explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2867: DateTime

2023-12-14T11:02:34Z

IByte: library

Comics like this are why this wiki exists. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.100.172|172.70.100.172]] 23:30, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
:The time falsehoods gist linked above is a really good explanation about why a programmer might panic about calculating time. Especially the ones about calling "getCurrentTime()" twice in a row doesn't always mean the results are in the order you think they were called, or even different values. t2 might very well be the same or less than t1. It can be maddening. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.197.149|162.158.197.149]] 23:40, 13 December 2023 (UTC)
::The last item is the most important to me: ''Users prefer to use the local timezone.'' This causes so much frustration while browsing the web! [[File:PissedOff.gif]] --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.110.68|162.158.110.68]] 00:26, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
::Worth noting that events can take place over long periods. A sunspot or an illness or a relationship doesn't happen at a single point in time, it takes place over days or weeks or longer. When did it "start"? Who knows? Also I miss calling TI4-1212 here in DC. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.27|172.70.175.27]] 01:39, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
Related insanity on Computerphile with Tom Scott: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wpm-gesOY [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 03:54, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

Even with just Special Relativity, the question doesn't really make sense, because the answer will depend on the inertial reference frame. "Impossible to know and a sin to ask" is not a bad way to describe questions about non-invariants. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.189|162.158.154.189]] 08:09, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

I can see Randall's point, so for your average everyday programming I'd say "please use a library function instead of trying to do it yourself, or you'll end up like the guy in the lower frame..." --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:02, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2729: Planet Killer Comet Margarita

2023-01-26T11:09:58Z

IByte: PGGB

A standard LR1 oil tanker holds, at most, [https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=17991#:~:text=These%20ships%20can%20access%20most,of%20light%20sweet%20crude%20oil 25.8 million] gallons of gasoline. At an IBA specification of 50ml of tequila per margarita, Randall's ratio would make 1.95 billion margaritas, or around 6 for every resident of the United States assuming they could all be assembled at the base of Lake Mead. {{unsigned ip|172.68.70.120|21:41, 25 January 2023}}
:Of course they could be. "Free margaritas (only ''slightly'' contaminated by radioactive fall-out)" will surely attract all but the most sober and serious types... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.32|172.70.85.32]] 00:25, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

It's also a riff on Stan Freberg's routine about turning Lake Michigan into a giant chocolate Sundae. {{unsigned ip|162.158.186.21|23:42, 25 January 2023}}

2022's record-breaking tequila production could fill about [https://mexicodailypost.com/2022/12/21/tequila-breaks-record-in-production-and-exports/ about seven oil tankers]. Since tequila production in any significant quantity started less than 500 years ago, 4000 tankers of tequila would be more tequila than has ever existed. -[[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.216|172.69.68.216]] 04:08, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

I interpreted "on the rocks" in this case to refer to the terrain downstream of Lake Mead, rather than the rocky material of the comet. Though either one seems reasonable. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.82.68|172.71.82.68]] 04:35, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

According to Wikipedia, Lake Mead contains a volume of up to 34.82 km^3. Assuming 2 cocktails of 0.3 litre per person, Lake Mead can store enough margarita for 5.8 x 10^13 people or around 7250 times the current world population. So you don't have to feel any guilt for getting a third cocktail. [[User:OceanOle|OceanOle]] ([[User talk:OceanOle|talk]]) 11:04, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

Well, that'll give the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster a run for its money... [[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:09, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2691: Encryption

2022-10-29T10:36:13Z

IByte: Mallory

More generally, when the explanation of the encryption algorithm needs example people, it picks names going sequentially through the alphabet. Alice and Bob are the canonical first two, names starting with C and D would be next. Eve, the eavesdropper, is next. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:01, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
:...though it depends upon {{w|Alice and Bob#Cast of characters|what other protagonists/required roles}} are to be featured in the scenario as to which initials get given to the 'normal' example correspondants. And I'm sure you could come up with other punny names for other novel roles, if you're in the position to require something special, only Alice and Bob being (normally!) inviolable as to both role and initialism. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.58|172.70.91.58]] 09:43, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Is this comic a subtle reference to Signal announcing the discontinuing of SMS/MMS support, thus vastly lowering the number of people that Signal users can send messages to? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.205|172.70.114.205]] 09:10, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

I'd reckon you're also banned from the app if your name is Mallory, which might be inconvenient if you're James Bond's boss. Then again, that's Voldemort... [[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 10:36, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2607: Geiger Counter

2022-04-17T09:02:41Z

IByte: Caution, boomerang

Vanilla joke, but funny. [[User:Nafedalbi|Nafedalbi]] ([[User talk:Nafedalbi|talk]]) 18:41, 15 April 2022 (UTC)Nafedalbi
:It's Randall's "dad joke". [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:23, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:Honestly, yeah. I impulsively went "wow... Randall's really jumped the stick figure shark." --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.121|172.70.110.121]] 06:32, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
::Not me. After plumbing the depths of Unicode and trying to describe a Taylor series expansion from square one, this is a welcome relief. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.81|172.70.214.81]] 07:34, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
: When does an ordinary joke become a dad joke? When it becomes apparent. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.121|172.70.130.121]] 10:31, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
::When does it become apparent? After the delivery. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.223|172.69.33.223]] 17:30, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

I added telegraph wires (UK-only term, possibly, and anachronistic as they are telephone cables, so feel free to change to be US-centric) and birds seem happy to sit on pole-suspended POTS cables as much as power-lines, so the linked heat-effect thing is definitely a minority necessity. I think it's just a perch. Though we probably have more signal-wires. Most(?) streets more than a few decades old have telegraph poles feeding wires to established properties (even if cable/FTTP has been dug into trenches) but mains electricity tends to have been subsurface for much longer, with only HV national/rural-area transmission grids up on pylons/poles. Obviously there ''are'' a lot more perching birds out in the countryside, where they may dominate (but still the 'telegraph' may follow road or rail routes to service the villages and isolated inhabitations along them) but you don't tend to see birds atop the larger lines at all... Too high up? ''Too'' hot? I've seen rooks/etc happily doing a Hitchcock upon a pylon itself, apparently enjoying the communal view. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.63|172.70.90.63]] 18:54, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

The title text joke may be understood more easily by reading "stood under" in place of "understood". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.124|162.158.107.124]] 19:37, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

Living in Manhattan, you learn to notice when an area is full of bird droppings and avoid standing there. You also need to pay attention when parking your car. Certain lamp posts (where the lamp is cantilevered over the street) near Central Park often tend to have a large accumulation under them. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.178|108.162.246.178]] 19:47, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

I do not understand the joke in the title text, so if somebody could please write an explanation, that would be great.
Also, this is my first ever full comic description! Yay!
I don't know what categories this fits in, if somebody could also put those in that would be great. [[User:MrYellow04|MrYellow04]] ([[User talk:MrYellow04|talk]]) 19:58, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:I suggest you stand under a wire with lots of birds on it for a while. It will hit you. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:32, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:Dirty birdy in the sky, why you do that in my eye? Boy I'm glad that cows can't fly! [[User:TCMits|TCMits]] ([[User talk:TCMits|talk]]) 14:15, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

Randall, come here. Yes, right there. Stand still. THWACK! THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK! That is all, you may go now. 20:41, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

The explanation makes clear the side of the pun regarding the Geiger counting clicking, but for non-native English speakers, the phrase "it clicked" meaning "I understood" may need clarification. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.213|162.158.166.213]] 21:17, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

I thought it meant the birds were dangerously mutated because of the radioactivity, but now I understand. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.84|172.69.34.84]] 22:00, 15 April 2022 (UTC)
:Just make sure you don't open your mouth and tilt your head back. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.63|172.70.90.63]] 22:59, 15 April 2022 (UTC)

Also possibly related to this news story https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/unprotected-russian-soldiers-disturbed-radioactive-dust-chernobyls-red-forest-2022-03-28/

Calling the pun a parody of another joke is weird. Jokes aren’t parodied. Parodies aren’t made of general things people say. It can be a ''play on'' that other joke, but not a ''parody'' of it. It’s not ''making fun'' of the other joke. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.69|108.162.245.69]] 11:24, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
:I somewhat agree with you. It's a 'type of' pun related to the Tom Swifty, which I edited in just now. I didn't actually remove the claim of parody. Perhaps someone else should also do that without hesitation... (...says I, unerringly!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.43|162.158.159.43]] 15:06, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

Dates for the Trinity Site Open House are April 2 and October 15 for 2022. Bring your own geiger counter. [[User:TCMits|TCMits]] ([[User talk:TCMits|talk]]) 14:15, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
:...and possibly a time-machine? ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.43|162.158.159.43]] 15:06, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

== Leonard Cohen reference? ==

It seems to me that the title text has to be somehow referencing one of Leonard Cohen’s better known songs, “Bird on the Wire”, from the very specific phrasing there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.69|108.162.245.69]] 11:21, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
: It's a fairly common phrase. Including the 1990 Goldie Hawn / Mel Gibson
[https://g.co/kgs/QZ6LpN film]. [[User:Iggynelix|Iggynelix]] ([[User talk:Iggynelix|talk]]) 16:23, 16 April 2022 (UTC)

:I think it more likely there's some reference meant to birds not getting electrocuted while sitting on power cables-perhaps this is even in a "What If" book? I don't think very likely, but more likely than any Leonard Cohen reference. It's because "both the bird's feet are on the same potential, so electricity does not flow through the bird. The bird also offers greater resistance than the power cable, so the electricity continues to flow through the power cable." I figured this "explanation" fits here as well as anywhere. [[User:Cuvtixo|Cuvtixo]] ([[User talk:Cuvtixo|talk]]) 21:06, 16 April 2022 (UTC)
::I think it's a red-herring that the nature of the wire has ''anything'' to do with it. Birds will perch on handy things, whether electrical cables (hopefully with spacings between separate phase-wires/across the insulator 'hangers' significantly more than an idle wing-stretch!), telephonic, washing line, zip-line, etc, etc. A wire just gives more chance for 'mostly open space, beneath which an unaware human is particularly (but not obviously) susceptible to birds voiding their systems' than with a street-lamp arm, a high ledge on a tall building, tree branches or the underside frames of girder-based bridges.
::Birds do indeed escape (trivial) electrocution on power-lines, but that doesn't help the joke because they can crap on you from ''anything'' that you under-stand (or just by chance, by dint of being birds and occasionally finding they need to let go whilst already in flight... or by direct malice in the case of nest-guarding skuas/etc).
::Not to disect the comedy frog, or anything, because that would be cold-blooded. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.223|172.69.79.223]] 00:00, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

"Pretty sure eggrolled was just a typo", as corrected with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2607:_Geiger_Counter&diff=prev&oldid=230619 this edit]... No, I think not. I've just undone a whole host of (repeated) vandalisms, some of which were to put "eggroll" in as replacements... the rest were equally stupid (or greater). Check edit log for just before now to see what pages I reverted/etc. Because someone is apparently clever enough to edit wiki pages (oh boy, what a smart person, I'm sure nobody of lesser intellect could ''ever'' have accomplished such a thing(!)...). Anyway, good work recorrecting it, whoever you are. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.223|172.69.79.223]] 00:15, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

At first I didn't understand why they were warning me about the boomerang, but then it hit me... (Yes, I may have stolen that joke from Milton Jones.) --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 09:02, 17 April 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2591: Qua

2022-03-10T10:33:37Z

IByte: Coûte

If Megan's not careful, this pattern can quickly spiral to infinity: "Nice use of qua qua qua ''qua'' qua qua qua." "Nice use of qua qua qua qua qua qua qua ''qua'' qua qua qua qua qua qua qua." "Nice use of..." --mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.93|172.70.178.93]] 16:37, 9 March 2022 (UTC)
:Or perhaps "Nice use of 'Nice use of ... '" although new forms of quote mark would need to be invented. --[[User:192·168·0·1|192·168·0·1]] ([[User talk:192·168·0·1|talk]]) 19:11, 9 March 2022 (UTC)
::From what I've seen, you just alternate between " and '. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 23:45, 9 March 2022 (UTC)
:Hey, [[244|no recursing]]. [[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 21:46, 9 March 2022 (UTC)
;qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua[[User:New editor|New editor]] ([[User talk:New editor|talk]]) 20:37, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

I feel like there should be a duck somewhere. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:05, 9 March 2022 (UTC)
Buffalo everywhere are concerned.

Maybe one could note that the two uses of "qua" are different: While in the meaning of "as"/"in capacity of", qua is a preposition, it is a relative pronoun in the Latin expression "sine qua non".
So, actually, the explanation of the title text given so far is slightly incorrect: The correct use of "qua" (as a preposition) is NOT essential to the correct use of "sine qua non" (where we use only the Latin relative pronoun). Instead, "qua" is essential to build the complex expression "sine qua non qua sine qua non", where the middle qua is indeed the preposition!
I also feel that Randall is making fun of "pretentious" people by demonstrating how quickly their talk turns into something like "blablabla" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.246.153|172.70.246.153]] 21:51, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

:But the explanation of the title text is not claiming that it is specifically as a proposition that “qua” is essential, is it?
:[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 04:31, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

:: Well, basically, you're right. But to clarify it better, you would at least have to point out that the title text is talking of two different "qua"s then, BOTH the preposition and the relative pronoun. And in order to use them correctly, you ought to differentiate between the both, i.m.h.o. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.171|162.158.90.171]] 07:38, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

:::I agree with you.

:::[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User talk:While False|talk]]) 08:22, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Even after reading the comic, title text & the explainxkcd.com description, I am still confused. I've never heard of that word/phrase.

:Agreed, I feel that the explanation qua it stands leaves me almost qua confused qua I was before coming here and reading it. If qua roughly means “as” or “for the purpose of” then would someone please explain why this not an example of someone using sine qua non: “I could have left work after the accident if I wanted, but decided sine, bore the pain, and stayed.” I don’t get it.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.214|172.70.131.214]] 06:47, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

On this you are not alone.

If you say "Qua Qua Qua Qua" really fast, it kind of sounds like you are saying "quack quack quack". Thus Megan would sound like she is saying "Nice use of quack quack quack quack..." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.230|162.158.107.230]] 00:56, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

This comic is most likely inspired by this week's Sunday puzzle on NPR, which asks for an English word that starts with the "kw" sound but doesn't contain Q,U,K, or W. See https://www.npr.org/2022/03/06/1084744124/sunday-puzzle-may-the-odds-be-in-your-favor

Quamvis sint sub aqua sub aqua maledicere temptant. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.251.88|172.70.251.88]] 06:22, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Randall is not using qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua qua, he's using it to sound funny and play with words. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 07:24, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

:I think Randall is just trying to sound pretentious coûte que coûte ;-P --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 10:33, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2553: Incident Report

2021-12-11T15:21:13Z

IByte: Seconds From Disaster

It seems that "juggling pins" is also a common term for them. Many websites selling them call them pins. Wikipedia says they "sometimes are referred to as pins or batons by non-jugglers". Presumably the technician writing the IR is not a juggler. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:00, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

I'm going to assume that 12/10/2021 is the [https://xkcd.com/1179/ flawed American date system]? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 23:01, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

You have read The Leaky Establishment. Dave Langford always claims he did not smuggle nuclear material out, but will admit to a filing cabinet. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 23:09, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

''strictly regulated control rooms which would prevent the simultaneous presence of fireworks, juggling and birthday celebrations'' - I would hope that in control room of nuclear power plants, fireworks, juggling and birthday celebrations can't be present AT ALL, not just simultaneously ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:15, 10 December 2021 (UTC)
: You might think that, but I'm basing my edits on that documentary of modern American life entitled "The Simpsons" [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 11:23, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

: As an operator at a nuclear power plant I can tell you that birthday cake is not infrequently present in the control room. But yeah, juggling would be quite discouraged, and security would not be happy if you tried to bring fireworks into the Protected Area. Also, for the record, I have never heard the fuel rods called "pins" (though that may be regional), and while the description of fuel rods here isn't *technically* false I think that "control rods" are what the writer was attempting to describe. (The design of the fuel rods does of course effect neutron flux et al, but they are not positionable or anything like that so to say that they "control reaction speed" is rather misleading.) --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.65|172.70.126.65]] 12:23, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

It's perhaps worth noting that the comic was posted within hours of Amazon in real life releasing an incident report for a major outage of one of their server locations which affected many of their services, perhaps explaining how an Amazon delivery worker accidentally delivered fireworks to the wrong location. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.173|172.70.110.173]] 02:36, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

It's never specified to be a ''birthday'' cake, but I don't know how to put that in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.80|172.70.175.80]] 03:05, 11 December 2021 (UTC)Bumpf
*The third paragraph says "a birthday cake intended for Technician B". --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.205|172.70.130.205]] 04:55, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

Noting that Randall is not above drilling down even to decimals (or subunits) of seconds as needed. Relarivistic Baseball and Vlass Half Empty come immediately to mind. But I'm not sure if he's gone down the Xeno's Paradox route of starting off fairly long-scale and as the finale approaches cutting down the gap between each itemisation and the next to finer and finer distictions. Wouldn't be surprised if he did, but I'd have to search for it.
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 03:45, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

I don't think that "false minute-level precision" is correct here. In fact, the next more precise-looking times might actually be false precision: go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_precision to see what I mean. I don't know how to express the changing precision indications, however . . . . [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.87|172.70.126.87]] 11:32, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

I suppose '' [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seconds_from_Disaster Seconds From Disaster]'' is just the kind of show this would end up on... [[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 15:21, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2385: Final Exam

2020-11-16T13:34:09Z

IByte: Rundfunk

Perhaps add a note about how multiple people trying to achieve the same goal would be impossible, so therefore it would be a test of game theory to see how the final grades end up. You'd want to be the last one to make all the changes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.197|162.158.107.197]] 23:51, 13 November 2020 (UTC)
:It's a contest to hack the grades ''and'' to lock out all of the other students from making further changes. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:49, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
Title text seems to be a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guess_2/3_of_the_average.
[[User:Anonymous3|Anonymous3]] ([[User talk:Anonymous3|talk]]) 01:10, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

The current "change every fifth answer to the bubble below it" explanation appears to make the implausible assumption that the exam is multiple-choice. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:19, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

Clearly the optimal solution for both courses is to change the grade to be ''out of 0'', thus a score of 0 being a perfect score and also meet the requirements for Game Theory. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.54|162.158.165.54]] 03:28, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

:great idea! i was considering adding fake students to be statistical extremes but your solution allows all students to ace both courses. [[User:Ocæon|ocæon]] ([[User talk:Ocæon|talk]]) 14:46, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

OMG I want so much to take this class, what an excellent final exam![[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.208|172.68.65.208]] 05:09, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

I think the explanation above is largely correct, but I assumed this was a Zoom reference. Since during lockdown the many students she is addressing should be experiencing this through a remote meeting, for which Zoom is often chosen (I'd love an explanation as to why THAT is). Zoom has notorious security flaws which any cybersecurity student should be failed for accepting.
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.96|162.158.159.96]] 05:11, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
:What if they run it in sandboxed virtual machine? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:45, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

No mention of Bobby Tables? [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 06:29, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
:That was a mom intentionally hacking multiple systems. Not just school, but also population census systems. This is limited to a single test. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.38|141.101.98.38]] 21:08, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

the zero length exam reminds me of 'zero day' exploits, the students have zero time to respond to the exam requirements before the conclusion of the exam. [[User:Ocæon|ocæon]] ([[User talk:Ocæon|talk]]) 14:39, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

I feel like Randall missed a golden opportunity for Danish (instead of generic Ponytail) to prof these classes — this seems right up her alley. [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 16:17, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

1) Hack my Cybersecurity grade, 2) Hack the professor's computer to remove the requiring link to the grade in the other course. -Diana

There is exactly one Nash Equilibria if you set the utility function to be the sum of the cyber security grade and the game theory grade. And it would be to give yourself a 100% in cyber security - Philip Geißler

This cartoon reminded me of a programming class I took as a Freshman at MIT (Spring 1974) where the first lecture described the way the programming projects were submitted and automatically graded. "Some of you may be considering finding a way to hack the grading program to just give you a good grade. This is an acceptable way to pass this course, since it is our analysis that subverting the grading program in this way demonstrates mastery of the subject matter." OK, I know this isn't a comment about the comic, but I lust felt like tossing it in. And more relevant (possibly) was the fact that being the last semester the course was taught, the final exam questions were all inside computer programming jokes. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 21:55, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

Given that the grade to be manipulated is only the grade of the final exam of Cybersecurity (and therefore not the grade for the entire class), but the grade that it affects is the grade for the entire Game Theory class, that there is no reason not to collaborate, and that how "closeness" is calculated is unclear, the ideal solution is to set the grade of every Cybersecurity student who is not also a Game Theory student to 100, and set the grade of every Cybersecurity student who is also a Game Theory student to 100(100-a)/(125-a), where a is the percentage of Cybersecurity students who are also Game Theory students. This ensures all Cybersecurity students who are also Game Theory students get a perfect 4.0 GPA in Game Theory while reducing their Cybersecurity score by the smallest possible amount. [[User:DL Draco Rex|DL Draco Rex]] ([[User talk:DL Draco Rex|talk]]) 17:12, 15 November 2020 (UTC)

I just have to say this for fans of the Dutch comedy show ''Rundfunk'': "ALLEMAAL EEN ONVOLDOENDE!" (Any more Dutch people around?) --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 13:34, 16 November 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2319: Large Number Formats

2020-06-13T11:11:50Z

IByte: French?

== Scientist avoiding rounding ==

Would love an explanation of the scientist avoiding rounding one. Would make sense to me with 2.525997..., but as 2.5997... I'm at a loss! {{unsigned ip|198.41.238.106|22:19, 12 June 2020 (UTC)}}

: Truncating the number just before a digit less than 5 so that the final digit is not rounded up. (I do this all the time, and, I am a scientist.) {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.172|00:48, 13 June 2020‎ (UTC)}}

(The above was posted (anonymously?) seconds before I could get mine in, so here it is in the original format.)

This is probably completely irrelevant but it seems Randall made a small typo when trying to show a "Scientest trying to avoid rounding up."
I assume it should be 2.525997*10^13. It seems he left out a 5 and a 2 and I say such because whether he forgot the 52 or 25 is up for debate.

Relevant screenshot: [[https://i.imgur.com/NrvOivy.png]]

Also, if I'm just being completely daft and am missing something completely, please feel free to criticize me harshly and I'll go back to my little hideyhole. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.24|108.162.237.24]] 22:21, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: In reality, a scientist would probably say 6.416*10^13 cm. (Although possible counterpoint, this comic is really about the ''number'' 25,259,974,097,204, not the distance 25,259,974,097,204 inches.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.207|172.69.33.207]] 22:47, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

:: Centimetres are not an SI unit. it would be 6.416*10^11 m [[Special:Contributions/172.68.255.14|172.68.255.14]] 01:51, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

I believe the "2.5997" was intentional, or at least I thought it was when reading it. At first I thought it was a typo, but Randall calls that number "Scientist ''trying'' to avoid rounding up" which makes me think Randall intentionally made that "mistake" as if the scientist had accidentally forgotten the first two digits (25) and used the remainder of the number (259974...), rounding it to "2.5997x10^13" [[User:Kirypto|Kirypto]] ([[User talk:Kirypto|talk]]) 23:03, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: Randall fixed it! [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 05:43, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

: Looks like that was just a typo, Randall replaced it with a new version. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 02:55, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

As a (not so?) old British person, I approve. Let the Trillions come around later, when it's ''worth'' increasing the prefix to "level 3". Don't waste them on the more petty numbers. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.122|162.158.155.122]] 23:13, 12 June 2020 (UTC)
:I'm also a not-so-old British person, and therefore use the short-scale as a matter of course. But, although I'm too young to ever have used the long scale, I regret its passing, for all that. On a visual level, if a million gives us a chunk of six zeroes, there's a simple elegance to the "bi-", "tri-", "quad-" (etc.) prefixes numerating two chunks, three chunks, four chunks, etc. From a less visual, more linguistically neat perspective, if you've got a million^2, a million^3, a million^4 and so on, then using "bi" to mean two, "tri" to mean three, "quad" to mean four makes sense...because that's what those things mean.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 10:32, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

== "Engineering" notation omitted? ==

I find it somewhat strange that Randall doesn't offer '''25e12''' or any of those variants ('''25.259...*10^12'''). I feel like a lot of "non-normal" people would map billion to E12 instead of requiring a single digit to the left of the decimal point. shrug [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 23:09, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: Honestly I thought "engineering" notation was a myth invented by HP's calculator division. But I'm personally offended that the programmers' notation 25_259_... was omitted. Maybe Randall still uses Python 2. :-) [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 05:47, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

==Actual scientist: ==

"What's an inch?" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.119|162.158.62.119]] 23:18, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

: The imaginary nano-scale multiple of the speed of light times Planck's constant. Which, dimensionally, would seem to be kg.m³/s²? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.73|162.158.154.73]] 00:15, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

As an article pointed out to me the other day that seemed obvious after it was said it's a non-tariff trade barrier used as American protectionism that doesn't get tariffed back. {{unsigned ip|172.69.63.81|00:10, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

== Can someone explain the set theory notation? ==

Can someone explain the set theory notation? {{unsigned ip|172.68.255.14|01:56, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

: You can use only sets to construct the natural numbers, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_number#Constructions_based_on_set_theory - {{unsigned ip|172.68.215.76|02:20, 13 June 2020 (UTC)}}

==Title Text 10^13.4024==

It seems nobody has pointed out that the power of 10 in the title text is really just the log(x) of the number, which is in fact very common in scientific contexts -> log(25,259,974,097,204) = 13.4024 [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 02:31, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

== Old Sweden ==
We have kept the olden ways here in the north. Miljon (10^6), miljard (10^9), biljon (10^12), biljard (10^15). Also, "biljard" is the same word as the game of pool in Swedish.
[[User:Embridioum|Embridioum]] ([[User talk:Embridioum|talk]]) 07:17, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Also Italian uses the long scale for large numbers, and also in Italian the word for the game of pool coincides with 10^15. Albeit I have to say that I've never heard anyone use bilione and biliardo referring to numbers. We usually stop at miliardo, saying things like "un milione di miliardi" when we need to say those large numbers, or use the scientific notation. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.198.106|172.68.198.106]] 09:04, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

While we're on different languages, how about this one: 1262998704860-vingt-quatre - French person. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:11, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2318: Dynamic Entropy

2020-06-11T09:08:38Z

IByte: Entropy again

Can confirm, have never lost an argument. [[User:Dynamic Entropy|Dynamic Entropy]] ([[User talk:Dynamic Entropy|talk]]) 00:45, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

: Allegrini, P., Douglas, J. F., & Glotzer, S. C. (1999). Dynamic entropy as a measure of caging and persistent particle motion in supercooled liquids. Physical Review E, 60(5), 5714, doi: 10.1103/physreve.60.5714.

: Asadi, M., Ebrahimi, N., Hamedani, G., & Soofi, E. (2004). Maximum Dynamic Entropy Models. Journal of Applied Probability, 41(2), 379-390. Retrieved June 11, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/3216023

: Green, J. R., Costa, A. B., Grzybowski, B. A., & Szleifer, I. (2013). Relationship between dynamical entropy and energy dissipation far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(41), 16339-16343.

: S. Satpathy et al., "An All-Digital Unified Static/Dynamic Entropy Generator Featuring Self-Calibrating Hierarchical Von Neumann Extraction for Secure Privacy-Preserving Mutual Authentication in IoT Mote Platforms," 2018 IEEE Symposium on VLSI Circuits, Honolulu, HI, 2018, pp. 169-170, doi: 10.1109/VLSIC.2018.8502369.
:[[User:Bugstomper|Bugstomper]] ([[User talk:Bugstomper|talk]]) 01:28, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
::Can someone with knowledge of the reference system in a wiki make the reference appear above the discussion, maybe in a section named References?--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:06, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

Well bugger me (METAPHOR! METAPHOR!) but my current Master thesis in Computer Science could use that term without much shoehorning. (tl;dr: Binary search trees that adapt, =dynamic, can serve a query series faster than static, and the gain depends on the structure of the query series, =entropy. I prefer the good old "instance optimality", though...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.122|162.158.159.122]] 08:58, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

This seems to tie in with the recent comic [[2315]]: ''Eventual Consistency'', which is also about entropy (in a thermodynamic(al) sense), but I guess that like the rest of the world I don't know what entropy really is, because if [[wikipedia:Entropy (information theory)|entropy]] is a measure of how "surprising" a variable is, why is everything being flat and spread out evenly called a state of maximum entropy? Everything being the same doesn't sound very surprising to me... --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 09:08, 11 June 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2301: Turtle Sandwich Standard Model

2020-05-03T10:54:21Z

IByte: no turtles or sandwiches on Standard Model

This is the first time I have had a chance to see the comic early enough to make a meaningful contribution to the explanation, but this time I have no idea whatsoever what the comic is about! [[User:Moosenonny10|Moosenonny10]] ([[User talk:Moosenonny10|talk]]) 20:32, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Looks like it is referencing the standard model of elementary particles. The title text mentions four of the quarks(top,bottom,charm,strange) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.150|162.158.106.150]] 20:38, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Disagree with DgbrtBOT that this is primarily to do with genetics. I agree that it's about the standard model. Up, down, charmed and strange. It may 'because I'm dumb', but even I'm not that dumb.
:I agree that this is not about genetics. The usual Mendelian diagram has the same traits in both dimensions. Maybe he didn't make the particle physics connection because that has more than 4 boxes. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:52, 1 May 2020 (UTC)
:Agree with Barmar: This is not at all about genetics, but only about the particles standard model. Hence the name given by Randal, hence the dimensions not fitting Mendel, hence the lab reference and hence the biological absurd combinations. It does not fit genetics at all, but it perfectly fits a basic assumption of the standard particle modell: That every combination does exist. Labs all over the world have spend decades trying find/prove the existance of a particle predicted by lining up the dimensions of the particles standard model just as shown here and most seeming just as absurd. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.52|172.68.51.52]] 00:06, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

I added a bit about the physics part of it, but it can definitely use more information! [[User:ChunyangD|ChunyangD]] ([[User talk:ChunyangD|talk]]) 20:52, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Randall missed an obvious physics/turtle joke "turtles all the way down" reference here [[Glenn Strycker]] 4:56pm CDT 1 May 2020
: It was the first thing I thought, Randall can be sure his readers fill in such details... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.221|141.101.104.221]] 21:08, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

If this really is about genetics, which I question, it seems likely that most people who haven't studied genetics would find the use of genetics jargon to be less than helpful in an explanation.[[User:Darthpoppins|Darthpoppins]] ([[User talk:Darthpoppins|talk]]) 22:46, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

In my opinion, the ExplainXKCD community has been successfully trolled by the contributor of the explanation of this comic, and with humorous effect. The troll consists of an explanation couched entirely in terms used primarily by biologists but generally difficult for others to understand, contrary to this community's practice of trying to simplify. [[Wikipedia:genotype|Genotypes]], [[Wikipedia:phenotype|phenotypes]], [[Wikipedia:Punnett Square|Punnett Squares]], [[Wikipedia:heterozygous|heterozygous]], [[Wikipedia:homozygous|homozygous]], [[WIkipedia:ontogeny|ontogeny]]. That being said, the contributor is certainly correct that the comic is about [[Wikipedia:genetics|genetics]], in that the depicted two-by-two square is immediately suggestive of the visual tool used for predicting the results of cross-breeding experiments. And the comic is certainly also about [[Wikipedia:particle physics|particle physics]], in that the comic title refers to a "Standard Model" and then the title text alludes to particle names used in the [[Wikipedia:standard model|standard model of particle physics]]. So the comic's joke is about the unexpected juxtaposition of genetics with particle physics, and also is about turtle sandwiches which, as drawn, are intrinsically funny anyway. Yes, @Glen, all the way down. JohnB [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.116|162.158.75.116]] 00:25, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

This looks less like a Punnet Square than it does like one of those political alignment chart memes. Punnet squares use symbols next to each other to designate genotypes, not diagrams of the results. Not to mention that the individual labels along the sides are supposed to be alleles, not separate effing traits! That whole paragraph is completely wrong and should be removed. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 00:44, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Isn't this about supersymmetry? The missing pieces are the bosonic partners of the known fermions (matter particles), and the fermionic partners of the known bosons (force particles).... Joel K

For a second, I thought it said "Turkey Sandwich Standard Model"[[User:AllTheWayDown|AllTheWayDown]] ([[User talk:AllTheWayDown|talk]]) 01:31, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

This is clearly a use of the box method for factoring a trinomial in standard form (ax^2 + bx + c) which the coefficient of the first term (say ax^2) is not simply 1 (a<>1). Actually, the moment I saw it I knew exactly what it was, simply because I have been helping my high school son with his algebra the past few weeks. I laughed out loud! I never heard of this method as a math undergrad because it was brand new at the time, but now it's evidently fairly standard.

You create a 2x2 box, and write the first term of the trinomial (ax^2) in the top right corner and the last term (c) in the lower left. Then you have to figure out what factoring of a x c gives you two middle terms that when added will yield the middle term, bx. Let's call those b1x and b2x (where b1 x b2 = a x c, and b1 + b2 = b). You put those terms, b1x and b2x in the two empty boxes (in either order). Then you pull out common factors along each row and column until they multiply correctly to get the table. The terms you have pulled out then are your two binomial factors of the trinomial.

Randall has factored a turtle sandwich where the first term (ax^2) is a sandwich and the last term (c) is a turtle. These are the known terms (check marks). The unknown terms, through working the box method, turn out work if the bread is the common factor along the top row and the turtle shell on the bottom row. The sandwich filling is the common factor in the first column, and the shell-less turtle is the common factor on the second column.

I believe the alt-text is a play on the fact that, if I'm not mistaken, there are more ways to factor a trinomial if you allow imaginary numbers, because that allows square roots of negative numbers. Analogously, dividing shells differently suggests subatomic particles—thus, various quark flavors like charm and strange.
[[User:EternalLearner|EternalLearner]] ([[User talk:EternalLearner|talk]]) 01:52, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Apropos of nothing, and just for the comic relief of the commenters, I searched for 'turtle' 'sandwich' 'standard' 'model' and came across [https://www.globalxvehicles.com/turtle.html | this bad boy]. I couldn't resist sharing. Thanks for the knowledge. -- brad

Uhm,wut,mostly. Okay so the earth is on a turtle. What holds the turtle up? It's turtles, all the way down, I've heard but? "Turtle legs" is my answer. Why I'm here: didn't xkcd.com used to say it was updated Monday, w, f, ? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.182|162.158.78.182]] 04:55, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
:Obviously, the turtle doesn't need to be held up. It's a sea turtle, it swims. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:13, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Please refer to http://recipes-plus.com/recipe/turtle-sandwiches-kids-30062 for the top left sighting. [[User:Steven Nijhuis|Steven Nijhuis]] ([[User talk:Steven Nijhuis|talk]]) 05:35, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

LOL. This is the most random comments I have seen on one of these. This is 100% particle physics. Standard model of particle physics, up quarks, charmed quarks.. this is a commentary on how we know there is gravity, and we know there are electrons and we have a standard model which is still being filled in, in order to unify the theories.

--Adam Outler [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.131|108.162.238.131]] 06:03, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
----

I'm a bit confused by these comments. It seems like people are getting thrown off by the 2x2 table thinking that the comic must be related to where they've seen tables before (genetics / factoring quadratics / ...). This is wrong though, this comic is 100% particle physics.
In particle theoretical (particle) physics, the way forward has often been unification (combining forces of nature mathematically). We know the Standard Model is wrong, so physicists have been searching for ways to theoretically extend the known theory for decades. One of the most popular ways of doing this is looking for a larger symmetry group that encompasses the known symmetry groups of the equations governing the Standard Model. And the first time that physicists got REALLY close to a working theory was extending to E(5). When doing this mathematical extension of the Standard Model, you automatically get new messenger particles that are predicted (leptoquarks) that would theoretically make a transition between leptons and quarks possible (much like the weak interaction allows for transitions between quarks). The whole thing tends to get represented as a matrix visually, much like the turtle sandwich joke.
tl;dr: The joke makes perfect sense in theoretical particle physics. This type of diagram is common in extending the Standard Model (which is definitely incomplete) to a larger symmetry group like E(5).
Tom B

Outside of anything scientific, I think it's also referring to the memetic "Is a BLANK a sandwich?" debate (normally a hotdog or a calzone) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.84|141.101.107.84]] 18:12, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
:The big debate, surely, is orientation. If I prepare (say) some chicken-breast in some sort of marinade, and then half-toast some bread (half-way ''towards'' toasting, not one-sidedly; I put the slices in the toaster but manually eject them when it makes a click which equates to roughly half way to the dialled-in toasting degree, at least on my old toaster) then lightly butter(/non-dairy spread) them and use them to sandwich the chicken, but with a slice of cheese atop the chicken, then it tastes nice. If, during consumption or just moving the construct to a plate, I end up inverting it so it's bread/chicken/cheese/bread from top to bottom (happens when passed from hand to hand, I think, between picking up and alighting anew) it tastes... still nice, but ''different''. Yes, the tongue is set only below the route the sandwich takes, but I'm not sure that accounts for it (experiments while inverting myself, with or without inverting the sandwich, are yet to be trialled without other factors going uncontrolled). However, it does mean that a sandwich cannot be assumed to have a reflective or rotational symmetry in the horizontal plane or any horizontal axis, which is the usual bar quoted against the smörgåsbord... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.142|162.158.159.142]] 01:35, 3 May 2020 (UTC)
: Try inverting your tongue and see what effect that has.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.206|108.162.215.206]] 06:36, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Anyone else mistakenly see the tomato slice/cheese/lettuce as a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_(chocolate) Turtle Chocolate] and a slice of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle_pie Turtle Pie]?

Seeing the turtle without a shell between the two slices of bread in the grid reminds me of the other old question regarding turtles: If a turtle has lost its shell, is it homeless or naked? [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 05:03, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

The linked page on the [[wikipedia:Standard Model|Standard Model]] doesn't say anything about either turtles or sandwiches, so I think some more explanation on that part is welcome. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 10:54, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2271: Grandpa Jason and Grandpa Chad

2020-02-22T09:55:58Z

IByte: NL names

Is the Title Text a callback to 2268 with the "no further research is needed" comment? [[User:Stickfigurefan|Stickfigurefan]] ([[User talk:Stickfigurefan|talk]]) 17:58, 21 February 2020 (UTC)
*That was the first thing that came to my mind. Since researching when people named Jason and Chad became grandparents is far from a top research priority, one can indeed say that further research is not "needed". That said, though, I would have liked to have seen the female counterparts, to indicate what "Grandma" names are also coming into vogue now. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.195|162.158.74.195]] 18:05, 21 February 2020 (UTC)
*Looks like I may have edited the page at the same time as someone else. Sorry about that! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.148|108.162.216.148]] 18:41, 21 February 2020 (UTC)
*Does someone know of -- and can add to the explanation -- a reason why Jason and Chad are coming into popularity as names? In Australia, Jason Donovan was an actor who played a lead character in the popular soap "Neighbours" alongside Kylie Minogue (which is why, in Australia, we'd be getting "Grandma Kylie" coming into vogue. [[User:DrSamCarter|DrSamCarter]] ([[User talk:DrSamCarter|talk]]) 20:51, 21 February 2020 (UTC)DrSamCarter
**Well, to be precise, Jason and Chad came into popularity about 50 years ago, but I don't know why that happened at that time. While it's true that you should be seeing a bunch of "Grandma Kylie"s in Australia now, Kylie Minogue can't take the credit for that. She was born into a generation where the name was already popular. In 1970, Kylie was the 5th most popular name for baby girls in Australia, so Kylie Minogue, born in 1968, might have gone to school with a number of other Kylies, well before she joined the cast of "Neighbours" in 1986. The name Kylie didn't catch on in the U.S. until much later, so it'll be years before we see a significant number of "Grandma Kylie"s here. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.17|162.158.74.17]] 00:38, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

In case someone wants to do further research on The Netherlands, here's some data on first names popularity: https://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nvb/english --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 09:55, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2260: Reaction Maps

2020-01-29T13:15:10Z

IByte: Pronunciation of Tudor

Damn bro, you got the whole squad laughing.

Also Cueball, if you want to react with driving directions you might as well go drive to her and punch her you coward[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.40|141.101.98.40]] 03:26, 29 January 2020 (UTC)
I can't find Jump, OH. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 23:19, 27 January 2020 (UTC)
: Apparently there's one in Kentucky, too, but if you want to use {{w|Jump,_South_Yorkshire|one I knew of}}, that'd make for an interesting route. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.144|141.101.107.144]] 17:16, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

I can't find a town named "A" in Clay County WV. Is there supposed to be one? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 23:35, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

Wiki sez: "Clay is a town in and the county seat of Clay County, West Virginia, United States.[6] The population was 491 at the 2010 census. It is the only incorporated town in Clay County." [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.136|162.158.214.136]] 23:37, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

I looked for "A, Clay County, WV" and [https://goo.gl/maps/sUm6MtwEvpsBbfLX8 found this]. "B" and "C" also find places but "D" doesn't. It looks like Clay County is divided into A, B and C. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.53|141.101.99.53]] 08:11, 28 January 2020 (UTC) Update: According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_County,_West_Virginia#Geography they rationalised their old districts into "A", "B" and "C" between 1990 and 2000.

I completely missed this one! In my defence, here in southern England ‘Tudor’ sounds much less like ‘two-door’, and ‘compact’ is much less commonly applied to cars... [[User:Gidds|Gidds]] ([[User talk:Gidds|talk]]) 23:44, 27 January 2020 (UTC)

Tip if you are doing a European version, and want to avoid F-Bombs: You can [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Fucking,+%C3%96sterreich/Bad+Kissingen,+Deutschland/ replace "Fucking" by "bad Kissing"]. It is "only" a 430km reroute. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:47, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Does that pun actually work in US English? In UK English, Tudor and two-door have totally different vowel sounds. The former is more "tew-der". {{unsigned ip|162.158.158.179|09:58, 28 January 2020‎}}
:It does work with my weird accent (German, officially learned british English in school, tought by a German teacher who lived a while in Australia, and refined with watching Hollywood productions, travelling Ireland (and other places, but mostly Ireland), and working with Indians, Americans and Brits in an American company...) Slight difference between how I would pronounce two and "tu" of tudor. (more or less as tju(?)) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 09:05, 28 January 2020 (UTC)
:Yes, and in fact, Ford named several two-doored body styles in the interwar period "Tudor" (and, somewhat distressingly, dubbed the corresponding four-door styles "Fordor"). [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.160|172.69.34.160]] 12:03, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

;H.ON.D.A.
This reminds of when I worked in a place with a very slow Internet connection, but I found one solution (sort of) which required about 40 minutes to get connected, but was very fast once I was connected. I called it Hurry-ON Driving Access (HONDA). The way it worked was that I got in my Honda Civic, and drove to a place with a better Internet connection... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.20|172.69.34.20]] 03:14, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

I named my Smart Fortwo "Eddie." Fortwo > 42 > Hitchhikers. And that engine was a pretty improbable size. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.236|108.162.216.236]] 13:54, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

Anyone who can make a decent argument why this joke should be bad enough to end a friendship? Or could Randall just not find anything better. Did it need to be related to driving? I like the idea of answering like this, but cannot really understand why such a joke would necessitate such a fierce response...? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:04, 28 January 2020 (UTC)
:It's kind of a cultural joke that puns are the one of the lowest forms of wit, and that especially bad or forced puns are so bad as to merit comical overreactions, such as flipping tables, throwing yourself out of a window, or expressing physical pain. It might be an internet thing, although I'm sure the sentiment pre-dates the internet. Cueball is not seriously suggesting ending their friendship - he's just suggesting that he ''should'', as penance for the terribleness of the pun. I believe the pun doesn't have to relate to driving - Randall has just found a clever way to express disapproval that happens to use driving directions. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 14:05, 28 January 2020 (UTC)
:Possible reason: it's not that the pun itself is so bad, it's the "get it"--Ponytail (probably) knows the pun isn't very funny, *knows Cueball didn't think it was funny*, and is demanding that he acknowledge the pun. Once is nothing, but annoyance can build up. The fiftieth time someone interrupts a real conversation with a pun, and repeats the pun if nobody gives them the laugh or at least groan they want, it becomes something like "yeah, guy, we heard you. If it was funny someone would have laughed. Stop interrupting the conversation to get attention. It's not as clever as you think it is."
:As someone else mentioned, it sounds like the pun only works if you pronounce Tudor incorrectly, which could repeat a trend of Americans assuming they are right without regard to other cultures, and demonstrating that they haven't valued putting any effort in to learn this. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.236|172.69.22.236]] 14:52, 28 January 2020 (UTC)
::I could be wrong, but it sounds decisively like you think you're right without regard for our culture! You're also lumping all Americans into a single group in your comment, which is at least inappropriate, if not worse. Ultimately, we can say it however we want to say it, and you can do the same! [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:35, 28 January 2020 (UTC)
::My penny wasn't dropping, and neither was my yod, so I added some explanation about that to the main text. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 13:15, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

Given that the Tudors descend from the ''Welsh'' "Sir Tudur" (his sons being "ap Tudur", 'ap' in P-Celtic being equivalent to 'Mac'/'Mc' in Q-Celtic, and from thence trailled the dynasty that eventually became Henry (VII) Tudor and the rest of them), the South-Walian accent renders both vowels as /i/ (or maybe /i:/ for the first), or in North Wales /y/ (like the Germanic ü?), not likw the Welsh 'w' ("bws" is the public transport vehicle). The Tudurs of Penmynydd are Northern (Anglesean) but with Ceredigion lands too (mid-Southern, and nobody can really agree whether Aberystwyth is North or South, equally difficult to get to from everywhere else!) so you can take your choice on that one! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.144|141.101.107.144]] 17:43, 28 January 2020 (UTC)

FALLIN LAKE AR - Kobe?

2260: Reaction Maps

2020-01-29T13:05:59Z

IByte: Tudor / Yod-dropping

{{comic
| number = 2260
| date = January 27, 2020
| title = Reaction Maps
| image = reaction_maps.png
| titletext = If Google Maps stops letting you navigate to (Clay County District) A in West Virginia, you can try Jump, OH -> Ina, IL -> Big Hole, TX.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EMOJI OR GIF. Why is Ponytail's pun so bad for Cueball that he wishes to end the friendship over it. It is not just a joke. Any explanation for this would be great. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This is another one of [[Randall|Randall's]] [[:Category:Tips|Tips]], this time a Texting Tip. Randall suggests that readers send a set of driving directions as an intense / extremely annoyed response (a "Reaction Map", named after the "[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/computer-reaction-faces Reaction Face]", "Reaction Gif", and other memes).

In this comic, [[Ponytail]] texts the following car pun/joke:
:You should name your new Honda Civic ''The Treaty of Edinburgh''
:Because it's a Tudor compact ["Tudor" pronounced "two-door" in some USA accents, "tyudor" elsewhere.]

The {{w|Treaty of Edinburgh}} was a treaty drawn up in 1560, which falls during the {{w|Tudor period}} of the history of {{w|England}}, while a compact is another word for a treaty -- hence a Tudor compact. A {{w|Honda Civic}} is a {{w|compact car}}, which has a {{w|coupé}} body model with only two doors (there are also hatchback and 4-door sedan versions) -- hence a two-door compact. The joke is thus a double pun on the similarity of the words "Tudor" and "two-door", as well as a pun on the words "treaty" and "compact."

Pronouncing "Tudor" as "Tyoo-dor" (i.e. without American-style [[wikipedia:Yod-dropping|yod-dropping]]) rather than "Too-" may hinder comprehension of this pun.

Puns rise and fall in popularity, and some people dislike them at all times. Recipients [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/why-do-puns-make-people-groan/398252/ often groan], sometimes even while laughing or smiling. Because of this pun, [[Cueball]] gets so mad at Ponytail that he replies twice, first that their friendship is over and second that he hopes she falls in a lake. Both times he uses driving directions to do so because he wishes to show how mad he is by spending time finding cities with relevant names just to do it.

The [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Truly,+MT+59421/Saari,+L'Anse+Township,+MI+49946/Toulouse,+Kentucky/A,+Clay+County,+WV/Friendship,+South+Carolina/This+Way,+Lake+Jackson,+TX+77566/@37.9396464,-104.4176717,5z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m38!4m37!1m5!1m1!1s0x53424d6552eab029:0xb7fcd8937da3ec25!2m2!1d-111.4413578!2d47.3557881!1m5!1m1!1s0x4d50e1468af1ce9b:0xb02e7ce99f9e641a!2m2!1d-88.3092692!2d46.8784933!1m5!1m1!1s0x8844b40da22762bf:0xee4cd8dba67a2afa!2m2!1d-83.3269444!2d37.1766667!1m5!1m1!1s0x884943786da899b1:0x5eb17b45f77f3480!2m2!1d-81.0533854!2d38.5410076!1m5!1m1!1s0x88ffff04df8a3dc1:0x2e50cd1fdf10df52!2m2!1d-79.4353317!2d34.0168293!1m5!1m1!1s0x864043e6372e0009:0x1372621459655543!2m2!1d-95.4597276!2d29.0382495!3e0 list of map destinations], Truly, Saari, Toulouse, A, {{w|Friendship,_South_Carolina|Friendship}}, This Way is a way of saying, "Truly sorry to lose a friendship this way".
The [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Hope,+NY+12134/Yoe,+PA/Fallin+Lake,+Magnolia+Township,+AR/@38.214792,-88.0772473,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m20!4m19!1m5!1m1!1s0x89df00206dc519a7:0x8c095186fc80dee1!2m2!1d-74.2431907!2d43.3036812!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c8886da851113b:0x96fa3e47edbd1953!2m2!1d-76.6369116!2d39.9089887!1m5!1m1!1s0x8633c43fa49e5997:0x864650e233fea97b!2m2!1d-93.3167015!2d33.2840166!3e0 list of map destinations], {{w|Hope, New York|Hope}}, {{w|Yoe, Pennsylvania|Yoe}}, Fallin Lake is a way of saying, "Hope you fall in [a] lake".

"A" is [https://goo.gl/maps/sUm6MtwEvpsBbfLX8 one] of the three districts in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_County,_West_Virginia#Geography Clay County WV]. The others are "B" and "C".

In the title text, [[Randall]] offers a different option if "A" is removed from Google Maps, {{w|Ina, Illinois|Ina (IL)}}, to make [https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Jump,+McDonald+Township,+Ohio,+USA/Ina,+IL,+USA/Big+Hole,+Texas,+USA/@35.8263797,-93.8102845,6z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m20!4m19!1m5!1m1!1s0x883edadb5282cd7d:0xbd26e9e97ce76762!2m2!1d-83.79438!2d40.6158849!1m5!1m1!1s0x8876cfd2b9f24b79:0xa00498b7be5e90c4!2m2!1d-88.9039554!2d38.1511606!1m5!1m1!1s0x863813224a969417:0x61e1c3c664eadc63!2m2!1d-94.8453391!2d31.1918015!3e0 this response]: Jump, {{w|Ina, Illinois|Ina}}, Big Hole ("Jump in a big hole".)

In [[2245: Edible Arrangements]], Cueball was irritated by a pun from [[Megan]] which was also themed on English history ("Vore of the Roses"), but in that strip, he evidently didn't get angry enough to send a map expressing that he would "[https://www.google.com/maps/dir/29688+Cancelada,+M%C3%A1laga,+Spain/Arrangements+Brown+Sea,+Calle+de+Francisco+Silvela,+Madrid,+Spain/@38.609612,-5.2412907,7.5z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0xd732ad66c172565:0x65fb5ee2794f4f9d!2m2!1d-5.0540138!2d36.4614784!1m5!1m1!1s0xd4228b822e25179:0xf8f412a49085dc85!2m2!1d-3.6730066!2d40.4327046!3e0 Cancellada Arrangements]" he had bought for her -- he simply told her so in person and then walked away when she kept punning.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Caption to the left of the comic:]

:Texting Tip

:Is your reaction too intense to be expressed in an emoji or gif?
:Try using driving directions!
:The extra research it requires shows how strongly you feel.

:[A split panel, showing Ponytail texting Cueball with her text messages shown above in gray and Cueball reading the texts angrily below]

:Ponytail: You should name your new Honda Civic ''The Treaty of Edinburgh''
:Ponytail: Because it's a Tudor compact
:Ponytail: Get it

:[Cueball replies to Ponytail, with his text messages shown above him. Ponytail's last text ("Get it") is shown. Cueball sends Ponytail a screenshot of driving directions that go through Truly, Saari, Toulouse, A, Friendship, and This Way]

:[Cueball continues to text Ponytail, with his text messages shown above him. He sends Ponytail a screenshot of driving directions that go through Hope, Yoe, and Fallin Lake]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Tips]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Smartphones]]
[[Category:Puns]]

2241: Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect

2019-12-16T22:29:12Z

IByte: Brussel/Brussels

{{comic
| number = 2241
| date = December 13, 2019
| title = Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect
| image = brussels_sprouts_mandela_effect.png
| titletext = I love Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect; I saw them open for Correct Horse Battery Staple.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TASTY BRUSSELS SPROUT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
{{w|Brussels sprouts}} are a leafy vegetable from the cabbage family which were cultivated in Brussels, in what is now Belgium, in the 13th century, giving them their name. Many adults and children [https://www.camdenliving.com/blog/why-do-we-hate-brussel-sprout dislike Brussels sprouts], perhaps because of their bitterness.

[[Cueball]] was one of these people who thought he had a dislike for Brussels sprouts, but after trying them recently he had a change of heart and likes them now. He feels "misled" by the public dislike for Brussels sprouts. [[Megan]] chimes in and notes that it is not just him. Farmers have developed a newer {{w|cultivar}} of Brussels sprouts around 2000, [https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/nieuw-zoete-spruitjes~b6803ee03/?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.explainxkcd.com%2Fwiki%2Findex.php%2FTalk%3A2241%3A_Brussels_Sprouts_Mandela_Effect 20 years] before this comic was released, which taste less bitter than the "original" cultivar of Brussels sprouts that Cueball grew up eating (a [https://npr.org/773457637 source] is provided in the comic as a foot note to Megan's statement).

It seems that others have also started to like Brussels sprouts, which Megan calls a real {{w|False_memory#Mandela_Effect|Mandela Effect}}, hence the title ''Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect''. Megan explains that now the whole world have a "false" shared memory of Brussels sprouts tasting bad, and it is like we have all switched to the parallel universe where they taste good. This idea was earlier used in [[1268: Alternate Universe]] regarding the weird idea of eating lobsters.

{{w|false memory|False memories}} may arise via suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation of misinformation, and source misattribution, and {{w|False_memory#Commonly_held_false_memories|they can be shared}}, sometimes widely, when one of these triggers happens to many people in a population.

The Mandela Effect, however, is a pseudoscience explanation for a false memory shared by multiple people. It states that the false memory is actually a real memory of people who had lived in a parallel world where the memory was true. This is why Megan calls this a real Mandela effect, because in this situation it is the world we live in that has actually changed, not our memories that are wrong. Now the Brussels sprouts taste different than we remembered, it is not our memories that are wrong.

In the last panel, [[Ponytail]] then tricks Cueball into thinking that {{w|licorice}}, [https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/why-do-so-many-us-hate-black-licorice-few-theories-963738 another widely disliked food], is good tasting. At this point Megan realizes that this must be a trap. (Also note that in many countries, for instance many in Europe, many people love licorice, so contrary to Brussels sprouts it is not so commonplace for people to hate licorice!)

That Ponytail is up to no good is shown to be true when she additionally claims that {{w|Silica_gel|silica gel}} packets are actually edible and taste delicious. This is very false! {{w|Silica_gel#Desiccant|Silica gel packets}} are typically used as a desiccant, to keep electronics and other moisture sensitive items dry. They are typically marked "[https://www.123rf.com/photo_72752039_single-silica-gel-packet-isolated-on-white-background-.html Do Not Eat]" to warn people that they are not edible. Although not toxic, and even {{w|Silica_gel#Food_additive|allowed in some form in food}}, silica gel has a sand-like texture and no flavor or nutritional value, can {{w|Silica_gel#Hazards|cause irritation}} if digested in the raw form, and the packets may contain {{w|Silica_gel#Humidity_indicator_(blue/orange_silica_gel)|potentially toxic additives}}.

Cueball, having been prepped by both his own experience and Megan's facts are totally ready to believe Ponytail, even to the extend that he seems to feel cheated by the makers of silica gel packets, who he must now think has written ''Do Not Eat'' just to keep that delicious gel for themselves. Hopefully Megan can convince him not to find and eat them. Ponytail is often not nice to Cueball, although in other comics it is more like she talks him down, see [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]], not directly trying to harm him.

The title text suggests that "Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect" is a music band, who once were the {{w|opening act}} for the presumably better known band "Correct Horse Battery Staple". This latter group is a reference to [[936: Password Strength]]. It hints at the "{{tvtropes|AGoodNameForARockBand|good name for a musical band}}" trope, which Randall before tried to replace by a dot tumblr dot com trope in [[1025: Tumblr]]. Indirectly he also suggest that ''Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect'' would be a great long password that is now easy to remember (as long as you remember [https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/6meq1a/brussel_sprouts_right/ there is S] at the end of {{w|Brussels}} (at least in English, but not in Dutch, which is one of the official languages of Brussels/Belgium)).

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing between Ponytail and Megan talking to them.]
:Cueball: I always thought of Brussels sprouts as terrible, but they're actually really good! I can't believe I let everyone mislead me!

:[In a frame-less panel Megan replies. Below her is a footnote with a citation to back up her statement.]
:Megan: It's not just you! Farmers developed a less-bitter cultivar like 15 years ago.*
:*npr.org/773457637

:[Back to all three as Megan continues to explain while holding her arms away from her.]
:Megan: Now the whole world is having this revelation, one person at a time. It's like a real Mandela effect. We secretly switched to the parallel universe where Brussels sprouts taste good.
:Cueball: ''Cool.''

:[Ponytail lifts a finger as Cueball and Megan turns to look at her.]
:Ponytail: Also, licorice is good now.
:Cueball: Whoa, really?
:Megan: This is a trap.
:Ponytail: And those silica gel packets that say "Do not eat"? '''''Delicious.'''''
:Cueball: ''I knew it.''

==Trivia==
* The URL given was [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/5/5d/20191216154116%21brussels_sprouts_mandela_effect.png originally] given [https://npr.org/773457633 npr.org/77345763'''3'''] but this was an error!
**The actual URL is number 77345763'''7''' which was later corrected by an updated comic.
**Here is the [https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=773457637 plain HTML version] and here the [https://npr.org/773457637 full site].
*As always when Randall offers his opinion on some sort of food, it may lead to [[388:_Fuck_Grapefruit#Controversy|controversy]] and lots of discussion in the [[Talk:2241:_Brussels_Sprouts_Mandela_Effect|talk page]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: Food]]

User:IByte

2019-12-16T22:11:48Z

IByte: Wikipedia user page

If you want information about me, you could try looking at my [[wikipedia:User:IByte|user page on Wikipedia]].

Talk:2241: Brussels Sprouts Mandela Effect

2019-12-14T09:47:34Z

IByte: liquorice / password

Brussels Sprouts Mandella Effect dot Tumblr dot com--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 00:20, 14 December 2019 (UTC)

Is liquorice ''really'' so disliked as suggested? For me it's "Meh" ({{w|Liquorice allsorts}} are all the better for being partnered with sweetness in various ways), but pallatable enough in its plain form. Although I admit the versions salted with ammonium chloride are a more acquired taste to my (apparently) non-European tastebuds. I won't eat those in handfulls, just the odd occasionally grabbed morsel from the bag that gets rapidly emptied by the continental person who brought them... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.250|141.101.98.250]] 00:25, 14 December 2019 (UTC)
: Black licorice jelly beans are good (the Twizzler fake stuff not so much), but I mostly don't like the allsorts. Tried the Finnish/European stuff, and that's just plain nasty. However, of my peers and co-workers, I'm apparently the only one that likes black licorice. Still, however, there's always plenty of the bags of black licorice jelly beans in the store around Easter, so the cohort of folk that like them is large enough that it's still profitable to stock.

:Most people like liquorice in The Netherlands (which comes in various forms: sweet/salty, hard/soft etc.), it is available at most supermarkets. As for the title text, when I saw today's comic title, the first thing I thought was: is that your new password, Randall? --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 09:47, 14 December 2019 (UTC)

Silica packets are harmless to eat:

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/19775/what-would-happen-if-you-ate-one-those-silica-gel-packets

The joke (a supposedly false statement) about silica gel may be actually a true, keen observation: people are “misled” to believe that it is absolutely NOT edible (i.e. poisonous) because of the strong warning DO NOT EAT they read again and again (see e.g. [https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/21181/what-would-happen-if-one-eats-silica-gel]). Maybe this ''is'' intended; maybe it's just a joke (lie) that turned out to be true. What do you think?
[[User:Yosei|Yosei]] ([[User talk:Yosei|talk]]) 04:24, 14 December 2019 (UTC)

I remember eating Brusseles Sprouts as a kid and those were tasty (and expencive). I wonder if modern sprouts won't be tasty for me. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.244.150|172.68.244.150]]

Talk:2236: Is it Christmas?

2019-12-02T22:37:21Z

IByte: conditional probability, false negative

according Wayback Machine, the site [https://web.archive.org/web/20181225014549/https://isitchristmas.com/ still] [https://web.archive.org/web/20171225032723/https://isitchristmas.com/ says] [https://web.archive.org/web/20161209052757/https://isitchristmas.com/ NO] [https://web.archive.org/web/20151225060146/https://isitchristmas.com/ even] on Christmas. --[[User:Valepert|valepert]] ([[User talk:Valepert|talk]]) 21:56, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:Hmmm, maybe it will be fixed this year. I imagine everybody spammed the guy on twitter when it didnt work last year. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 22:06, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

:; It checks your system time
:It uses the <code>new Date()</code> constructor to check whether it is Christmas, which uses your system time. Thus, the Wayback won't get anything, but changing your system time will. Kay? [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 22:14, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Okay so looking at isitchristmas.com, there's a comment at the top of the page saying to look at the console, but I don't see anything in there, anyone know what that might be about? Also at the bottom of the html file, the bottommost <script> tag looks like it might contain code for a chat client? I don't know JS so I'm unsure, but I tried changing all the related "false" values to "true" that looked relevant and nothing happened, so idk. Maybe someone else can figure it out. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.155|172.68.132.155]] 22:03, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Well, one way to put it is that the overall probability of a false negative is 0.27%, which doesn't seem too bad, but the conditional probability of a false negative given that it's Christmas is 100%, which is horrid. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 22:37, 2 December 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2195: Dockless Roombas

2019-09-02T09:08:06Z

IByte: Indent

I don't know about you, but I would totally rent a Roomba to do my vacuuming for me.
[[User:QuickMolasses|QuickMolasses]] ([[User talk:QuickMolasses|talk]]) 14:42, 28 August 2019 (UTC)

" A Roomba's dirt canister is quite small and needs to be emptied when it fills up. This would happen quite quickly if it were operated on streets and sidewalks." -- Well, just have the Roomba connect to Narnia rather than a canister.{{unsigned ip|108.162.238.83}}
:Now I'm imagining a wardrobe with a garbage chute attached to it being dragged behind a Roomba, and Black Hat mounting a spray bottle on said Roomba and using it on Aslan. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 12:40, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

Can anyone who has a roomba confirm whether it's even possible to stand on one without it breaking? Apart from not being strong enough to move you anywhere I assume it's structural integrity can't support a fully grown adult.[[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 10:42, 29 August 2019 (UTC)

:I rather doubt they would be able to carry a human, but maybe they could carry [http://twolumps.net/d/20050325.html a cat] (and believe me, that's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGI8Od22WM4 possible]...) --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 22:42, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

Just wondering what happened to the Friday comic.
Strips used to appear at a sensible time but have been drifting later, but it is nearly midnight UTC and no show.
Mind you I was confused a to why Randall was advertising a trip to London in July and why he had so many trips to England exactly a month apart. {{unsigned ip|162.158.34.64}}
:Randall has a new book coming out in 4 days, and he's going on a book tour to more than a dozen cities, I'd expect him to be busy. Also it's only around 7:30 where Randall lives, and Friday's comic is already out on xkcd.com, it's just that DgbrtBOT hasn't uploaded the page to the wiki yet. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 23:45, 30 August 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2195: Dockless Roombas

2019-08-30T22:42:42Z

IByte: I've seen this on Two Lumps...

Talk:2170: Coordinate Precision

2019-07-06T11:37:13Z

IByte: Geocaching

The coordinates seem to show a NASA building, so in the end you're still soing something space related. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.196|172.69.55.196]] 19:47, 1 July 2019 (UTC)Some random European.
:The more precise coordinates are actually in the middle of the Rocket Garden at the Visitor's Center of the Kennedy Space Center complex. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:58, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

The atom-level coordinates are obtained by appending digits of e and pi to the Rocket Garden coordinates. [[User:Ichoran|Ichoran]] ([[User talk:Ichoran|talk]]) 20:21, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

I always find it very funny to see all those decimals. Regular GPS devices have an uncertainty of 3 meters if there is no interference from trees, buildings or whatever. That puts you at about 4 to 5 decimals I guess. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 20:26, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:A Google Maps webpage URL includes coordinates to seven decimal places. [[User:EmuSam|EmuSam]] ([[User talk:EmuSam|talk]]) 20:48, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::Sure but out there with your handheld GPS or normal consumer device that includes a GPS receiver you won't get more precision than about 3 meters. And when your at the higher latitudes you're probably not getting that. [[User:Palmpje|Palmpje]] ([[User talk:Palmpje|talk]]) 20:52, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

So combining this comic with #2169, is Randal suggesting he'll be at the Rocket Garden on July 28th (much as he did in #240)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.208|108.162.216.208]] 20:47, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:It says ''June'' 28th. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.22|162.158.126.22]] 20:52, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::No, the date of that comic is June 28, but the title text says: [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING] --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 21:51, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
:::Ah, that makes sense. For some reason my app only showed the first part of the tirle text --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.94|162.158.126.94]] 23:04, 1 July 2019 (UTC)
::::The COMIC says "June 28th." The TITLE TEXT says "July 28th." Apparently the government computer predictive text was trained from different input. [[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 15:26, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Regrettably, there are two dimensions missing, Z and T. Without Z (elevation)+/- you could be in space or in a neutrino detector. T is only relevant for dynamic objects, but there again, the Americas are going West at a measurable rate! [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 21:30, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

The seventh row is likely a reference to comic number 1358 where two stick figures try to find waldo via satellite. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.226.125|172.69.226.125]] 21:44, 1 July 2019 (UTC) kisara, 21:42, 1 July 2019 (utc)

10^-40 degrees on the surface of the earth translates to about 0.7 planck lengths. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.234|162.158.106.234]] 21:50, 1 July 2019 (UTC)

Do the coordinates 28.5234°N, 80.6830°W really correspond to the tip of the Delta rocket? I checked and it was pointing to a small patch of ground next to the rocket, not the tip of the rocket itself. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 00:20, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
:No, you need to go to five decimal places to get the rocket. In that respect, I think he might be off by one digit of precision in his descriptions. [[User:Jeremyp|Jeremyp]] ([[User talk:Jeremyp|talk]]) 12:04, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
::Someone corrected it in the explanation, the coordinates 28.52345°N, 80.68309°W do correspond to the Delta rocket. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 12:46, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

I would like to mention that neither number seems to fit into a standard double float value. I made a fiddle showing this. [https://dotnetfiddle.net/k7yK0Y#] [[User:Ansarya|Ansarya]] ([[User talk:Ansarya|talk]]) 01:48, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
:Floats are stored base 2, so representing them exactly as decimal often requires many more digits than is actually necessary (for complicated number theory reasons, a float can always be represented exactly as decimal, which would not be true if floats were stored in base 3). For this reason, programming languages that can format floats round them, usually to a number of digits where it will be possible to reconstruct the original float (though C# apparently takes off a couple extra digits, since those digits are almost never significant). To illustrate this, I used Rust to print many more digits of a float than would be shown normally [https://play.rust-lang.org/?version=stable&mode=debug&edition=2018&gist=6796c2459ceabea1a03d7113b676dd8f]. The latitude coordinate in the comic could be the result of printing a double precision float, but the longitude coordinate could not be. Also note that it takes almost 50 digits to reach an exact base 10 representation, even though only 14 or 15 of those digits are actually needed to reconstruct the original float. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 18:01, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

May be my pet peeve... ...but adding an additional error to every piece of input data [and maybe every intermediate result] in order to show that either the precision the original measurement ends here or that all further digits of the measurement read "0" often introduces an error that can add up surprisingly quickly => I personally prefer raw floats that indicate there probably was no error analysis to rounded data and won't get tired on telling people to explicitely state what precision they can expect.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.70|162.158.114.70]]

If the smallest subnormal 32 bit float is a Planck length, then the largest 32 bit float is 10 sextillion times the diameter of the observable universe. If the value 1.0 of a 64 bit float is a cubic Planck length, then the largest float is 100 sextillion ''googol'' times the volume of the observable universe. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 17:21, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

It'd be neat to have a map that shows the precision of given coordinates; like how Google Maps shows transparent blue circle with a wider radius if it's location detection isn't very precise. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.76|172.69.170.76]] 19:10, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

Something about the formatting of the table seems to be messing up the main page. Not sure what it is, but it happens just after the '110 km (70 mi)' so might be related to the span. Not a major problem as it's fine on the comic page and the main page will change tomorrow anyway. [[User:A(l)Chemist|AlChemist]] ([[User talk:A(l)Chemist|talk]]) 19:43, 2 July 2019 (UTC)

/\
/ \
/____\
information is people
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.172|172.68.34.172]] 01:27, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

"more than a quintillion times smaller" that's short scale quintillion, right?
[[User:Kventin|Kventin]] ([[User talk:Kventin|talk]]) 08:04, 3 July 2019 (UTC)
:...and it's ambiguous otherwise. Depends entirely upon what one understands as "one time smaller" (or even if you can have a meaningful "zero times smaller", if you prefer) before you start to further multiply the smallerness by incrementing the factorisation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.76|141.101.98.76]] 00:57, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

<q>This is probably a reference to the fact that persons are animate, and different persons can occupy the same position at different times.</q>
No it is not. The comic itself explicitly states that it's a reference to the geodetic datum when it says, <q>but since you didn't include datum information, we can't tell who</q>.

<q>As the comic notes, different persons can occupy the same position at different times</q>. Where does it note that? Am I looking at a different comic? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.166|162.158.38.166]] 09:57, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

Is there supposed to be a comma after the dash in the description on 15 decimal places? I thought the "beginning - interjection - end of sentence" structure doesn't require a comma since the interjected section is basically a comma in itself. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.44.146|172.69.44.146]] 16:51, 3 July 2019 (UTC)
:As I learned it, a sentence with an interjection should be structured and punctuated as if the interjection were not there, be it enclosed in parentheses or dashes. See “Let's hunt – and then eat –, Grandma!”. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.106|172.68.226.106]] 22:40, 3 July 2019 (UTC)

For whatever reason, the plural of “geodetic datum” is “geodetic datums”. If you say “geodetic data”, then that sounds like you’re talking about a list of coordinates or something. It’s not regular, but it’s standard usage in the geodetic field. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.160.150|172.69.160.150]] 13:47, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

"The coordinates at 28.52345°N, 80.68309°W (in decimal degrees form; in geographic coordinate system form using degrees, minutes, and seconds, 28° 31′ 24.24.4″N, 80° 40′ 59.1″W)". The reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_system does not support the view that degrees-minutes-seconds are any more of a geographic coordinate system than are decimal degrees (or meters, radians, etc. for that matter). This reads like somebody is grinding an axe.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.149|172.68.58.149]] 23:53, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

Also the table at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_degrees is similar to the comic, and predates it by at least a year. Not sure how or if that should be included in the explanation.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.149|172.68.58.149]] 23:53, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

Then of course there's N 47° 38.938 W 122° 20.887 - You're probably a [[wikipedia:Geocaching|geocacher]] (Which always uses the GPS standard WGS84 datum, by the way, so that's that problem solved). --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:37, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

977: Map Projections

2018-12-08T16:49:52Z

IByte: Google Maps uses a globe now

{{comic
| number = 977
| date = November 14, 2011
| title = Map Projections
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| image = map_projections.png
| titletext = What's that? You think I don't like the Peters map because I'm uncomfortable with having my cultural assumptions challenged? Are you sure you're not... ::puts on sunglasses:: ...projecting?
}}
__TOC__
==Explanation==
{{w|Map projection}}, or how to represent the spherical Earth surface onto a flat support (paper, screen...) to have a usable map, is a long-time issue with very practical aspects (navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) as well as very scientific/mathematical ones, involving geometry or even abstract algebra among other things. There is no universal solution to this problem: Any 2D map projection will always distort in a way the spherical reality. Many projections have been proposed in various contexts, each intending to minimize distortions for specific uses (for nautical navigation, for aerial navigation, for landmass size comparisons, etc.) but having drawbacks from other points of view. Some of them are more frequently used than others in mass media and therefore more well-known than others, some are purely historical and now deprecated, some are very obscure, etc.

[[Randall]] suggests here the idea that someone's "favorite" map projection can reveal aspects of their personality, then goes through a series of them to show what they can mean.

He may actually believe that all map projections are in a way bad. This could be inferred from the fact that he much later began publishing a series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]], starting with [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]], which was Bad Map Projection #107 on his list, and was followed up by #79: [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones]]. The projections below could be #1-#12 on that list, although the last one, where Randall hates those that love it, might be somewhat further down the list.

===Mercator===
[[File:MercatorProjection.jpg|frame|The Mercator projection]]
The {{w|Mercator projection}} was introduced by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. The main purpose of this map is to preserve compass bearings; for example 13 degrees east of north will be 13 degrees clockwise from the ray pointing toward the top of the map, at every point. A mathematical consequence is the mapping is conformal, i.e. if two roads meet at a certain angle on the surface of the Earth, they will meet at that same angle on the map. It also follows that at every point the vertical and horizontal scales are the same, so locally i.e. considering only a small part of the map, geographical features (shapes, angles) are well represented, which helps a lot in recognizing them on-the-field, or for local navigation in that small part only. For this reason, that projection (or a close variant) is used in several online mapping services (such as Google Maps when this comic was published, but they switched to a globe, see below), which means that it is frequently encountered by the general public. A straight line on the map corresponds to a course of constant bearing (direction), which was very useful for nautical navigation in the past (and thus made that projection very well-known).

However, from a global point of view, this projection is radically incorrect in how it shows the size of landmasses (for instance, Antarctica and Greenland seem gigantic), and furthermore, it always excludes a small region around each pole (otherwise the map would be of infinite height), so it doesn't provide a complete solution for the problem of map projection. The comic implies that people who like that projection aren't very interested with map issues, and typically use what they are offered without thinking much about it.

{{clear}}

===Van der Grinten===
[[File:VanDerGrintenProjection.jpg|frame|The Van der Grinten projection]]
The {{w|Van der Grinten projection}} is not much better than the Mercator. It was adopted by {{w|National Geographic}} in 1922 and was used until they updated to the Robinson projection in 1988.

The Van der Grinten projection is circular as opposed to the Mercator projection. The fictional person believes a circular map is more fitting to the real Earth's three-dimensional spherical nature because both are round. This belief fails to recognize that a two-dimensional circle has very little in common with the surface of a sphere, and thus this projection still causes a vast distortion of space and area. Because of this, Randall implies the Van der Grinten enthusiast to be optimistic and childishly simple-minded (e.g. "you like circles").

{{clear}}

===Robinson===
[[File:RobinsonProjection.jpg|frame|The Robinson projection]]
The {{w|Robinson projection}} was developed by {{w|Arthur H. Robinson}} as a map that was supposed to look nice and is often used for classroom maps. National Geographic switched to this projection in 1988, and used it for ten years, switching to the {{w|Winkel tripel projection|Winkel-Tripel}} in 1998.

{{w|The Beatles}} was a rock band that enjoyed great commercial success in the 1960s, and are widely considered the best act ever in the genre of popular music. The Beatles, coffee, and running shoes are all things that are very commonly enjoyed and largely uncontroversial, as well as being comforting. Liking these specific things suggests an ordinary, easygoing lifestyle paralleled by the projection.

{{clear}}

===Dymaxion===
[[File:DymaxionProjection.jpg|frame|The Dymaxion projection]]
Also called the Fuller Map, the {{w|Dymaxion map}} takes a sphere and projects it onto an icosahedron, that is a polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. It is far easier to unwrap an icosahedron than it is to unwrap a sphere into a 2D object and has very little skewing of the poles. {{w|Buckminster Fuller}} was an eccentric futurist who believed, for example, that world maps should allow no conception of "up" or "down". He was therefore more than happy to defy people's expectations about maps in the pursuit of mathematical accuracy.

Randall associates the projection to geek subculture and niche markets:
*{{w|Isaac Asimov}} was an American science-fiction writer, who (as well as publishing many textbooks) is considered the father of the modern concept of robots. He invented the {{w|Three Laws of Robotics}}. He also worked on more than 500 books throughout his career.
*{{w|XML}} is the eXtensible Markup Language. It is used to represent data in a format that machines can read and understand, as well as being human-readable. In practice, XML is cumbersome to read.
*{{w|Vibram FiveFingers|Toed shoes}} are a [[1065: Shoes|favorite]] of Randall's to pick on. In society they are seen as a {{w|geek}} clothing item.
*Brought to the world by {{w|Dean Kamen}}, the {{w|Segway PT}} was supposed to be a device that changed the way cities were built. In reality, most principalities have put in place rules specifically against Segways, making them a frustration to own and use within the law (in some states in Australia, it is illegal to use them on public footpaths or roads). Also, the former owner of {{w|Segway Inc.}}, the late {{w|Jimi Heselden}}, accidentally rode his Segway off a cliff in 2010.
*At the time of comic release, 3D goggles, nowadays widely known as {{w|Virtual reality headset|VR headsets}}, were considered a gimmick at best. The original idea is as old as 3D graphics, but it never really took off until mid-2010s. Earlier products were very unwieldy and offered poor graphics quality, so no one took this technology seriously.
*{{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} is an alternate keyboard layout to {{w|QWERTY}}. According to legend, QWERTY was invented to help keep manual typewriters from jamming (by placing the most used keys far from each other) but Dr. {{w|August Dvorak}} performed many studies and found the mathematically optimal keyboard layout to reduce finger travel for right handed typists. While some claim Dvorak is technically better than QWERTY, QWERTY had become the standard. All the keyboards were laid out in QWERTY format, but a lot of software exists to remap the keys to DVORAK for those interested in typing faster. Retraining the brain to use Dvorak takes perhaps a week. It has become a [[:Category:Dvorak|recurrent theme]] on xkcd.
**It seems likely that Randall looked at this comic when he made the [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]], and given that he then released a comic about Dvorak, [[1787: Voice Commands]], the week after that, it seem like this old comic may also have inspired that Dvorak reference, see this [[1787: Voice Commands#Trivia|trivia item]].

{{clear}}

===Winkel-Tripel===
[[File:Winkel-TripelProjection.jpg|frame|The Winkel Tripel projection]]
Proposed by Oswald Winkel in 1921, the {{w|Winkel tripel projection}} tried to reduce a set of three (German: Tripel) main problems with map projections: area, direction, and distance. The {{w|Kavrayskiy VII projection|Kavrayskiy projection}} is very similar to the Winkel Tripel and was used by the USSR, but very few in the Western world know of it.

The comic links this projection to {{w|hipster}} subculture. The hipster stereotype is to avoid conforming to mainstream fashions. "Post-" refers to a variety of musical genres such as {{w|post-punk}}, {{w|post-grunge}}, {{w|post-minimalism}}, etc. that branch off of other genres.

;Trivia
In German "Winkel-Tripel-Projektion" means Winkel's triple projection, and therefore the hyphen shouldn't be there: "Winkel Tripel" or "Winkel tripel".

{{clear}}

===Goode Homolosine===
[[File:GoodeHomolosineProjection.jpg|frame|The Goode Homolosine projection]]
The {{w|Goode homolosine projection}} takes a different approach to skewing a sphere into a roughly circular surface. An orange peel can be taken from an orange and flattened with fair success; this is roughly the procedure that {{w|John Paule Goode}} followed in creating this projection. Randall is suggesting that people who like this map also prefer relatively easy solutions to other things in life, despite those solutions having nuanced problems that are more difficult to address.

Common people make arguments that if normal people would run the United States, then the US wouldn't be in the trouble it is. This is from the belief that career politicians are simply out to make money and will only act in the interest of their constituency when their continued easy life is threatened (usually around election time).

Airline food is another, much maligned, problem. How do you store enough food to feed people on long airplane trips? What kind of food can be served in an enclosed, low-air-pressure environment? The common solution is to use some kind of prepackaged, reheated meal. Randall is saying that the people in favor of the Goode Homolosine wonder why the airlines don't simply order meals from the restaurants in the airport, store that food, and serve it, rather than using bland reheated food.

Older cars burned oil like mad fiends, and oil back then would become corrosive to the innards of an engine, so oil had to be changed often. But, with the introduction of synthetic motor oil and better designed engines, new cars only need their oil changed about every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. A common conspiracy theory is that modern automobile oil manufacturers still recommend that car owners change their oil every 3,000-5,000 miles to "drum" up more business, even though that frequency is unnecessary.

All of these references suggest that people who like the Goode Homolosine projection are fans of easy solutions to problems. However, the solutions would not necessarily work in practice. For instance: the restaurants might have trouble making enough food for the whole plane, and it could get cold before being served; the air conditions [http://www.nbcnews.com/health/one-reason-airline-food-so-bad-your-own-tastebuds-6C10823522 aboard planes] can affect taste, so airlines say they optimize for this; there is no such thing as a "normal" person, and if there were, he/she would have virtually no chance at actually getting into government office; and the Goode Homolosine projection, while mostly resembling a flattened orange peel as suggested by the earlier analogy, does indeed cut down on distortion, but also has serious problems of its own, such as leaving huge gaps of nothingness between the continents, making distances across the oceans difficult to visualize.

{{clear}}

===Hobo–Dyer===
[[File:Hobo-DyerProjection.jpg|frame|The Hobo–Dyer projection]]
The {{w|Hobo–Dyer projection}} was commissioned by Bob Abramms and Howard Bronstein and was drafted by Mick Dyer in 2002. It is a modified {{w|Behrmann projection}}. The goal was to be a more visually pleasing version of the Gall–Peters.

As is discussed in the Gall–Peters explanation, the Gall–Peters was developed to be equal area, so that economically disadvantaged areas can at least take comfort in the fact that their country is represented correctly by area on maps.

Randall associates the Hobo–Dyer projection to "crunchy granola" — a stereotype associated with vegetarianism, environmental activism, anti-war activism, liberal political leanings, and some traces of {{w|hippie}} culture.

With feminism becoming mainstream and alternative genders being more widely accepted, some have begun to invent gender-neutral pronouns so that when referring to a person whose gender is not known they cannot be offended by being referred to by the wrong pronouns. In {{w|Middle English}} 'they' and 'their' were accepted gender-less pronouns that could replace 'he', 'she' as well as be used to represent a crowd, but this usage is considered by some to be grammatically incorrect because of the plural/singular debate ([http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0033-hisher.htm stupid Victorian Grammarians!]). There have been {{w|gender-neutral pronoun#Invented pronouns|many attempts at popularizing invented gender-neutral pronouns}} and they are beginning to achieve some degree of success in the mainstream.

{{clear}}

===Plate Carrée===
[[File:PlateCarreeProjection.jpg|frame|The Plate Carrée projection]]
Also known as the {{w|Equirectangular projection}}, it has been in use since, apparently, 100 AD. The benefit of this projection is that latitude and longitude can be used as x,y coordinates. This makes it especially easy for computers to graph data on top of it.

According to the comic, the projection appeals to people who find much beauty in simplicity.

{{clear}}

===A Globe!===
[[File:GlobeProjection.jpg|frame|The Globe "projection"]]
In any good discussion there has to be at least one smart-ass. This is a comic about map projections, that is, the science of taking a sphere and flattening it into 2 dimensions. The smart-ass believes that we shouldn't even try: a sphere is, tautologically, the perfect representation of a sphere.

To quote ''{{w|The Princess Bride}}'': "Yes, you're very smart. Shut up."

A globe is, of course, the "map projection" used by {{w|Google Earth}}, and recently by other mapping software (including Google Maps) as computers and phones get increasingly powerful 3D graphics.

{{clear}}

===Waterman butterfly===
[[File:WatermanButterflyProjection.jpg|frame|The Waterman Butterfly projection]]
Similar to the Dymaxion, the {{w|Waterman butterfly projection}} turns a sphere into an octahedron, and then unfolds the net of the octahedron, which was devised by mathematician {{w|Waterman polyhedron|Steve Waterman}} based upon the work of {{w|Bernard J.S. Cahill}}.

Bernard Cahill published a [http://www.genekeyes.com/B.J.S._CAHILL_RESOURCE.html butterfly map] in 1909. Steve Waterman probably has the only extant "ready to go" map following the same general principles, though Gene Keys may not be far behind. Waterman has a poem with graphics in a similar vein to this xkcd comic that is worth reading.[http://web.archive.org/web/20120118095915/http://watermanpolyhedron.com/worldmap.html]

[http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/ProjPoly/projPoly2.html Polyhedral projections] like Cahill, Dymaxion or Waterman typically offer better accuracy of size, shape and area than flat projections, at the expense of compass directionality, connectedness, and other complications.

The joke is that the person responding deeply understands map projections; anyone who knows of this projection is a person that Randall would like to get to know.

{{clear}}

===Peirce quincuncial===
[[File:PeirceQuincuncialProjection.jpg|frame|The Peirce Quincuncial projection]]
The {{w|Peirce quincuncial projection}} was devised by {{w|Charles Sanders Peirce}} in 1879 and uses {{w|complex analysis}} to make a {{w|conformal mapping}} of the Earth, that conforms except for four points which would make up the midpoints of sides and lie on equator (the equator is represented by a square and the corners connect the sides in the middle.)

{{w|Inception}} was a 2010 movie about {{w|meta}} {{w|lucid dream}}ing. It has a complex story that is difficult to follow and leaves the viewer with many questions at the end, and almost needs to be watched multiple times to be understood.

The human brain is not well developed to deal with oddly obvious things. One example is that everyone has a skeleton, but everyone is surprised to see a part of their body represented by an X-ray. Another is the fascinating complexity of the human hand, a machine which is amazingly complex, driven by a complex interplay of electrical and chemical signals; yet is the size of the hand and so useful. A fascination with or fixation on [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ContemplatingYourHands such thoughts] is often associated with an altered state of mind brought on by marijuana consumption. Therefore, Randall may be implying that this map would appeal to stoners.

{{clear}}

===Gall–Peters===
[[File:Gall-PetersProjection.jpg|frame|The Gall–Peters projection]]
The {{w|Gall–Peters projection}} is mired in controversy, surprising for a map. {{w|James Gall}}, a 19th-century clergyman, presented this projection in 1855 before the {{w|British Association for the Advancement of Science}}. In 1967, the filmmaker {{w|Arno Peters}} created the same projection and presented it to the world as a "new invention" that put poorer, less powerful countries into their rightful proportions (as opposed to the Mercator). Peters played the marketing game and got quite a few followers of his map by saying it had "absolute angle conformality," "no extreme distortions of form," and was "totally distance-factual" in an age when society was very concerned about social justice. All of these claims were in fact false. The Mercator projection distorts size in favor of shape, and Gall-Peters distorts shape in favor of size, being especially inaccurate at the equator and the poles.

Anyone who loves such a politically charged map that has become popular by way of marketing stunts, Randall would rather not have anything to do with.

{{clear}}

===Title text===
The title text makes a joke that goes to the familiar meme from ''{{w|CSI: Miami}}'', in which the star, David Caruso starts a sentence, then puts on his sunglasses and ends the sentence with a corny pun. In this case, the pun is on {{w|map projection}} and {{w|projection (psychology)|projection}} in psychology. Psychological projection is an unconscious defense mechanism wherein a person who is uncomfortable with their own impulses denies having them and attributes them to other people, and blames these people for these impulses. The Sunglasses internet meme has been used [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|in other comics]] as well.

==Transcript==
:What your favorite
:'''Map Projection'''
:says about you
:[All of these are organized as Title, a copy of the particular projection underneath, and what it says about you under that.]

:*Mercator
:**You're not really into maps.
:*Van der Grinten
:**You're not a complicated person. You love the Mercator projection; you just wish it weren't square. The Earth's not a square, it's a circle. You like circles. Today is gonna be a good day!
:*Robinson
:**You have a comfortable pair of running shoes that you wear everywhere. You like coffee and enjoy The Beatles. You think the Robinson is the best-looking projection, hands down.
:*Dymaxion
:**You like Isaac Asimov, XML, and shoes with toes. You think the Segway got a bad rap. You own 3D goggles, which you use to view rotating models of better 3D goggles. You type in Dvorak.
:*Winkel-Tripel
:**National Geographic adopted the Winkel-Tripel in 1998, but you've been a W-T fan since ''long'' before "Nat Geo" showed up. You're worried it's getting played out, and are thinking of switching to the Kavrayskiy. You once left a party in disgust when a guest showed up wearing shoes with toes. Your favorite musical genre is "Post–".
:*Goode Homolosine
:**They say mapping the Earth on a 2D surface is like flattening an orange peel, which seems enough to you. You like easy solutions.You think we wouldn't have so many problems if we'd just elect ''normal'' people to Congress instead of Politicians. You think airlines should just buy food from the restaurants near the gates and serve ''that'' on board. You change your car's oil, but secretly wonder if you really ''need'' to.
:*Hobo-Dyer
:**You want to avoid cultural imperialism, but you've heard bad things about Gall-Peters. You're conflict-averse and buy organic. You use a recently-invented set of gender-neutral pronouns and think that what the world needs is a revolution in consciousness.
:*Plate Carrée (Equirectangular)
:**You think this one is fine. You like how X and Y map to latitude and longitude. The other projections overcomplicate things. You want me to stop asking about maps so you can enjoy dinner.
:*A Globe!
:**Yes, you're very clever.
:*Waterman Butterfly
:**Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill Map it's based— ...You have a framed reproduction at home?! Whoa. ...Listen, forget these questions. Are you doing anything tonight?
:*Peirce Quincuncial
:**You think that when we look at a map, what we really see is ourselves. After you first saw ''Inception'', you sat silent in the theater for six hours. It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them. You ''have'' really looked at your hands.
:*Gall-Peters
:**I ''hate'' you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps‏‎]]
[[Category:Dvorak]]
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]

Talk:2034: Equations

2018-09-04T12:50:21Z

IByte: Why did I duplicate a word?

Is the joke that all of the equations are actually wrong/malformed/meaningless but they sort of look like typical equations for that field? {{unsigned ip|172.68.133.66}}
:Sort of. A bit of dimensional analysis would have helped. ;-) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.221|162.158.91.221]] 07:28, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:I feel that the joke is that all the equations are very complicated, and use multiple letters and symbols. But the last one "Truly deep Physics Equations" are summed up with just 3 characters and 2 basic operators. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.11|108.162.250.11]] 10:56, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

He's nerd sniping us all.. ([[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.120|162.158.167.120]] 03:30, 18 August 2018 (UTC))
: ..and perhaps forcing us to build out symbolic usage which is not generating well for math parsers, wiki, etc. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.60|162.158.186.60]] 14:45, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Should we add a column with examples of similar correct equations from the respective fields? Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.4|172.68.110.4]] 09:33, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:That would definitely tidy up my attempts to provide context for Randall's versions. The challenge then is working in explanations for the correct equations as well as arguing over which examples should be used. [[User:Exxi|Exxi]] ([[User talk:Exxi|talk]]) 09:45, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

I don't think the part in parentheses about OH in the Chemistry equation explanation is correct. OH- would mean that it's negatively charged and has nothing to do with unpaired electrons of Oxygen. It would add another horror to the equation, though, as it wouldn't be charge preserving anymore. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.230|162.158.88.230]] 09:58, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

"Redshit". Best typo ever. Please keep it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.177|172.69.54.177]] 10:13, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

;Deep physics equations
The transcript is wrong here, the last letter is not a <math>\mu</math>, but a "u" with a cedilla: u̧. The math parser refuses to render it, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.230|162.158.88.230]] 05:54, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:Looks like it. But I don't think that letter exists even. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.221|162.158.91.221]] 07:28, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:Is this equation a sort of nod to a Theory Of Everything which unifies quantum mechanics and gravity... H-hat (a Hamiltonian, which in quantum mechanics describes the total energy of a system, and usually runs in to problems describing large systems - such as the entire universe - where gravity or spacetime curvature effects matter) *minus* u0 (the relativistic mass of the whole system at time zero ie. the big bang) gives 0 (no energy everywhere always). Since mass is energy (e=mc^2) and mass is also the sole cause of gravity the two theories cleanly collapse together when mass is zero, and figuring out how to extend the theory to other less clean points on the mass axis is obviously a job for less profound physics? I've no ideas to explain the cedilla. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.28|141.101.98.28]] 08:49, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:It looks to me a little like a parody of the {{w|Wheeler-DeWitt_equation#Hamiltonian_constraint|Wheeler-DeWitt equation}} which (in theory) describes a wavefunction for the entire Universe. [[User:Exxi|Exxi]] ([[User talk:Exxi|talk]]) 09:06, 17 August 2018 (UTC)一
: I'm just thrilled someone found the right character for it. I spent 20 minutes looking for the right u symbol without any luck at all. {{unsigned ip|172.68.143.132}}
Is this poking fun at equation-filled blackboards in movies and cartoons? {{unsigned ip|172.68.254.42}}
:Doesn't seem like it. These equations actually do look like the kinds of equations you would see in these fields. On blackboards in movies you tend to get equations that are pure nonsense. {{unsigned ip|172.68.143.132}}
I think this may also be a reference to Feynman's unworldliness equation, http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_25.html#Ch25-S6 . [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.220|108.162.219.220]] 17:02, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

I'd thought the point of the "u" with the cedilla was simply visual (not a reference to an actual parameter). It visually looks like the head of "The Thinker" in profile with the bottom of the "u" being the chin and the cedilla being the curled hand upon which the chin rests. So, the joke would be a twist on the term "deep" where in the cartoon the u+cedilla represents deep thought rather than far away (deep) into space. Monroe likes these little visual puns.[[User:Genejockey33000|Genejockey33000]] ([[User talk:Genejockey33000|talk]]) 14:01, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

;Table layout at the explanation
That oversized table is really bad layout. We've had this discussion many times before - tables should only be used for small contents. Right now I would run into too many edit conflicts but I'll change it to a proper floating text with small headers for each section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:51, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:Done, looks much more like a real paper... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:58, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

;All number theory equation
The explanation for math doesn't seem entirely correct. You can in fact extend the ring of integers (as well as rational and real numbers) with positive and negative infinity, but it won't be a ring anymore. Specifically, the infinities don't have an additive or multiplicative inverse (but 1/infinity = 0); and addition of positive and negative infinity, as well as the product of 0 and either infinity is undefined. However, these properties are not used in the above equation. What we ''can'' use is that <math>\forall n < \infty: n - \infty= -\infty </math>. We would thus have <math>K_n = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-e^{\pi-\infty}) = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-0) = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)i= \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}i\sum_{\pi=n}^{\infty}-\pi= \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}i\cdot(-\infty)=-\infty</math>. Also, how often does one use e and pi in number theory? --[[User:Ycthiognass|Ycthiognass]] ([[User talk:Ycthiognass|talk]]) 12:11, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:Pi (or any other number) minus infinite is just absurd. You can use the infinite symbol only as a limit but NOT as number in calculations. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:33, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
::It is not absurd. Adding the rules <math>n+\infty=\infty\text{ for }n>-\infty,n-\infty=-\infty\text{ for }n<\infty, \pm n\cdot\infty = \pm\infty\text{ for }n>0, \pm n\cdot(-\infty) = \mp\infty\text{ for }n>0,\frac1{\pm\infty}=0</math> gives you a consistent theory that is especially useful when talking about infinite sums and integrals. Would you say the term <math>n-\sum_{i=1}^\infty i</math> is absurd? --[[User:Ycthiognass|Ycthiognass]] ([[User talk:Ycthiognass|talk]]) 14:35, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:::Of course it's absurd. It is <math>\infty-\infty \neq 0</math> because it could be everything between <math>\infty</math> and <math>-\infty</math>. {{w|Infinity}} is a concept describing something without any bound... And, as you can't divide by zero you can't do the same for infinity. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:24, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:::One more: It is
::::<math>\sum_{i=1}^\infty a_i = \lim_{n\to\infty} \sum_{i=1}^n a_i.</math>
:::When this limit exists, one says that the series is ''convergent'' or ''summable''. Otherwise it's called ''divergent'' and has no solution like this one:
::::<math>\sum_{i=1}^\infty i</math>
:::Infinite is NO number! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:33, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
::::<math>\infty-\infty</math> is indeterminate, just like 0/0 is in standard arithmetic. That's cool, because we don't need the value of <math>\infty-\infty</math> to calculate the above expression. Have a look at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_real_number_line extended real number line]. --[[User:Ycthiognass|Ycthiognass]] ([[User talk:Ycthiognass|talk]]) 06:18, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

Completely separate from the above, it's probably worth noting that i is also a constant, and as such has the same misconception as <math>\pi</math>. Computer scientists are happy using i for loops/summations, but mathematicians prefer using n. Based off that, it's probably another misconception/joke that n is treated as a constant, while known-constants are used as variables. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.149|108.162.246.149]] 17:28, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:There is nothing non-standard about using i as an index variable. Often as part of the series i,j,k. Searching for summation convention will give plenty of examples.
:There are fewer letters than mathematical concepts in need of letters, so most letters are used for multiple purposes. Occasionally this causes difficulty. You can be halfway through a linear algebra problem before you discover you need i for an imaginary number despite already using it as an index. Hilarity ensues. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.105|162.158.74.105]] 19:57, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning Euler's identity in the explanation? As a non-mathematician, the presence of e, pi, and i together in one equation looks "Euler's identity-ish" while clearly not being it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.39|162.158.74.39]] 22:20, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

Honestly, seeing e, pi, and i isn't that farfetched, since quite a few applications of number theory to coordinate systems (in the computer-ey sense) take familiar XY coordinates, make them polar, and call them to complex numbers, with a bunch of operations done by multiplying by e to some complex power or other. And wherever waves go, pi goes...
Coming from nothing more than a high-school background, this whole system can be rather jarring, and difficult to understand. I'm just glad I understand enough bits and pieces of number theory to laugh at Randall's joke. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.12|162.158.186.12]] 19:41, 1 September 2018 (UTC)
;Chemistry equation
OH should have a charge symbol: OH-. The actual reaction would be:

CH4 + OH- + heat -> CH3- + H2O

The methyl group can dissolve in water, and this is presumably happening in water, so this equation can work, just not the one provided by Randell. Reacting longer alkanes with bases is a way to make soaps, but the methyl group would be too reactive to be used this way. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 13:13, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

;Fluid Dynamics equation
I believe the fraction 8/23 in the Fluid Dynamics equation is a Randallesque reference to the fractional approximation of pi = 22/7. It's probably not a coincidence that you get 8/23 from 22/7 if you invert it and add 1 to both the numerator and denominator. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 15:19, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

:I think that is a bit of a stretch. If Randall wanted to reference the 22/7 approximation, I think he would simply use 22/7 and not 8/23. [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 00:40, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

::It might be a stretch, but maybe Randall wanted to be more clever than just inserting 22/7, since pi really has no place in that equation. I don't see anyone else suggesting any reasonable source for 8/23 in the equation. The current explanation is an even bigger stretch, since it has nothing in common with 8/23 beyond being just another fraction - it seems to suggest he picked two random numbers, 8 and 23, for the fraction! How unsatisfying! But if nobody else agrees, I'm not losing any sleep over it. (Sometimes I wish Randall would chime in to clear things like this up for us. Randall, where are you?) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:54, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

:Fluid dynamicist here -- strange looking numbers and fractions come from multiplying tensors. 2/3 is a common one, but you also get numbers like 1/7 and 8/27.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.166|108.162.241.166]] 07:24, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

I changed a "p" to a Greek "rho". [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 00:40, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

;Gauge theory equation
<s>I think the transcript is missing a left superscript 0 before the turned xi. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.16|172.68.226.16]] 16:50, 17 August 2018 (UTC)</s> Ah no, sorry. False alarm. It's just that Randall writes the xi with a funny tail. The same tail is on the non-turned xi earlier. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.10|172.68.226.10]] 16:52, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

If explainxkcd.com is to make XKCD comics more understandable then this explanation is failing that. I assumed from the beginning that the joke was about the equations being wrong, but the description of the joke is making my head hurt. {{unsigned ip|162.158.106.216}}
:Read the first paragraph: "To someone who knows even a little about the topic, they are clearly very wrong and only seem even worse the more you look at them." Nevertheless the rest sometimes does hurt. See below. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:28, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

;All truly deep physics equations
In the description paragraph, the last sentence starting "The principle of least action says allows..." does not scan. If someone can fix this (copy&paste?) error, please delete this comment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.171|162.158.58.171]] 19:33, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:I edited the sentence slightly to address this issue. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:51, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

It looks like there is already a section for this above, "Deep physics equations", or am I missing something? [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 00:40, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

Note that this comics also emphasizes that Randall is more familiar with physics than with chemistry : while most of the equations here require college-level education to grok, the chemistry one is at the very most high-scool-grade. {{unsigned ip|141.101.69.33}}

Could this be a reference to Feynman's jab at hiding complexity underneath symbol definitions to achieve 'simplicity'? See the Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume II, Chapter 25, Section 6. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.100|162.158.150.100]] 09:19, 19 August 2018 (UTC)WhoIsJack
:Sounds good to me. [[User:Exxi|Exxi]] ([[User talk:Exxi|talk]]) 19:29, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

;Explanations in general
“Nobody knows if Randall references a horse here” - what?! Because the expression lacks an equal sign; doesn’t represent an equality, it might mean Randall is referencing equines, aka horses?! Is this vandalism, an attempt at a joke, or what? This explanation clearly still needs quite a bit of work! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 20:14, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:I've put a header on top here. It's not vandalism but every explanation looks still highly unscientific. I've gave real sources to the most topics at the beginning but the following explanations are mostly bad. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:22, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:I left that joke in as it was added whilst I was editing the rest of it, I don't think it belongs though. I did my best to reference real-life stuff while writing [Gauge, Quantum Gravity and Cosmology] the awfulness of the equations makes it hard to be scientific though. If there are specific issues I can have a shot at improving those sections although it's kinda hard to explain why I find them funny without going deep into the related physics. I'm not convinced it's possible to properly get that across to a non-physicist in a paragraph of explainXKCD. [[User:Exxi|Exxi]] ([[User talk:Exxi|talk]]) 19:29, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

;Kinematics equations
I fixed an error: Randall's Greek "rho" ''ρ'', a common symbol for mass density, was incorrectly shown here as ''p'', the common symbol for momentum. The term with the ''ρ'' is very similar to a term in the Bernoulli equation, and I have changed the explanation to reflect this. [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 00:40, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

;You might be overthinking some of these
For example, I see the first one as Energy = cot + private which would be an Army private resting in a cot to regain their energy.
The second one I see the word Knee, so I'm thinking it's either something about taking an arrow to a knee, or perhaps about the Knights of Ki who regain their power by saying "Ni!"
The fourth one, I see most of the word ANALOGY, so perhaps the trident-shaped thing equals N, and x> = L, and l (or 1) = G, so if you resolve all the way through you get GNL = ANALOGY and I don't have that quite right yet.
SU(2)U(1)xSU(U(2)) makes me think of Phil Collins singing "Su-Su-Sussudio oh oh". --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.40|108.162.245.40]] 20:37, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

;Has anyone considered the joke part?
As someone unfamiliar with scientific equations, I took the joke to be that Scientific Equations Are Complicated, until you get to the "truly deep" part, in which case they're pretty simple. As much as I appreciate the description of the equations, is anyone gonna explain whether my take on the joke is plausible? Or what it is if I'm wrong? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 15:52, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

;Is there a pun?
Am I the only one seeing a possible pun in SU(2)U(1)xSU(U(2))? I can't figure out the whole thing but SU(U(2)) sure looks like it reads "sue you too".
[[Special:Contributions/24.165.207.66|24.165.207.66]] 23:02, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

;No element symbols exist to form EAT
Although you could write HeAt (Helium-Astatine), I could find no element symbols to form EAT on the right-hand side of the reaction, so it appears to be an invalid expression anyway. (and yes, of course I know Randall is messing with us and you might be expected to read the first "heat" as "temperarature".) --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:17, 4 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:2034: Equations

2018-09-04T11:17:13Z

IByte: No element symbols exist to form EAT

Is the joke that all of the equations are actually wrong/malformed/meaningless but they sort of look like typical equations for that field? {{unsigned ip|172.68.133.66}}
:Sort of. A bit of dimensional analysis would have helped. ;-) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.221|162.158.91.221]] 07:28, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:I feel that the joke is that all the equations are very complicated, and use multiple letters and symbols. But the last one "Truly deep Physics Equations" are summed up with just 3 characters and 2 basic operators. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.11|108.162.250.11]] 10:56, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

He's nerd sniping us all.. ([[Special:Contributions/162.158.167.120|162.158.167.120]] 03:30, 18 August 2018 (UTC))
: ..and perhaps forcing us to build out symbolic usage which is not generating well for math parsers, wiki, etc. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.60|162.158.186.60]] 14:45, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Should we add a column with examples of similar correct equations from the respective fields? Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.4|172.68.110.4]] 09:33, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:That would definitely tidy up my attempts to provide context for Randall's versions. The challenge then is working in explanations for the correct equations as well as arguing over which examples should be used. [[User:Exxi|Exxi]] ([[User talk:Exxi|talk]]) 09:45, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

I don't think the part in parentheses about OH in the Chemistry equation explanation is correct. OH- would mean that it's negatively charged and has nothing to do with unpaired electrons of Oxygen. It would add another horror to the equation, though, as it wouldn't be charge preserving anymore. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.230|162.158.88.230]] 09:58, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

"Redshit". Best typo ever. Please keep it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.177|172.69.54.177]] 10:13, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

;Deep physics equations
The transcript is wrong here, the last letter is not a <math>\mu</math>, but a "u" with a cedilla: u̧. The math parser refuses to render it, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.230|162.158.88.230]] 05:54, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:Looks like it. But I don't think that letter exists even. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.221|162.158.91.221]] 07:28, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:Is this equation a sort of nod to a Theory Of Everything which unifies quantum mechanics and gravity... H-hat (a Hamiltonian, which in quantum mechanics describes the total energy of a system, and usually runs in to problems describing large systems - such as the entire universe - where gravity or spacetime curvature effects matter) *minus* u0 (the relativistic mass of the whole system at time zero ie. the big bang) gives 0 (no energy everywhere always). Since mass is energy (e=mc^2) and mass is also the sole cause of gravity the two theories cleanly collapse together when mass is zero, and figuring out how to extend the theory to other less clean points on the mass axis is obviously a job for less profound physics? I've no ideas to explain the cedilla. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.28|141.101.98.28]] 08:49, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:It looks to me a little like a parody of the {{w|Wheeler-DeWitt_equation#Hamiltonian_constraint|Wheeler-DeWitt equation}} which (in theory) describes a wavefunction for the entire Universe. [[User:Exxi|Exxi]] ([[User talk:Exxi|talk]]) 09:06, 17 August 2018 (UTC)一
: I'm just thrilled someone found the right character for it. I spent 20 minutes looking for the right u symbol without any luck at all. {{unsigned ip|172.68.143.132}}
Is this poking fun at equation-filled blackboards in movies and cartoons? {{unsigned ip|172.68.254.42}}
:Doesn't seem like it. These equations actually do look like the kinds of equations you would see in these fields. On blackboards in movies you tend to get equations that are pure nonsense. {{unsigned ip|172.68.143.132}}
I think this may also be a reference to Feynman's unworldliness equation, http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_25.html#Ch25-S6 . [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.220|108.162.219.220]] 17:02, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

I'd thought the point of the "u" with the cedilla was simply visual (not a reference to an actual parameter). It visually looks like the head of "The Thinker" in profile with the bottom of the "u" being the chin and the cedilla being the curled hand upon which the chin rests. So, the joke would be a twist on the term "deep" where in the cartoon the u+cedilla represents deep thought rather than far away (deep) into space. Monroe likes these little visual puns.[[User:Genejockey33000|Genejockey33000]] ([[User talk:Genejockey33000|talk]]) 14:01, 22 August 2018 (UTC)

;Table layout at the explanation
That oversized table is really bad layout. We've had this discussion many times before - tables should only be used for small contents. Right now I would run into too many edit conflicts but I'll change it to a proper floating text with small headers for each section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 11:51, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:Done, looks much more like a real paper... --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:58, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

;All number theory equation
The explanation for math doesn't seem entirely correct. You can in fact extend the ring of integers (as well as rational and real numbers) with positive and negative infinity, but it won't be a ring anymore. Specifically, the infinities don't have an additive or multiplicative inverse (but 1/infinity = 0); and addition of positive and negative infinity, as well as the product of 0 and either infinity is undefined. However, these properties are not used in the above equation. What we ''can'' use is that <math>\forall n < \infty: n - \infty= -\infty </math>. We would thus have <math>K_n = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-e^{\pi-\infty}) = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)(i-0) = \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}\sum_{\pi=0}^{\infty}(n-\pi)i= \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}i\sum_{\pi=n}^{\infty}-\pi= \sum_{i=0}^{\infty}i\cdot(-\infty)=-\infty</math>. Also, how often does one use e and pi in number theory? --[[User:Ycthiognass|Ycthiognass]] ([[User talk:Ycthiognass|talk]]) 12:11, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:Pi (or any other number) minus infinite is just absurd. You can use the infinite symbol only as a limit but NOT as number in calculations. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 12:33, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
::It is not absurd. Adding the rules <math>n+\infty=\infty\text{ for }n>-\infty,n-\infty=-\infty\text{ for }n<\infty, \pm n\cdot\infty = \pm\infty\text{ for }n>0, \pm n\cdot(-\infty) = \mp\infty\text{ for }n>0,\frac1{\pm\infty}=0</math> gives you a consistent theory that is especially useful when talking about infinite sums and integrals. Would you say the term <math>n-\sum_{i=1}^\infty i</math> is absurd? --[[User:Ycthiognass|Ycthiognass]] ([[User talk:Ycthiognass|talk]]) 14:35, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:::Of course it's absurd. It is <math>\infty-\infty \neq 0</math> because it could be everything between <math>\infty</math> and <math>-\infty</math>. {{w|Infinity}} is a concept describing something without any bound... And, as you can't divide by zero you can't do the same for infinity. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:24, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:::One more: It is
::::<math>\sum_{i=1}^\infty a_i = \lim_{n\to\infty} \sum_{i=1}^n a_i.</math>
:::When this limit exists, one says that the series is ''convergent'' or ''summable''. Otherwise it's called ''divergent'' and has no solution like this one:
::::<math>\sum_{i=1}^\infty i</math>
:::Infinite is NO number! --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:33, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
::::<math>\infty-\infty</math> is indeterminate, just like 0/0 is in standard arithmetic. That's cool, because we don't need the value of <math>\infty-\infty</math> to calculate the above expression. Have a look at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_real_number_line extended real number line]. --[[User:Ycthiognass|Ycthiognass]] ([[User talk:Ycthiognass|talk]]) 06:18, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

Completely separate from the above, it's probably worth noting that i is also a constant, and as such has the same misconception as <math>\pi</math>. Computer scientists are happy using i for loops/summations, but mathematicians prefer using n. Based off that, it's probably another misconception/joke that n is treated as a constant, while known-constants are used as variables. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.149|108.162.246.149]] 17:28, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:There is nothing non-standard about using i as an index variable. Often as part of the series i,j,k. Searching for summation convention will give plenty of examples.
:There are fewer letters than mathematical concepts in need of letters, so most letters are used for multiple purposes. Occasionally this causes difficulty. You can be halfway through a linear algebra problem before you discover you need i for an imaginary number despite already using it as an index. Hilarity ensues. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.105|162.158.74.105]] 19:57, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

Is it worth mentioning Euler's identity in the explanation? As a non-mathematician, the presence of e, pi, and i together in one equation looks "Euler's identity-ish" while clearly not being it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.39|162.158.74.39]] 22:20, 19 August 2018 (UTC)

Honestly, seeing e, pi, and i isn't that farfetched, since quite a few applications of number theory to coordinate systems (in the computer-ey sense) take familiar XY coordinates, make them polar, and call them to complex numbers, with a bunch of operations done by multiplying by e to some complex power or other. And wherever waves go, pi goes...
Coming from nothing more than a high-school background, this whole system can be rather jarring, and difficult to understand. I'm just glad I understand enough bits and pieces of number theory to laugh at Randall's joke. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.12|162.158.186.12]] 19:41, 1 September 2018 (UTC)
;Chemistry equation
OH should have a charge symbol: OH-. The actual reaction would be:

CH4 + OH- + heat -> CH3- + H2O

The methyl group can dissolve in water, and this is presumably happening in water, so this equation can work, just not the one provided by Randell. Reacting longer alkanes with bases is a way to make soaps, but the methyl group would be too reactive to be used this way. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 13:13, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

;Fluid Dynamics equation
I believe the fraction 8/23 in the Fluid Dynamics equation is a Randallesque reference to the fractional approximation of pi = 22/7. It's probably not a coincidence that you get 8/23 from 22/7 if you invert it and add 1 to both the numerator and denominator. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 15:19, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

:I think that is a bit of a stretch. If Randall wanted to reference the 22/7 approximation, I think he would simply use 22/7 and not 8/23. [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 00:40, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

::It might be a stretch, but maybe Randall wanted to be more clever than just inserting 22/7, since pi really has no place in that equation. I don't see anyone else suggesting any reasonable source for 8/23 in the equation. The current explanation is an even bigger stretch, since it has nothing in common with 8/23 beyond being just another fraction - it seems to suggest he picked two random numbers, 8 and 23, for the fraction! How unsatisfying! But if nobody else agrees, I'm not losing any sleep over it. (Sometimes I wish Randall would chime in to clear things like this up for us. Randall, where are you?) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 04:54, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

:Fluid dynamicist here -- strange looking numbers and fractions come from multiplying tensors. 2/3 is a common one, but you also get numbers like 1/7 and 8/27.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.166|108.162.241.166]] 07:24, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

I changed a "p" to a Greek "rho". [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 00:40, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

;Gauge theory equation
<s>I think the transcript is missing a left superscript 0 before the turned xi. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.16|172.68.226.16]] 16:50, 17 August 2018 (UTC)</s> Ah no, sorry. False alarm. It's just that Randall writes the xi with a funny tail. The same tail is on the non-turned xi earlier. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.226.10|172.68.226.10]] 16:52, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

If explainxkcd.com is to make XKCD comics more understandable then this explanation is failing that. I assumed from the beginning that the joke was about the equations being wrong, but the description of the joke is making my head hurt. {{unsigned ip|162.158.106.216}}
:Read the first paragraph: "To someone who knows even a little about the topic, they are clearly very wrong and only seem even worse the more you look at them." Nevertheless the rest sometimes does hurt. See below. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:28, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

;All truly deep physics equations
In the description paragraph, the last sentence starting "The principle of least action says allows..." does not scan. If someone can fix this (copy&paste?) error, please delete this comment. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.171|162.158.58.171]] 19:33, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:I edited the sentence slightly to address this issue. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 20:51, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

It looks like there is already a section for this above, "Deep physics equations", or am I missing something? [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 00:40, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

Note that this comics also emphasizes that Randall is more familiar with physics than with chemistry : while most of the equations here require college-level education to grok, the chemistry one is at the very most high-scool-grade. {{unsigned ip|141.101.69.33}}

Could this be a reference to Feynman's jab at hiding complexity underneath symbol definitions to achieve 'simplicity'? See the Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume II, Chapter 25, Section 6. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.100|162.158.150.100]] 09:19, 19 August 2018 (UTC)WhoIsJack
:Sounds good to me. [[User:Exxi|Exxi]] ([[User talk:Exxi|talk]]) 19:29, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

;Explanations in general
“Nobody knows if Randall references a horse here” - what?! Because the expression lacks an equal sign; doesn’t represent an equality, it might mean Randall is referencing equines, aka horses?! Is this vandalism, an attempt at a joke, or what? This explanation clearly still needs quite a bit of work! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 20:14, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:I've put a header on top here. It's not vandalism but every explanation looks still highly unscientific. I've gave real sources to the most topics at the beginning but the following explanations are mostly bad. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:22, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
:I left that joke in as it was added whilst I was editing the rest of it, I don't think it belongs though. I did my best to reference real-life stuff while writing [Gauge, Quantum Gravity and Cosmology] the awfulness of the equations makes it hard to be scientific though. If there are specific issues I can have a shot at improving those sections although it's kinda hard to explain why I find them funny without going deep into the related physics. I'm not convinced it's possible to properly get that across to a non-physicist in a paragraph of explainXKCD. [[User:Exxi|Exxi]] ([[User talk:Exxi|talk]]) 19:29, 23 August 2018 (UTC)

;Kinematics equations
I fixed an error: Randall's Greek "rho" ''ρ'', a common symbol for mass density, was incorrectly shown here as ''p'', the common symbol for momentum. The term with the ''ρ'' is very similar to a term in the Bernoulli equation, and I have changed the explanation to reflect this. [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 00:40, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

;You might be overthinking some of these
For example, I see the first one as Energy = cot + private which would be an Army private resting in a cot to regain their energy.
The second one I see the word Knee, so I'm thinking it's either something about taking an arrow to a knee, or perhaps about the Knights of Ki who regain their power by saying "Ni!"
The fourth one, I see most of the word ANALOGY, so perhaps the trident-shaped thing equals N, and x> = L, and l (or 1) = G, so if you resolve all the way through you get GNL = ANALOGY and I don't have that quite right yet.
SU(2)U(1)xSU(U(2)) makes me think of Phil Collins singing "Su-Su-Sussudio oh oh". --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.40|108.162.245.40]] 20:37, 18 August 2018 (UTC)

;Has anyone considered the joke part?
As someone unfamiliar with scientific equations, I took the joke to be that Scientific Equations Are Complicated, until you get to the "truly deep" part, in which case they're pretty simple. As much as I appreciate the description of the equations, is anyone gonna explain whether my take on the joke is plausible? Or what it is if I'm wrong? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.214|108.162.219.214]] 15:52, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

;Is there a pun?
Am I the only one seeing a possible pun in SU(2)U(1)xSU(U(2))? I can't figure out the whole thing but SU(U(2)) sure looks like it reads "sue you too".
[[Special:Contributions/24.165.207.66|24.165.207.66]] 23:02, 20 August 2018 (UTC)

;No element symbols exist to form EAT
Although you could write HeAt (Helium-Astatine), I could find no element symbols to form EAT on the right-hand side of the reaction, so it appears to be an invalid expression anyway. (and yes, of course I know Randall is messing with us and you might be expected to read the first "heat" as as "temperarature".) --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 11:17, 4 September 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1950: Chicken Pox and Name Statistics

2018-02-02T23:17:51Z

IByte: Six names

I think Randall missed an opportunity to do another “make you feel old” joke here, perhaps something like “if your age isn’t on the chart, your doctors probably still thought chicken pox was caused by imbalanced humors or angry gods” or something. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 15:24, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Shouldn't the vaccine note have been placed at age 23, not 28, if the vaccine was introduced in 1995? [[User:Rockcell|Rockcell]] ([[User talk:Rockcell|talk]]) 15:28, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
:When do children get their first smallpox vaccine? If that's around three that might be one explanation for the position of the note. Also the vaccine wasn't only used on children born after its introduction, kids that were already a few years old but never had smallpox could still have gotten their shots. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.220|108.162.229.220]] 15:52, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

This isn't *smallpox*. Smallpox was eliminated in the middle of the 20th century, so it's weird if anyone gets it. Also: my understanding is that most people who got smallpox died before they got to be old enough to be on any of those graphs.

I found the top graph very hard to interpret, so I've included my interpretation here for posterity: If you are 35 years old, then you were a young child before the vaccine was introduced and probably 100% of the people you knew as a child got chicken pox. If you are 20-25 years old, there's a 50-50 chance that you got the vaccine and, as a result, about 50% of the people you knew as a child got chicken pox. If you are 10 years old, then you more than likely got the vaccine and have a low probably of getting chicken pox. If you are under 5, you probably don't know many other kids. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.39|162.158.62.39]] 17:03, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Wait, this has nothing to do with confusing correlation with causation, right? The assumption is simply that if most of the kids your age got chicken pox, which is likely if you have certain names, you will consider chicken pox to be normal and common, which seems like a reasonable claim. On the other hand, if the comic hadn't said that, the implication would be that people with certain names cause chicken pox, which would be confusing correlation with causation. -[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 17:17, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:I agree, that’s how I interpreted the comic as well [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 18:15, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:I also agree, if anything this is doing the opposite and assuming no underlying causality between names and chickenpox likelihood, so that the people who get chickenpox at any given time should be distributed randomly amongst all names at prevalent at that time.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.184|162.158.78.184]] 19:06, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:Basically, what he's describing is a two-step correlation (of which only the second one seems causal to me, but this is debatable). First, your first name and its popularity in particular eras leads to an estimation of your age/year of birth. Second, your year of birth and the prevalence of chicken pox shortly after this year will influence whether you think chicken pox is normal. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 23:14, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

People with all six of those names probably think "Why do I have no less than six names?" --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 23:17, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

== Logan ==

Logan becomes less popular at age 30. Coincidence? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.10|162.158.126.10]] 19:09, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
: That just means that Logan started getting popular as a name about 30 years ago. So maybe their parents grew up watching X-Men cartoons on TV in the late 1970's through the 1980's? [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 20:40, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1950: Chicken Pox and Name Statistics

2018-02-02T23:14:07Z

IByte: Two-step correlation

I think Randall missed an opportunity to do another “make you feel old” joke here, perhaps something like “if your age isn’t on the chart, your doctors probably still thought chicken pox was caused by imbalanced humors or angry gods” or something. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 15:24, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Shouldn't the vaccine note have been placed at age 23, not 28, if the vaccine was introduced in 1995? [[User:Rockcell|Rockcell]] ([[User talk:Rockcell|talk]]) 15:28, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
:When do children get their first smallpox vaccine? If that's around three that might be one explanation for the position of the note. Also the vaccine wasn't only used on children born after its introduction, kids that were already a few years old but never had smallpox could still have gotten their shots. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.220|108.162.229.220]] 15:52, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

This isn't *smallpox*. Smallpox was eliminated in the middle of the 20th century, so it's weird if anyone gets it. Also: my understanding is that most people who got smallpox died before they got to be old enough to be on any of those graphs.

I found the top graph very hard to interpret, so I've included my interpretation here for posterity: If you are 35 years old, then you were a young child before the vaccine was introduced and probably 100% of the people you knew as a child got chicken pox. If you are 20-25 years old, there's a 50-50 chance that you got the vaccine and, as a result, about 50% of the people you knew as a child got chicken pox. If you are 10 years old, then you more than likely got the vaccine and have a low probably of getting chicken pox. If you are under 5, you probably don't know many other kids. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.39|162.158.62.39]] 17:03, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Wait, this has nothing to do with confusing correlation with causation, right? The assumption is simply that if most of the kids your age got chicken pox, which is likely if you have certain names, you will consider chicken pox to be normal and common, which seems like a reasonable claim. On the other hand, if the comic hadn't said that, the implication would be that people with certain names cause chicken pox, which would be confusing correlation with causation. -[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 17:17, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:I agree, that’s how I interpreted the comic as well [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 18:15, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:I also agree, if anything this is doing the opposite and assuming no underlying causality between names and chickenpox likelihood, so that the people who get chickenpox at any given time should be distributed randomly amongst all names at prevalent at that time.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.184|162.158.78.184]] 19:06, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

:Basically, what he's describing is a two-step correlation (of which only the second one seems causal to me, but this is debatable). First, your first name and its popularity in particular eras leads to an estimation of your age/year of birth. Second, your year of birth and the prevalence of chicken pox shortly after this year will influence whether you think chicken pox is normal. --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 23:14, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

== Logan ==

Logan becomes less popular at age 30. Coincidence? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.10|162.158.126.10]] 19:09, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
: That just means that Logan started getting popular as a name about 30 years ago. So maybe their parents grew up watching X-Men cartoons on TV in the late 1970's through the 1980's? [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 20:40, 2 February 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1948: Campaign Fundraising Emails

2018-01-31T10:30:53Z

IByte: Hail Theoden King

can someone make a table with all the emails and an explanation column? I'm shit at formatting. [[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 16:38, 29 January 2018 (UTC)
: Relevant username? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.83|172.68.58.83]] 17:42, 29 January 2018 (UTC)
:: Actually more based on Exploits of a mom [[User:DPS2004|DPS2004'); DROP TABLE users;--]] ([[User talk:DPS2004|talk]]) 15:05, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
ActBlue is a political action committee aimed at helping people on the internet raise money for the Democratic party - there is no Jennifer ActBlue Heir to the ActBlue fortune. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.40|172.68.174.40]] 17:14, 29 January 2018 (UTC)Daniel Macintyre
*That's what Jennifer wants you to think.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.12|162.158.122.12]] 17:23, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

It's interesting to note that for three of the emails, the subject isn't bolded, indicating that those emails were read. All three refer to female candidates [[User:JamesCurran|JamesCurran]] ([[User talk:JamesCurran|talk]]) 17:20, 29 January 2018 (UTC)
: Are we sure those are subject lines? I don't usually write or get emails where the subject line flows seamlessly into the contents like this. (Not sure what else they could be, of course.) Also, the lack of bold text could indicate an email without a subject line. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.220|162.158.78.220]] 18:54, 29 January 2018 (UTC)
:: I had actually initially taken the bold text as having being tweaked to emphasize those words, or that they were bold in the email, and that the emails which didn't were actual interesting and legitimate messages. :) Of course that would leave these emails without subjects, so the bold text being subjects makes more sense, and the lack of bold is just without a subject. As for part of the email starting after the subject, I think I've seen that. I know different email providers and programs show things differently. I have my email setup to only show subjects when I'm in my Inbox like this, but I've also seen ones where there's a couple of lines of preview. Perhaps Randall just has his to show only 1 line of subject and preview. If I cared about having a preview in my Inbox I'd set it that way, to save space. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:20, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

I'm guessing the $35.57 may have been related to a recent Jimquisition episode focusing on this ad: https://youtu.be/Tu3rwf27VRE [[User:Odysseus654|Odysseus654]] ([[User talk:Odysseus654|talk]]) 21:13, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

Some of these scenarios are especially hilarious to me!
:1) When Amy decided to run for Congress, I was like "Huh?" but I checked Wikipedia, and apparently it's a branch of...
:Who needs to know anything when we have Wikipedia?
:2) I will lead the fight against the big banks, special interests, the Earth's climate, and our children. I...
:Won't someone please think of the children? (Those little !#$!%#^$^s!) [Edited slightly, because they are really horrid when they have at-signs in their expletives.]
:3) Whoops. Due to a typo, we spent months running attack ads against Tom Hanks. Now, we need to make up for...
:Yay, automation!
:4) Our campaign's only chance is to seduce Jennifer Actblue, heir to the Actblue fortune. For that, we need a fancy...
:That is just what we need: a candidate with a fresh approach. Will he get slapped?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.154|108.162.216.154]] 21:30, 29 January 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net
: The wiki screwed up your nice legible formatting, LOL! Looks great in the edit box, a little confusing once submitted (I've noticed the wiki ignores a single New Line, unless followed by a colon) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:20, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
:: I have just repaired the formatting. The wiki had also interpreted my faux expletive as an E-mail address (and protected it). Mr. Munroe needs to do a strip on how computers "help" us like this.
:: [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.154|108.162.216.154]] 06:23, 30 January 2018 (UTC) Gene Wirchenko genew@telus.net
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that the wording of the message starting "Hopeless" is deliberately written in the style of Donald Trump's tweets? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.41|108.162.250.41]] 02:01, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Right now there's a double Incomplete message, with one asking for contact information in case someone wants to actually donate to one of these campaigns... Is it just me, or does this in fact NOT IDENTIFY ANYBODY? As in, there's nobody to donate TO! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:20, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Note that the "Doom" email says "Where is the horse and the rider" not "Where now the horse and the rider," and also skips several lines in the middle of the poem. It's quoting the Peter Jackson movie, not the book. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.185|172.69.70.185]] 05:43, 30 January 2018 (UTC)
: It looks like you're correct (as indicated on the linked TolkienGateway page). I do wonder what the sender's address was supposed to be, though. Perhaps [mailto:theoden@royalhouse.rh theoden@royalhouse.rh]? ;-) --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 10:30, 31 January 2018 (UTC)

I know what Ford's controversial comment was: it was characterised by The New York Times as "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.190|162.158.165.190]] 07:09, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

The comment about the establishment not taking Hitler seriously might be referring to that "the powers that be" in pre-Nazi Germany thought they could control Hitler and use his popularity to their advantage. We all know how this plan worked out. --[[User:LordHorst|LordHorst]] ([[User talk:LordHorst|talk]]) 10:16, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Having read it before, I still laughed more at the linked "Bushism" Wikipedia page than at today's comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.25.208|172.68.25.208]] 12:29, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Having that my college does some fund-raising events, I have seen some of the mails like this being displayed on my lecturer's laptop, so I find it relatable.Boeing-787lover 13:24, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

I'm trying to figure out what the typo was in the Tom Hanks attack ads. Perhaps they attacked Big Hanks instead of Big Banks? -- [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.46|172.68.34.46]] 17:50, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

Or perhaps the opponent's real name was Tim Hanks, or Tom Henks, or something else similar? -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.148|108.162.215.148]] 22:10, 30 January 2018 (UTC)

1486: Vacuum

2017-12-02T00:08:41Z

IByte: Clarifying who said "The universe is mine to command" and similar (with references)

{{comic
| number = 1486
| date = February 13, 2015
| title = Vacuum
| image = vacuum.png
| titletext = Do you think you could actually clean the living room at some point, though?
}}

==Explanation==
[[1240: Quantum Mechanics|According to quantum mechanics]] there is tremendous energy density in space-time itself: this is known as: {{w|vacuum energy}}, zero point energy, vacuum foam, etc. So far we don't know any way to tap into this energy, although it does {{w|Hawking radiation|evaporate}} off {{w|black hole}}s (see the “What If?” released the same week as this comic: [http://what-if.xkcd.com/129/ Black Hole Moon]).

In the cartoon, [[Beret Guy]] appears to be making a silly mistake, confusing the "vacuum" referred to in calculations of the theoretical energy density of space time with a {{w|vacuum cleaner}}, which is also commonly referred to as just a "vacuum".

[[Cueball]] tries to correct him, but it turns out that Beret Guy really is able to tap into this fundamental source of energy. Having such strange and impossible powers is second nature to Beret Guy, as can be seen in many of his [[:Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy|appearances]] – for instance in [[1388: Subduction License]].

But even though Beret Guy now claims the Universe is his to command (a sentence used by [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103639/quotes Jafar from Aladdin], but {{tvtropes|TakeOverTheWorld|a similar intent is also stated by the crazy villain in many movies}}), Cueball is not fazed by this and simply asks, in the title text, if Beret Guy would use the vacuum for its intended purpose and clean the living room.

On an additional note, many scientific breakthroughs in history have been made because the person making them {{tvtropes|AchievementsInIgnorance|did not realize they were supposedly impossible,}} such as {{w|spin-stabilized magnetic levitation}}. This comic could be seen as a nod to that.

It seems that Cueball borrows one of Beret Guy's vacuum cleaners later in [[1826: Birdwatching]]. A normal vacuum cleaner would not be able to do what Cueball's presumably does to birds in that comic!

==Transcript==
:[Beret guy is holding an upright vacuum cleaner upside-down by the handle, waving it around above his head.]

:[The vacuum cleaner is upright on the ground, and Beret guy is standing on its body, wiggling the handle.]
:Cueball: What are you doing?
:Beret Guy: Trying to unlock the tremendous energy of the vacuum.

:[Beret guy rides the vacuum cleaner as it begins to lift off, propelled upward by an unknown force.]
:Cueball: That’s not what that—
:Beret Guy: '''''—Ha ha! It works!'''''

:[Beret guy flies away on the vacuum cleaner.]
:Cueball: I '''''said,''''' that’s—
:Beret Guy: '''''The universe is mine to command!!'''''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]

Talk:1765: Baby Post

2016-11-29T10:00:23Z

IByte: Stewie?

Somebody doesn't know young children very well. Or the amount of time they spend watching old movies. I know a couple of four year olds who might just do this after catching a rerun of one of the Pink Panther movies. Get away with it, though, is something entirely different.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:35, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Check the header, new shirts! [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 15:01, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

If the cell phone or tablet is set to remember passwords, it's not impossible to a children to buy a ticket to london or even call an uber. [[User:Wrojr|Wrojr]] ([[User talk:Wrojr|talk]]) 15:24, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

This cartoon would be funnier if it didn't imply there were years (or decades) between the first and last frames. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.239.32|198.41.239.32]] 21:35, 28 November 2016 (UTC)
:It doesn't, what makes you say that? [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 21:47, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

;Wrong use of plurals?

Shouldn't this be Crown Jewels Rooms? Beside which, how can one jewel be in more than one room? [[User:Bitsofstring|Bitsofstring]] ([[User talk:Bitsofstring|talk]]) 15:54, 28 November 2016 (UTC)
:I'm pretty sure that Ponytail just doesn't care about pluralizing in this informal context. [[User:Jacky720|Jacky720]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]]) 16:05, 28 November 2016 (UTC)
I'm not sure if there's anything wrong with saying "crown jewel rooms". As an analogy, if you had several rooms for your trophies, you'd say "these are my trophy rooms" (ie. my rooms for trophies) even though, presumably, you have more than one trophy. The only part that makes me a bit hesitant is that they are called the "crown jewels". But "crown jewels rooms" sounds really awkward to me. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.248}}

There is also the puzzle of using blueprints to describe a room's security plan. But it might just be simplified to put into a strip. 18:15, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

Feels like the baby might be related to {{w|Stewie Griffin|Stewie}} from Family Guy... --[[User:IByte|IByte]] ([[User talk:IByte|talk]]) 10:00, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

1729: Migrating Geese

2016-11-26T09:59:31Z

IByte: The "no reason" explanation for Kevin should come last, I think, being a catch-all category

{{comic
| number = 1729
| date = September 5, 2016
| title = Migrating Geese
| image = migrating_geese.png
| titletext = "Hey guys! I have a great idea for a migration!" "Dammit, Kevin."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Is there not some kind of slang on "Head Goose" that could relate to the fourth in line to the GB throne? More on the title text: "An idea for A migration?".}}
{{w|Bird migration|Migrating}} refers to the changing of a habitat, which happens every year with birds like {{w|geese}} that travel long distances to avoid cold seasons and get back to the food in the summer time. When geese fly to their new habitat, they tend to fly in a very clear {{w|V formation}}. The V formation improves the efficiency of flying birds, particularly over long migratory routes. All the birds except the first fly in the upwash from one of the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead. The upwash assists each bird except for the "leading" one in supporting its own weight in flight, saving them up to 20% of the energy needed.

It should be noted that geese do have family structures with adult geese in "alpha" positions, but not a strict ranking order. An individual's position in formation flights is coincidental and constantly changing, so that the goose at the point of the formation can pull back and rest in the V wings while others "lead" the swarm. Popular earlier beliefs about an "alpha goose" heading a formation for the entire flight is a myth, easily disproven by watching geese formations in flight.

This comic shows such a formation with 20 geese, with several geese and areas in the V formation labeled, giving different roles to the geese and assigning these areas a new meaning. See the [[#Table of labels|table below]].

Apart from a "twin engine" goose in the bottom right arm of the V the only part of the formation that would not normally be seen is Kevin, who flies off at a 45-degree angle. In that direction there is no aerodynamic help from the other birds, and in the title text the rest of the geese also exclaim, "Dammit, Kevin" when he (again?) tells them that he has a great new idea for a migration (maybe referring to the new direction).

===Table of labels===
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Explanation
|-
|Head Goose
(4th in line to the British throne)
|Supposedly, this goose is in line to become the newest monarch of the United Kingdom after the deaths of the three (humans) who are ahead it (Charles, Prince of Wales; Prince William, Duke of Cambridge; Prince George of Cambridge[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succession_to_the_British_throne]). In actuality the current fourth in line to the British throne is {{w|HRH}} {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge}}. In North America, the best-known goose migration is that of {{w|Canada goose|Canada geese}} to the US east coast. Canada used to be part of the {{w|British Empire}} and remains a member of the {{w|Commonwealth of Nations}}, so a "Canadian" goose would be well situated to stand within the succession (excepting, of course, for the fact that it's a goose).
|-
|Quarterback
|A {{w|quarterback}} is a position in {{w|American football}}, usually placed in the second row of an American football formation, just like the associated goose. On nearly every non-kicking play, the quarterback is the player who stands behind the center and receives the ball to start the play. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the team, and is often responsible for calling the play.
|-
|Comptroller
|A {{w|comptroller}} is a position in a company. A comptroller oversees and manages all financial operations.
|-
|Migration abort goose
|This might be a reference to launch abort capsules used in rockets to safely land astronauts in the case of a critical stage failure. Or it could be operated like an abort button aborting the entire migration for all geese.
|-
|Twin-Engine Model
|This goose has two tails offset on each side of the center of the goose, instead of one tail in the middle like the rest. The "tails" also extend beyond the wings, which makes it look like a Twin-Engine aircraft, which has two motors: one on each wing instead of one in the nose.
|-
|CIA Informant
|A person, usually a criminal, that surreptitiously provides information to the {{w|Central Intelligence Agency}} (CIA). If these geese are from Canada, the CIA might have inserted an informant to be kept up to date on their activities.
|-
|Backups
|These are geese that are not used in the formation so they can replace other geese in their positions in case they have problems performing their task. This may also be a pun/joke about technology/data "migrations" where backups should be taken liberally due to risk of data loss.
|-
|Shock Front
| A shock front is the front boundary of a {{w|shock wave}} created by either a {{w|sonic boom}} or another explosion in a fluid/gas. It can also refer to the shock wave itself. A V-shaped shockwave called a '{{w|Bow shock (aerodynamics)|bow shock}}', similar in appearance to the V-shaped goose formation, is genearted by a supersonic object. Since geese fly subsonically in normal circumstances, they do not generate a shock wave. But of course this set of geese may be somewhat different with the involvement of CIA and stealth technology.
|-
|Missing Valence Geese
|In Chemistry, {{w|Valence (chemistry)|valence}} electrons are the electrons in the outermost "layer" which change places when chemical reactions happen. As there is an optimal number of electrons in a layer, if there are missing valence electrons, atoms which can fill in these gaps tend to react with the atoms having the missing electrons. In case of "electron sharing" (aka covalent bond) molecules result from such an encounter. The comic suggests a second geese formation that has proper "valence geese" in the appropriate position could bond (=merge) with this one into a larger formation. A normal geese V formation like the one in the comic has one side longer than the other and this is possibly Randall's explanation for the phenomenon.
In reality, geese do form V-shaped flocks, since the rear geese can profit aerodynamically from the vortices created by the front geese, and that way the overall flock requires less energy. So there is actually some evolutionary sense for additional geese to fill the "valence holes". It is thus a little weird that there are two backup geese close to these valence vacancies, as they should then have filled them up...
|-
|Stealth cargo being escorted
|The formation is forming a protective surrounding around an empty space in the middle which in a military formation could contain protected cargo. As there is no cargo visible in the geese formation, it is titled "{{w|Stealth technology|stealth}}". This would be a nice [[:Category:Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theory]] to spread.
|-
|Kevin
|Also mentioned in the title text. It is unclear what the name refers to. It may refer to:
* The "go-to name" for [[Randall]] at the time of this comic's release, as he also used the name in [[1719: Superzoom]], ten comics before this one; as well as What-If #83 as a placeholder name for the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
* An {{w|Eddie Izzard}} skit about migrating birds (Eddie Izzard - Religions, Cats & Migrating Birds). A group of birds are following Kevin, assuming that he knows where he is going. But he is lost and they end up in the wrong place.
* Kevin McCallister from the {{w|Home Alone}} movies, who gets separated from his parents a lot. (see [[1164: Home Alone]]).
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/cgbhkwp Kevin of reddit fame], the dumbest person ever.
* One of the {{w|Minions (Despicable Me)|Minions}} from the "{{w|Despicable Me}}" franchise ([http://despicableme.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin]), who leaves the main Minion group in search of a new master.
* The intelligent and playful bird [http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin], from the Disney/Pixar movie {{w|Up (movie)|Up}}.
* [https://youtu.be/OyqdoxTEmdg Kevin] from {{w|South Park}}. Especially the "Dammit Kevin" mentioned in the title text could arise from this.
* [http://the321penguins.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin] from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-2-1_Penguins! 3-2-1 Penguins!], who "will answer questions and save planets without even knowing he could."
* {{w|We Need to Talk About Kevin}}, a book and drama film about a deranged child.
* Kevin Beckman, the dimwitted receptionist from the 2016 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters:_Answer_the_Call Ghostbusters] movie.
* The internet meme (especially in Europe) according to which being named Kevin connotates being the village idiot. Kevin is usually urged to stop talking, ironically congratulated, etc. It’s due to the fact that this name was given [https://www.quora.com/Why-does-the-name-Kevin-have-so-many-negative-connotations-in-modern-Germany-Is-it-really-because-of-Kevin-Costner mainly in low socioeconomic class] (so Kevins will probably have poor education) and possibly because it was [https://translate.google.fr/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fprenoms.doctissimo.fr%2Ftop-prenoms-annee-1991.html&edit-text=&act=url way too common around the ’90s].
* Just a random name, as the only of the birds that actually has a personal name acts alone instead of following the other birds.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Understanding Migration of Geese

:[20 geese are shown flying in a typical migratory V-formation. As they are shown in silhouette it is not possible to determine if they are seen from above or from below. They are flying toward the top of the image with the first goose close to the top in the middle of the image. There is one head goose, and then there are 7 geese in the left arms and 9 geese in the right arm. Behind the left arm there are two stragglers that are not in line with the others, but closer to the middle than those above and not as close to each other as the rest but still flying in the same direction. Finally there is one goose at the bottom right corner flying at a 45 degree angle away from the other to the right. The first goose is flapping its wing, which is also the case with six other geese, no. 4 and 6 in the left and 3, 5 and 6 in the right arm as well as the middle of the two in the rear towards the middle. The rest are soaring with straight wings and all of these look the same except no. 7 in the right arm which has two tails, which both goes ahead of the wings, making it look like a plane with two engines. The head goose and 5 of the 9 geese in the right arm as well as the one bottom right are labelled with and arrow pointing to them from the label. The front goose has the label in front to the left, the other have it in front to the right, except the second last in the arm which has the label inside the V and one flying away which has the label right above it. The two behind and right of the left arm have one label behind them with two arrows from the label pointing at both geese. There is a thick curvy line in front of geese no. 3 to 5 in the left arm. In front of that line is a thinner broken line. In front of this is a label written with the same curvature. There are two areas surrounded by dotted lines. The first one is behind the last of the left arms geese, extending in the same direction for a distance of about two geese. It has a label above and left with and arrow pointing to it. The other area is in the middle of the V forming a loose triangular structure with a label inside.]
:Head goose: Head goose (4th in line to the British throne)
:Right no. 1: Quarterback
:Right no. 3: Comptroller
:Right no. 5: Migration abort goose
:Right no. 7: Twin-engine model
:Right no. 8: CIA informant
:Bottom right corner: Kevin
:Behind center: Backups
:In front of left no. 3-5: Shock front
:Empty area behind left arm: Missing valence geese
:Empty area in center: Stealth cargo being escorted

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:American football]]

1764: XKCDE

2016-11-26T09:52:42Z

IByte: {{w|Droste effect}}

{{comic
| number = 1764
| date = November 25, 2016
| title = XKCDE
| image = xkcde.png
| titletext = 4. They unplug the root machine but the thousands of leaf VMs scatter in the wind and start spinning up new instances wherever they land
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Barebones and possibly inaccurate. Explain title text.}}

Randall has created a theoretical software environment named XKCDE (a portmanteau on xkcd and {{w|Collaborative development environment|CDE}} (Collaborative Development Environment)), which relies on the user creating a series of nested virtual machines inside each other (creating sort of a digital version of the {{w|Droste effect}}), which would likely cause extreme strain on the resources of the machine running it. This strain is explained in [[676: Abstraction]], at least for the normal case. Virtual Machines are software which pretend to be PC hardware so that a "guest" operating system can run inside of them, under a "host" operating system. Nesting VMs is the process of making a guest also be a host to yet another guest. Generally this is considered quite wasteful of resources, especially beyond one or two layers deep, and is not done except in a test lab for very specific purposes. Randall's theoretical XKCDE requires it for its required use, by its very nature.

He suggests continuing that process until the user gets fired, which will very likely lead to the environment not having many active users, a very counter-productive approach to software development.

A software environment which disables both the machine it runs on and the user that runs it could be thought of as a useless machine.

Someone got [https://pcsteps.com/508-nested-virtualization 4 levels deep] with this.

The title-text is a pun on the words {{w|Tree (data structure)|root and leaf}}, drawing an analogy of cutting down a tree (unplugging the root machine) scattering leaves (the leaf VMs, probably the VMs farthest down). In this case, a literal interpretation would be that turning off the computer the VMs are running on would make all the VMs without any VMs running in them propagate themselves through a network and install themselves on other computers, which at the end of the day would be a very inefficient method of creating a virus.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
Installing the xkcd development environment

{| class="wikitable"
|
# Spin up a VM
# Spin up a VM inside that VM
# Continue spinning up nested VMs and containers until you get fired
|}

{{comic discussion}}

1729: Migrating Geese

2016-09-07T08:57:53Z

IByte: We Need to Talk About Kevin

{{comic
| number = 1729
| date = September 5, 2016
| title = Migrating Geese
| image = migrating_geese.png
| titletext = "Hey guys! I have a great idea for a migration!" "Dammit, Kevin."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Is there not some kind of slang on "Head Goose" that could relate to the fourth in line to the GB throne? Who are the three first in line to the throne? (both to be put in the table). More on the title text: "An idea for A migration?".}}
{{w|Bird migration|Migrating}} refers to the changing of a habitat, which happens every year with birds like {{w|geese}} that travel long distances to avoid cold seasons and get back to the food in the summer time. When geese fly to their new habitat, they tend to fly in a very clear {{w|V formation}}. The V formation improves the efficiency of flying birds, particularly over long migratory routes. All the birds except the first fly in the upwash from one of the wingtip vortices of the bird ahead. The upwash assists each bird except for the "leading" one in supporting its own weight in flight, saving them up to 20% of the energy needed.

It should be noted that geese do have family structures with adult geese in "alpha" positions, but not a strict ranking order. An individual's position in formation flights is coincidental and constantly changing, so that the goose at the point of the formation can pull back and rest in the V wings while others "lead" the swarm. Popular earlier beliefs about an "alpha goose" heading a formation for the entire flight is a myth, easily disproven by watching geese formations in flight.

This comic shows such a formation with 20 geese, with several geese and areas in the V formation labeled, giving different roles to the geese and assigning these areas a new meaning. See the [[#Table of labels|table below]].

Apart from a "twin engine" goose in the bottom right arm of the V the only part of the formation that would not normally be seen is Kevin, who flies off at a 45-degree angle. In that direction there is no aerodynamic help from the other birds, and in the title text the rest of the geese also exclaim, "Dammit, Kevin" when he (again?) tells them that he has a great new idea for a migration (maybe referring to the new direction).

===Table of labels===
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Explanation
|-
|Head Goose
(4th in line to the British throne)
|This goose may become the newest monarch of the UK, assuming the three who are further in line die. The current fourth in line to the British throne is {{w|HRH}} {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge}}. In North America, the best-known goose migration is that of {{w|Canada goose|Canada geese}} to the US east coast. Canada used to be part of the {{w|British Empire}} and remains a member of the {{w|Commonwealth of Nations}}, so a "Canadian" goose would be well situated to stand within the succession.
|-
|Quarterback
|A {{w|quarterback}} is a position in {{w|American football}}, usually placed in the second row of an American football formation, just like the associated goose. On nearly every non-kicking play, the quarterback is the player who stands behind the center and receives the ball to start the play. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually considered the leader of the team, and is often responsible for calling the play.
|-
|Comptroller
|A {{w|comptroller}} is a position in a company. A comptroller oversees and manages all financial operations.
|-
|Migration abort goose
|This might be a reference to launch abort capsules used in rockets to safely land astronauts in the case of a critical stage failure. Or it could be operated like an abort button aborting the entire migration for all geese.
|-
|Twin-Engine Model
|This goose has two tails offset on each side of the center of the goose, instead of one tail in the middle like the rest. The "tails" also extend beyond the wings, which makes it look like a Twin-Engine aircraft, which has two motors: one on each wing instead of one in the nose.
|-
|CIA Informant
|A person, usually a criminal, that surreptitiously provides information to the {{w|Central Intelligence Agency}} (CIA). If these geese are from Canada, the CIA might have inserted an informant to be kept up to date on their activities.
|-
|Backups
|These are geese that are not used in the formation so they can replace other geese in their positions in case they have problems performing their task. This may also be a pun/joke about technology/data "migrations" where backups should be taken liberally due to risk of data loss.
|-
|Shock Front
| A shock front is the front boundary of a {{w|shock wave}} created by either a {{w|sonic boom}} or another explosion in a fluid/gas. It can also refer to the shock wave itself. It usually only happens when such violent events occur, and would thus not be present in front of "normally" migrating geese. But of course this set of geese may be somewhat different with the involvement of CIA and stealth technology.
|-
|Missing Valence Geese
|In Chemistry, {{w|Valence (chemistry)|valence}} electrons are the electrons in the outermost "layer" which change places when chemical reactions happen. As there is an optimal number of electrons in a layer, if there are missing valence electrons, atoms which can fill in these gaps tend to react with the atoms having the missing electrons. In case of "electron sharing" (aka covalent bond) molecules result from such an encounter. The comic suggests a second geese formation that has proper "valence geese" in the appropriate position could bond (=merge) with this one into a larger formation. A normal geese V formation like the one in the comic has one side longer than the other and this is possibly Randall's explanation for the phenomenon.
In reality, geese do form V-shaped flocks, since the rear geese can profit aerodynamically from the vortices created by the front geese, and that way the overall flock requires less energy. So there is actually some evolutionary sense for additional geese to fill the "valence holes". It is thus a little weird that there are two backup geese close to these valence vacancies, as they should then have filled them up...
|-
|Stealth cargo being escorted
|The formation is forming a protective surrounding around an empty space in the middle which in a military formation could contain protected cargo. As there is no cargo visible in the geese formation, it is titled "{{w|Stealth technology|stealth}}". This would be a nice [[:Category:Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theory]] to spread.
|-
|Kevin
|Also mentioned in the title text. It is unclear what the name refers to. It may refer to:
* The "go-to name" for [[Randall]] at the time of this comic's release, as he also used the name in [[1719: Superzoom]], ten comics before this one.
* An {{w|Eddie Izzard}} skit about migrating birds (Eddie Izzard - Religions, Cats & Migrating Birds). A group of birds are following Kevin, assuming that he knows where he is going. But he is lost and they end up in the wrong place.
* Kevin McCallister from the {{w|Home Alone}} movies, who gets separated from his parents a lot. (see [[1164: Home Alone]]).
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/219w2o/whos_the_dumbest_person_youve_ever_met/cgbhkwp Kevin of reddit fame], the dumbest person ever.
* One of the {{w|Minions (Despicable Me)|Minions}} from the "{{w|Despicable Me}}" franchise ([http://despicableme.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin]), who leaves the main Minion group in search of a new master.
* The intelligent and playful bird [http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin], from the Disney/Pixar movie {{w|Up (movie)|Up}}.
* [https://youtu.be/OyqdoxTEmdg Kevin] from {{w|South Park}}. Especially the "Dammit Kevin" mentioned in the title text could arise from this.
* [http://the321penguins.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin Kevin] from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-2-1_Penguins! 3-2-1 Penguins!], who "will answer questions and save planets without even knowing he could."
* {{w|We Need to Talk About Kevin}}, a book and drama film about a deranged child.
* Just a random name, as the only of the birds that actually has a personal name acts alone instead of following the other birds.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Caption above the panel:]
:Understanding Migration of Geese

:[20 geese are shown flying in a typical migratory V-formation. As they are shown in silhouette it is not possible to determine if they are seen from above or from below. They are flying toward the top of the image with the first goose close to the top in the middle of the image. There is one head goose, and then there are 7 geese in the left arms and 9 geese in the right arm. Behind the left arm there are two stragglers that are not in line with the others, but closer to the middle than those above and not as close to each other as the rest but still flying in the same direction. Finally there is one goose at the bottom right corner flying at a 45 degree angle away from the other to the right. The first goose is flapping its wing, which is also the case with six other geese, no. 4 and 6 in the left and 3, 5 and 6 in the right arm as well as the middle of the two in the rear towards the middle. The rest are soaring with straight wings and all of these look the same except no. 7 in the right arm which has two tails, which both goes ahead of the wings, making it look like a plane with two engines. The head goose and 5 of the 9 geese in the right arm as well as the one bottom right are labelled with and arrow pointing to them from the label. The front goose has the label in front to the left, the other have it in front to the right, except the second last in the arm which has the label inside the V and one flying away which has the label right above it. The two behind and right of the left arm have one label behind them with two arrows from the label pointing at both geese. There is a thick curvy line in front of geese no. 3 to 5 in the left arm. In front of that line is a thinner broken line. In front of this is a label written with the same curvature. There are two areas surrounded by dotted lines. The first one is behind the last of the left arms geese, extending in the same direction for a distance of about two geese. It has a label above and left with and arrow pointing to it. The other area is in the middle of the V forming a loose triangular structure with a label inside.]
:Head goose: Head goose (4th in line to the British throne)
:Right no. 1: Quarterback
:Right no. 3: Comptroller
:Right no. 5: Migration abort goose
:Right no. 7: Twin-engine model
:Right no. 8: CIA informant
:Bottom right corner: Kevin
:Behind center: Backups
:In front of left no. 3-5: Shock front
:Empty area behind left arm: Missing valence geese
:Empty area in center: Stealth cargo being escorted

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:American football]]