1902: State Borders

2017-10-13T21:00:02Z

Leob: /* Explanation */ Minnesota has an eXclave.

{{comic
| number = 1902
| date = October 13, 2017
| title = State Borders
| image = state_borders.png
| titletext = A schism between the pro-panhandle and anti-panhandle factions eventually led to war, but both sides spent too much time working on their flag designs to actually do much fighting.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Add a table of all the proposed changes, explain title text... Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, graphic designers take control of the United States, but the only thing they do is to change the state and national borders, as well as to some extent the coast line, using primarily esthetic criteria.

Despite the caption's rather blasé reaction to the graphic designers' master plan, the changes they propose could be rather tumultuous. Many U.S. residents will be made to live in new states, and thus be required to pay different taxes and obey different state laws. Some particularly unlucky (or lucky depedning one your point of view) U.S. citizens living Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska and Minnesota could be required to file for citizenship in Mexico or Canada if they wish to continue living in their current homes.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Proposed change !! Explanation
|-
| Give to Canada || {{w|Minnesota}} has a small northern exclave (the {{w|Northwest Angle}}) which is accessible from the rest of the US only via the {{w| Lake of the Woods}} or by travelling through Canada. The new borders suggest giving this territory to Canada to simplify the state and national border.
|-
| This should be {{w|Wisconsin}} || {{w|Michigan}} is divided into two parts by {{w|Lake Michigan}}. The graphic designers suggest eliminating a boundary line by assigning the upper peninsula of Michigan to Wisconsin.
|-
| If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it? || {{w|Oklahoma}} has a "panhandle" to its west, which is a kind of {{w|Salient (geography)|Salient}}. The obvious fix would be to give it to Texas. In a twist, the graphic designers suggest extending it even further, across the northern parts of {{w|Arizona}} and {{w|New Mexico}}.
|-
| Let's be honest, this should be Canada too || {{w|Southeast Alaska}} should be given to {{w|Canada}}, presumably because it more neatly fits with {{w|British Columbia}}. This is slightly problematic, as the state capital, {{w|Juneau}}, is within this section.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Texas}}/{{w|Oklahoma}}/{{w|Arkansas}}/{{w|Louisiana}} || Square off {{w|Southwest Arkansas}}, and move {{w|Lousiana's}} northwest border to meet up, presumably because square corners are better.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Nevada}}/{{w|Arizona}} || Continue the line of Utah's western border and Arizona's far northwestern border south (replacing part of the {{w|Colorado River}} boundary), transferring part of Arizona's {{w|Mohave_County,_Arizona|Mohave county}} to Nevada.
|-
| Clean up (Arizona/New Mexico/Texas) || One of {{w|New Mexico}}'s borders should be extended into a single line. This results in ceding some land to Mexico, having {{w|El Paso}} split across New Mexico and Texas, and Highway 62 alternating between two states.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Kentucky}}/{{w|Virginia}} || Virginia's western border is shifted east to align it with the borders to the north and south, forming a continuous line along the {{w|Appalachian_Mountains|Appalachains}}.
|-
| Fix this thing || The border of {{w|Missouri}} cuts into {{w|Arkansas}}, in the so-called {{w|Missouri Bootheel}}. The Design Team has awarded that piece to {{w|Arkansas}}, straightening the border.
|-
| Align to Grid || Most of the Western states are variations on "Let's have a large box", but there's something a bit irregular about them. Never fear, the Design Team has fixed!
|-
| Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty. ||
The {{w|Florida Panhandle}} borders southern {{w|Alabama}} denying the state all but a sliver of coastline. Given that Florida already has an abundance of coast, the Graphic Designers consider the present arrangement unfair. Ceding the Florida counties west of the {{w|Apalachicola River}} have actually been {{w|Florida_Panhandle#Alabama_annexation_proposals|raised since the 19th century}}. This change would have the additional benfit of more neatly aligning Florida's western border with that of neighboring {{w|Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia}}.
|-
|Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware || {{w|Rhode Island}} and {{w|Delaware}}, the two {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area#Area_by_state.2Fterritory|smallest U.S. states by area}}, are often difficult to make out on a map of the United States. Expanding Delaware to occupy the entire {{w|Delmarva_Peninsula|Delmarva peninsula}} eliminates some boundary lines the designers apparently consider excessively fiddly; expanding Rhode Island eastward would reduce the number of land borders it has to too (one to its west with Connecticut and one to its north with Massachusetts) and make it easier to see on a map.
|-
| Clean Up (Arizona/New Mexico/Texas) || One of {{w|New Mexico}}'s borders should be extended into a single line. This results in ceding some land to Mexico, having {{w|El Paso}} split across New Mexico and Texas, and Highway 62 alternating between two states.
|-
| Move Long Island to NJ or CT, or make it its own state || {{w|Connecticut}} and {{w|New Jersey}} are very close to each other but don't actually border, separated only a few miles by {{w|New York State}}. {{w|Long Island}} is part of New York State, which visibly juts out into the Atlantic and apparently drives graphic designers crazy who see an association with New Jersey or Connecticut or even becoming its own state more logical than being a part of New York State. This would have some issues, not least of which is that Long Island contains two of {{w|New York City}}'s five boroughs ({{w|Brooklyn}} and {{w|Queens}}) and more than half the city's population.
|-
| Clean Up (Maryland/Pennsylvania/Virginia/West Virginia) || Maryland's western panhandle and both of West Virginia's to the east and north would be smoothed out to have nice, straight, shorter lines.
|-
| Good Curve! Keep (Florida/Georgia/South Carolina) || The only thing the design team likes already about the shape of the US is the shape of the Atlantic coast in northern {{w|Florida}}, Georgia, and {{w|South Carolina}}, as it seems to bend into the US smoothly.
|-
| Straighten to fix survey errors (Tennessee) || {{w|Tenneesse}}'s southern border is supposed to be the 35th parallel north, but due to surveying errors made in the 19th Century the marked border is one mile south of that line. At many times since, Georgia has sought to fix this by various means (at least partly because doing so would net them some rights to the water from the Tennessee River) including bringing its case to the US Supreme Court - with the Design Team in charge, they wouldn't need those lawyers any more. Farther westward, Tennessee's actual southern border suddenly juts south at the Tennessee River between Alabama and Mississippi - again, the Design Team would rather see it smoothed out. Tenneesse's northern border with Kentucky has similar hitches that prevent it from being a straight line that the Design Team wants to address.
|}

In the title text, the graphic designers have a civil war between the ones that favor "panhandles" in the borders, such as the Oklahoma one which is enlarged in the map, the Florida one which is removed in the map, and maybe others such as the Texas region known as the "Texas panhandle". However, they get too caught up in making the flag designs for their faction to actually fight. Randall has shown interest for vexillology (the study of flags) in the past.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An outline map of the United States is shown, including state boundaries. The following edit marks are shown in red text:]
:[Minnesota's Northwest Angle is circled] Give to Canada
:[Border between Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula is crossed out] This should be Wisconsin
:[New York's Long Island is circled, with arrows and question marks pointing to New Jersey and Connecticut] Move Long Island to NJ or CT or make it its own state
:[New York's eastern border has been straightened]
:[Wyoming's western border is moved to align with that of Colorado. The Montana/Idaho and Idaho/Utah borders are extended to reach the new border. Similarly, Colorado's eastern border is moved to align with that of Wyoming, and the Nebraska/Kansas border has been extended] Align to grid
:[West Virginia's northern panhandle has been given to Ohio and part of its eastern panhandle has been given to Maryland. In return, Western Maryland has been given to West Virginia. The altogether effect is that West Virginia and Maryland have more compact shapes] Clean Up
:[Rhode Island has been enlarged to encompass southeastern Massachusetts, and Delaware now takes up the entire Delmarva Peninsula] Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware
:[The Oklahoma Panhandle has been extended west until it reaches Nevada, taking the northernmost parts of Arizona and New Mexico with it] If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it?
:[The Missouri Bootheel has been given to Arkansas] Fix this thing
:[The part of Virginia west of the Appalachian Mountains has been given to West Virginia]
:[The southwestern and eastern borders of Nevada have been extended into Arizona until they meet a point. A part of California is slightly extended to reach the revised border]
:[Parts of Arizona and New Mexico have been ceded to Mexico, and part of Texas has been given to New Mexico, so that the southern borders of Arizona and New Mexico and the northern border of the Trans-Pecos area of Texas collectively form a straight line] Clean Up
:[Parts of northeastern Texas have been given to Arkansas and Louisiana]
:[The northern and southern borders of Tennessee have been straightened] Straighten to fix survey errors
:[A line has been traced along the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida] Good curve! Keep.
:[Alaska's southeastern panhandle has been circled] Let's be honest - this should be Canada, too.
:[The Alabama/Florida border has been erased, and Alabama's eastern border has been extended south until it meets the Gulf of Mexico] Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It was scary when graphic designers seized control of the country, but it turned out they just wanted to fix some things about the state borders that had always bothered them.<br>

{{comic discussion}}

1275: int(pi)

2013-10-09T05:47:11Z

Leob: Added explanation of "floor pie"

{{comic
| number = 1275
| date = October 9, 2013
| title = int(pi)
| image = int pi.png
| titletext = If replacing all the '3's doesn't fix your code, remove the 4s, too, with 'ceiling(pi) / floor(pi) * pi * r^floor(pi)'. Mmm, floor pie.
}}

==Explanation==

This comic tells a simple, deadpan joke: that the number "{{w|3 (number)|3}}" is cursed and thus should not be used in programming. [[Randall]] recommends that programmers instead use <code>int(pi)</code>, which means {{w|pi}} rounded to the nearest {{w|integer}}. Pi, an {{w|irrational number}}, has a value starting <code>3.14159...</code>, making <code>int(pi)</code> equal to 3.

In the title text, Randall takes the joke a step further, suggesting the usage of {{w|floor and ceiling functions}}: <code>ceiling(pi)</code> would be pi rounded ''up'' to the next integer, which is {{w|4 (number)|4}}; and <code>floor(pi)</code> is pi rounded ''down'' to the next integer, which is 3. (Note that <code>int(pi)</code> and <code>floor(pi)</code> have the same value. <code>int(n)</code> will always be equal to either <code>floor(n)</code> or <code>ceiling(n)</code>.)

The joke here plays off of the fact that the intricacies of programming are endlessly confusing, and that [[292|novice programmers are often told to simply not do certain things without any explanation]]. Without knowing how a given programming language works, a new coder has no way of knowing which sorts of things are important to pay attention to. Randall takes this to an extreme here by suggesting that certain numbers could be inherently problematic, but the general idea is perfectly believable.

<i>Mmm... Floor pie.</i> is a reference to Homer Simpson [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnjzmdxTXGQ]
==Transcript==
:volume(r) = (4/int(pi))*pi*r^int(pi)
:Programming Tip: The number "3" is cursed. Avoid it.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Programming]]
[[Category:Math]]

Talk:850: World According to Americans

2012-11-26T20:10:58Z

Leob: Noted a spelling mistake in the comic

NB: Paupa (sic!) New Guinea
[[User:Leob|Leob]] ([[User talk:Leob|talk]]) 20:10, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

912: Manual Override

2012-11-06T06:42:16Z

Leob: Created page with "{{comic | number = 912 | date = | title = Manual Override | image = manual_override.png | imagesize = | titletext = I think you mean 'GNU Info Override'. }} ..."

{{comic
| number = 912
| date =
| title = Manual Override
| image = manual_override.png
| imagesize =
| titletext = I think you mean 'GNU Info Override'.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic makes fun of a trend in documentation for UNIX-like systems, specifically those that use the open source GNU toolchain.

Historically, UNIX systems had a way to access descriptions of the available programs: the "man" (from "manual") command.
Typing "man program-name" would output a detailed text, called a "man page", describing the program's functionality, available command-line options, a list of related programs, etc.
For many GNU-based programs, however, the output of "man program-name" will be very brief, mainly directing the user to invoke a GNU-specific information system (GNU Info), thus rendering the man page useless and annoying the user.

==Transcript==
[A plane is in a nosedive with smoke pouring from one wing. Text comes from someone reading in the cockpit.]
:"This is the emergency override system, which can be used to regain control of the aircraft.
:Complete instructions for activating this system are available as a GNU info page."

{{comic discussion}}

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1902: State Borders

1275: int(pi)

Talk:850: World According to Americans

912: Manual Override