 May 2024 (UTC)
:...and turning signals... [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 09:53, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

A corollary PSA would be to ignore the gestures of any passengers in the other car. I've seen passengers in the front seat wave people to go ahead, without the agreement of the person actually driving the car.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.45|172.70.178.45]] 10:29, 14 May 2024 (UTC)Pat

I don't even drive and I hate these people lmao [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 12:40, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

A discussion of the liability issue in this situation. [https://www.allenandallen.com/can-i-be-successfully-sued-for-waving-a-car-in-front-of-me/#:~:text=Yes%2C%20you%20can.%20There%20are%20circumstances%20in%20which,be%20legally%20liable%20for%20injuries%20and%20financial%20losses.] [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 15:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

I remember when taking my driver's education class (in New Jersey, in 1987), the instructor made a point of teaching us to ignore civilians waving and to never wave other traffic anywhere. If you wave a car in this manner, and it ends up getting into a collision, you can be held liable for the damage. You could also be charged with directing traffic without authorization - something typically only done by law enforcement officers and road construction crews. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 17:27, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

==Churchill's Law==
Just to reframe "''Car that they are waving you into the path of''" into an awkaward phrase NOT ending in a preposition: "''Car into the path of which they are waving you''". (The Churchill thing is a myth, though <https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/04/churchill-preposition/> .) {{unsigned ip|162.158.134.225}}
: Yuck - that construction needs waving into the path of an oncoming car. Or possibly it already has been.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.183|172.69.43.183]] 14:31, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2930: Google Solar Cycle

2024-05-09T19:30:35Z

Hkmaly:

When I opened the page I found a bunch of vague misspelled content (maybe spammers or bots? I don't know) so I updated the explanation. Not very knowledgeable about most things, though, so it probably still is not good enough. [[User:DNA Diva|DNA diva]] ([[User talk:DNA Diva|talk]]) 01:10, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:Looking at the first couple of user-edits ("first" Explanation and subsequent Transcript edit), I think they were 'rushed' in order to establish the whole "first"ness and/or escape possible Edit Conflicts (probably needlessly, looking at timings). Not precise enough to be 'AI bot' text (accuracy being different, of course), and no obvious spam-intent.
:Could have done with more care to be taken, so as not needing to be ''entirely'' revamped by the likes of yourself, somewhat diluting the 'kudos' and making the little effort taken almost entirely pointless. But I like eagerness. Next time, perhaps, a bit of care will go into the mix and we'll be on the way to another useful contributor. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.4|172.71.242.4]] 04:58, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

This comic got me to search about [[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]]) solar flares too.

Contrary to the current explanation, it appears you can search for [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%207-d&geo=US&q=Cocktail%20recipe,Hangover%20cure&hl=en cocktail recipe searches vs hangover cure searches] at a sub-daily resolution. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.103|108.162.210.103]] 07:51, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:As of my check, just now, I find it very funny that the (current) state-map attached to that result seems to indicate that every state trend predominantly is for searching for cocktails, between the two options. Except for Wyoming, which is solidly the one and only "hangover" state. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.115|172.70.90.115]] 10:35, 9 May 2024 (UTC)~
::It's likely because there's only like 7 people living there. Looking worldwide, Nigeria is the only "hangover country". [[User:Tcf|Tcf]] ([[User talk:Tcf|talk]]) 13:51, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:::And Russians drink but don't have hangovers. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.185|172.69.22.185]] 16:04, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
::::They do. But they probably don't need to search for cure as they already know. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:30, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

Google solar cycle? Ok. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.143|172.68.58.143]] 13:46, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

If cocktail and hangover cure searches are both purely diurnal, it would be difficult to tell which comes first. But there's actually a larger cycle of the daily peak volumes. When you compare these two graphs, you can see that the hangover line follows the cocktail line. This strongly suggests a cause and effect. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:13, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

==Spike of March 8, 2012==
As far as [https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=2012-03-01%202012-03-31&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F0f81b&hl=en-US the spike about 12 years ago], there was [https://www.space.com/14842-biggest-solar-storm-earth-effects.html this]. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.149|162.158.175.149]] 00:54, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:Speaking of spikes, [[what if? (blog)|what if]] the internet and Google Trends had existed in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event 1859]? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.166.135|172.71.166.135]] 00:59, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
::...we'd still be repairing the infrastructure damage in 1860? ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.4|172.71.242.4]] 04:58, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:::...our entire society as we know it would've collapsed long ago. [[User:Psychoticpotato|Psychoticpotato]] ([[User talk:Psychoticpotato|talk]]) 12:36, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
::::Maybe it did and we actually had the internet in 1859 but the solar storm was so bad that it wiped out any traces of it as well as people's memories of it. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.72|172.71.22.72]] 19:21, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

==Correct URL?==
Is this the correct URL for the query? It's a lot more jagged than I was expecting. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F0f81b&hl=en Thanks~
:I second this comment, and wish to ask what exactly Randall's settings were on, because "worldwide" and "2004-present" don't match the comic.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.63|162.158.114.63]] 13:45, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
::Neither do "United States" and "2004-present". For future record, the worldwide graph has a peak of 100 in 2011 and other peaks in the low dozens in 2014, 2017, 2021, and a mere 25 in 2024. [[User:Tcf|Tcf]] ([[User talk:Tcf|talk]]) 13:51, 9 May 2024 (UTC)
:::The actual peak is in March 2012, not 2011. If Randall's "y axis" is set to 2005, then the peak is correctly shown, and the "11 year gap" appears to be 2013-2024. But the Y-axis doesn't appear to be to scale, at least not a linear one. But hey, it's a freehand-drawn comic, so I'm okay with a little imprecision. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.26.25|172.68.26.25]] 16:04, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2929: Good and Bad Ideas

2024-05-07T18:49:54Z

Hkmaly:

Lots of bread/food in the "good" quadrant; I think Randall is hungry. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.73|162.158.154.73]] 05:33, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Soup always seems like a very good idea to me. I guess I like soup. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.182|172.69.79.182]] 07:15, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

I remember something like this in what if. [[Special:Contributions/SectorCorruptor|SectorCorruptor]] 07:21, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:The title immediately reminded me on the Animaniacs shorts "Good Idea / Bad Idea" [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:33, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Does anybody know why solar cars and transitions lenses are actually a bad idea? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.173|172.70.160.173]] 09:11, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:Transitions lenses are misplaced. The only caveat is that if you like outdoor photography (landscapes, wildlife, etc.) you should get grey lenses rather than brown ones, because the brown ones make a blue sky seem overcast. [[User:Pjt33|Pjt33]] ([[User talk:Pjt33|talk]]) 09:22, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
::The precise opposite is true. Grey lenses make ''all'' things - blue sky included - look greyer, as is perhaps unsurprising. Brown tints involve a degree of orange, which means the overall impression is of a "warmer" colour pallette, rather than simply a duller one. There is a reason that "grey skies" and "overcast" mean ''exactly'' the same thing - an overcast sky ''is'' a grey tinted filter. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 09:48, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:I think the Transition lens issue is primarily that the bright light that can turn them dark need not be heading into the eye. With the Sun (say) off at an angle, it could be 'reacting' your lenses to dark needlesly, and reducing your ability to discern the things in front of you (which may be in shadow), working against the basic ability of the eye to adjust itself as per observed illumination.
:Conversely, a small bright light would not sufficiently darken the lenses but be still damaging to the spot(s) it falls upon in your retina (or do the "whole lens go dark" thing and ''still'' be too bright even as you can't see anything else beyond it). This might also be combined with the general secondary problem of potentially all regular sunglasses/goggles, that aren't industrial-grade or specific solar-specs, in that it might make it ''look'' safe to stare at bright things/skies through them but you cannot tell how much UV/etc is also being filtered out (some brands do have notable UV protection, but you really have to trust their claims/certifications – unless you have your own testing kit and knowledge of how much is good/bad anyway).
:I'd add that, but it needs a sharper explanation than I just gave. I'd like to make what's already there snappier, before that, plus correct the numerous typos and funny formatting (and lack of useful wikilinks), but will probably leave that to others with the time. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.204|172.71.242.204]] 10:08, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Just as a note while we're here: "fecal transplant" is one of the most spectacular branding failures in the history of medical science, in my opinion. I mean, don't put the word "fecal" in anything you want people to feel positively about. And "microbiome transplant" is sitting right there, ready to serve.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.37|108.162.242.37]] 10:44, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Double plug cords are VERY MUCH a bad idea. Used mostly to plug generators into an outlet to power a house, it tends to harm people working on the power lines who were not expecting them to be charged when the power was out. The statement about them being hard to use, is quite the understatement. OSHA, written in blood. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.103|172.70.115.103]]

How can soup be bland? There are bland soups, spicy soups, sweet soups, savory soups ... you can't call an entire very broad category of food "bland" like that. It makes no sense.[[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:46, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:I think they may have meant bland as in boring, not tasteless. I'll tweak it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:20, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Citation format needed. (heelies) {{unsigned ip|172.70.178.103|12:57, 7 May 2024}}
:''Summary: (I don't know how to format correctly.)'' - no, you don't...
:For a link to an external URL, writting <code>[the_url]</code> will give you a "linked number", but a better format is using <code>[the_url text to replace]</code> (with a space betwixt the URL and the text that will link to it. e.g. [https://google.com a link to google] from <code><nowiki>[https://google.com a link to google]</nowiki></code>.
:There are full on citation/reference methods, but mostly I wouldn't bother with <nowiki><cite> and <ref> tags</nowiki> at all.
:Internal links, with [[]]s, and template-based ones, with {{}}s (e.g. the nicely-linking shortcut to wikipedia pages), use a pipe (the "|") between the sections. But you should be able to work that out by looking at what is already in the edit-source.
:If in doubt, Preview your intended change and see if it looks right. I'll let you correct your contribution. Or whoever else wants to shake up the whole article, as it has multiple problems from spelling mistakes to inconsistent style to repeating information and it needs a lot of rationalising that I can't even think of doing right now. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.113|172.69.195.113]] 14:09, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
::I didn't realize we actually have no citation templates. Quite a few pages have the actual citation needed template but not many of them ever get those citations. I think a lot of citations get put in just as external links. I probably should've done that but I was like oh I know how to do this from my small amount of Wikipedia editing, I'll just use the cite web template... oh we don't have that. So rather than just do an ad-hoc link I created the citation in my Wikipedia sandbox then manually recreated the formatting. But now it feels weird and out of character for this wiki so maybe someone should just change it to a link. idk, maybe being inconstant is exactly what is in-character for this wiki. [[User:Brycemw|Brycemw]] ([[User talk:Brycemw|talk]]) 15:10, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

As a Columbus native, I am HIGHLY offended by this anti–rectangular pizza slice speech. Rectangular pizza is by far the BEST shape that a pizza can be. (I'm not really offended, but I really do think rectangular pizza is superior.) [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.229|108.162.216.229]] 14:04, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
:Sicilian pizza should be square and cut into square slices, Neapolitan pizza should be round and cut into sectors. The extra thickness of Sicilian means you don't eat it by holding the crust and folding, so the shape of the slices is less critical. But this does mean that the middle slices have no crust around the edges. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:25, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Leaded gasoline isn't to reduce *noise*. The noise is a symptom of detonation (aka knock), which is the real problem. Knock is caused by pressures and temperatures high enough and for long enough to detonate the fuel/air mixture (as opposed to the deflagration initiated by the spark plug at a set time), and can result in engine damage. Leaded gasoline (through complicated chemistry) increases the pressure/temperature required to get that detonation, and thus allows the engine to be designed to run at higher temperatures and compression ratios, which is where the efficiency improvements come from. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.39.41|172.70.39.41]] 14:38, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Maybe, cross-reference "Sliced bread" to [[1065:_Shoes]] and [[1885:_Ensemble_Model]] (with sliced bread in both comic and title-text).

I think that the phrase "best thing since a sliced bread" refers to sliced bread in general (as opposed to eating the bread directly or tearing pieces of it) and not specifically bread pre-sliced before buying.

Also, heat pumps, whole not DESIGNED to heat by itself, actually have a limit for how big difference in temperature they can operate in. Outside this limit, they work quite badly and only by heating by itself.

Finally, soup is GREAT idea. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 18:49, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

2926: Doppler Effect

2024-04-29T18:20:36Z

Hkmaly: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2926
| date = April 29, 2024
| title = Doppler Effect
| image = doppler_effect_2x.png
| imagesize = 671x317px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Doppler effect is a mysterious wavelength-shifting phenomenon which seems to primarily affect sirens, which is why the 🚨 emoji is red.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an ALARMED BOT THAT GOES... - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Miss Lenhart]] is teaching a class about about the concept of {{w|redshift}} and using the {{w|Doppler effect}} as a demonstration. However, she gets distracted by how cool sirens are and doesn’t explain fully the concept of redshift.

In the second and third panels, Miss Lenhart talks about the strange noise sirens (and cars) make when the pass you. The usual explanation of Doppler effect is that this noise is created because the sound waves are compressed in front of the car due to it traveling in the same direction of the waves, similare to how a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=204&v=436i_cTdtVo&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo bullet fired forward from a car]] gains the cars extra speed. The compressed waves create a louder, higher pitched sound, then as the car passes, the noise gets considerably softer and lower. The latter is because the waves are now being stretched out as they are moving in the oppisite dirrection of their "creator", like a gun shot backwards from a car. However, Miss Lenhart doesn't make this usual explanation and instead starts talking about how cool sirens are.

Redshift is the same concept applied to wavelength of light and stellar objects. Red has longer wavelength than blue, and stars gets red when they move away from us and blue when they move towards us. We usually talk about redshift and not blueshift because while stars in our galaxy can move in any direction, the other galaxies are all moving away from us, and in fact they are moving quicker the father away they are, due to universe expanding.

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

:[Miss Lenhart is pointing with a stick to a whiteboard with various scientific drawings and words, including but not only a graph.]
:Miss Lenhart: The more distant a galaxy is, the redder its light.
:Miss Lenhart: Why? Well, that's an interesting question.

:[Zoom in on Miss Lenhart.]
:Miss Lenhart: Ever notice how, when a siren is approaching, it sounds like ''Bweeeeeeeeee''...

:[Zoom in on Miss Lenhart with her arms raised.]
:Miss Lenhart: ...but then it zooms past and goes ''Nyeeeooooowww?''
:Miss Lenhart: And sometimes they hit a button that makes it go ''Pyeew! Pyeew!'' really loud?

:[Miss Lenhart with her finger raised is standing in front of the whiteboard and holding the stick down.]
:Miss Lenhart: And in Europe they go ''Ooooeeeeooooeeee...''
:Off-panel voice: So ''why'' are galaxies red?
:Miss Lenhart: Oh, no idea.
:Miss Lenhart: Anyway, another siren I like is...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2923: Scary Triangles

2024-04-23T01:19:02Z

Hkmaly: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2923
| date = April 22, 2024
| title = Scary Triangles
| image = scary_triangles_2x.png
| imagesize = 303x369px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Concealed mostly beneath the surface, sharks are the icebergs of the sea.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the [http://www.atlanticconservationpartnership.com/conservation-research/bermuda-shark-project Bermuda Triangle] - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic jokes that some may only think that the floating triangle is the entire {{w|shark}}. However, this is not the case.{{Citation needed}}

Meanwhile, {{w|iceberg}}s are usually described as having 90% of their volume underwater.

The title text continues the joke explicitly saying that sharks are icebergs of the sea, except icebergs are already of the sea.

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

{{comic discussion}}

2923: Scary Triangles

2024-04-23T01:17:12Z

Hkmaly: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2923
| date = April 22, 2024
| title = Scary Triangles
| image = scary_triangles_2x.png
| imagesize = 303x369px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Concealed mostly beneath the surface, sharks are the icebergs of the sea.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by the [http://www.atlanticconservationpartnership.com/conservation-research/bermuda-shark-project Bermuda Triangle] - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic jokes that some may only think that the floating triangle is the entire shark. However, this is not the case.{{Citation needed}}

Meanwhile, icebergs are usually described as having 90% of their volume underwater.

The title text continues the joke explicitly saying that sharks are icebergs of the sea, except icebergs are already of the sea.

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

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-19T20:55:17Z

Hkmaly:

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

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

::{{w|NASA}} disagrees. [https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/ Exoplanet Archive] shows 5612 confirmed planets. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:55, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

As for question 9, please see the note about the history of Austrailia's capitals at: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_national_capitals#Oceania]]. and the page regarding countries with multiple capitals [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_multiple_capitals]] [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:24, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

About the alt text, London is certainly in Europe. The question itself is malformed because "Europe (or 'the EU')" is not self-consistent: there is a lot of European countries that are not part of the EU. [[User:RedGolpe|RedGolpe]] ([[User talk:RedGolpe|talk]]) 14:32, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:The "Greater London" answer is also tricksy, as the "ceremonial county" of GL {{w|London boroughs|may not include}} the additional area of the City Of London (though it does include the City Of Westminster, which is sometimes the trick answer to certain trick questions that a quizmaster might attempt to pull). The ''administrative'' Greater London is the ceremonial one ''plus'' CoL, however... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.19|172.70.162.19]] 15:04, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
::I would argue London is not in Europe because there is no clear definition for Europe as a geographic area, it really doesn't have an eastern border that is not arbitrary, so the only clearly defined thing Europe can refer to is the EU. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 17:50, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:::London, France is both in Europe and the EU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_France [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.49|172.70.163.49]] 18:00, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

London is both a City (London) and a City within a City (The City of London) and an Area (Greater London)
There are also many more places named London than the one that is the Capital of the UK .. Serbia, France, Canada (Which is larger and the one in the UK), 10 in the USA, and one on Kiribati 17:56, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2912: Cursive Letters

2024-03-27T22:14:57Z

Hkmaly:

That Q is pretty easy to read, but a lot of people write it in a way that looks more like 2. That Q always throws me off. The 2 goes close to the bottom left, neither cool nor legible. [[User:EebstertheGreat|EebstertheGreat]] ([[User talk:EebstertheGreat|talk]]) 21:28, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Cursive has been in the news lately, almost half the US states have recently passed laws requiring that cursive writing be taught in elementary schools. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:30, 27 March 2024 (UTC)
:Recently? I think only California did it recently, most of those laws are older. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:14, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Is this the default cursive taught in US American schools? I’ve often seen this capital I, G and Q on (older) Hollywood films, but the (standard) cursive writing in Germany or France looks completely different. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.99|162.158.154.99]] 21:49, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

Labelled: https://i.imgur.com/dTdLgO6.png [[User:Bewa|Bewa]] ([[User talk:Bewa|talk]]) 22:09, 27 March 2024 (UTC)