explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-26T04:34:37Z

NealCruco:

I expect that the BTS question is a reference to the traditional Korean system of counting a person's age in units of Sal which started at 1 and incremented on the first day of the year. Since this system was abandoned on official documents in 2023, but is still in use in some contexts, the question of whether every member of BTS had a "birthday" on the first day of the year is ambiguous. [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:13, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:This is marked as fiction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csSYfPaBaS4, but was it?

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

::{{w|NASA}} disagrees. [https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/ Exoplanet Archive] shows 5612 confirmed planets. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:55, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
::: The IAU is the body that defines such things - and they do say that planets have to orbit the Sun...things that orbit other stars are properly called "exo-planets". But still - do we include dwarf planets? Rogue planets? It's definitely a crazy-vague question. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.219|172.70.211.219]] 21:05, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:::: the IAU is one body that claims the authority to define such things, but their authority is not recognized by any of the things they are claiming the right to name. (Except for a very small part of earth, mostly made of humans) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.203|172.69.58.203]] 00:10, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
::::That seems ridiculous, "If it isn't one of ours it don't count"? That'd be like saying "They're only 'cars' if they use North American roads, in other countries using THEIR roads you have to call them exo-cars!". LOL! And every future/space-based fiction calls them planets, just makes more sense not to be so arbitrarily exclusionary. Ours isn't the only sun, we shouldn't pretend it has some aspect that makes it count more than others - outside of that it's the one with us. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 06:09, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
::::: Correction, the IAU definition explicitly states that it is only about planets within the solar system and has no comment about exoplanets one way or the other. Presumably, to leave some flexibility on all the weird edge cases that are bound to come up with exoplanets. https://www.iau.org/static/resolutions/Resolution_GA26-5-6.pdf [[Special:Contributions/172.68.195.213|172.68.195.213]] 07:55, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
::::Gas giants should be excluded too - they're not planets - just wannabe stars.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.31|172.70.163.31]] 08:34, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

: I think the correct answer is 0: before the solar system formed there were no planets. So, originally, there would have been none. If exo-planets count, going back to the beginning of time gives the same answer: when the universe came into existence during the big bang there were no stars, let alone planets orbiting them. Even religion agrees: in the beginning God created the earth and the heavens, but the sun came later, so technically earth was not a planet since it didn't orbit anything.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.49|162.158.62.49]] 22:23, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

As for question 9, please see the note about the history of Austrailia's capitals at: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_national_capitals#Oceania]]. and the page regarding countries with multiple capitals [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_multiple_capitals]] [[User:Philhower|Philhower]] ([[User talk:Philhower|talk]]) 14:24, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
: See Also [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_capital_cities List of Australian capital cities] - As an Australian, I believe many would also consider the major city in their state/territory to be a capital city, although not the capital of Australia.

: The explanation misses the possibility that this is a Dad joke: where the capital city of Australia is 'Canberra,' as long as the respondent doesn't actually count either the letters in Canberra (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) or the population of Canberra (unknowable/ambiguous). [[User:Bilkie|Bilkie]] ([[User talk:Bilkie|talk]]) 14:12, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

About the alt text, London is certainly in Europe. The question itself is malformed because "Europe (or 'the EU')" is not self-consistent: there is a lot of European countries that are not part of the EU. [[User:RedGolpe|RedGolpe]] ([[User talk:RedGolpe|talk]]) 14:32, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:The "Greater London" answer is also tricksy, as the "ceremonial county" of GL {{w|London boroughs|may not include}} the additional area of the City Of London (though it does include the City Of Westminster, which is sometimes the trick answer to certain trick questions that a quizmaster might attempt to pull). The ''administrative'' Greater London is the ceremonial one ''plus'' CoL, however... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.19|172.70.162.19]] 15:04, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
::I would argue London is not in Europe because there is no clear definition for Europe as a geographic area, it really doesn't have an eastern border that is not arbitrary, so the only clearly defined thing Europe can refer to is the EU. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 17:50, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:::London, France is both in Europe and the EU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London,_France [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.49|172.70.163.49]] 18:00, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:::While the eastern border of Europe is not clearly defined I am not aware that there is any definition of (geographic) Europe that excludes the islands (and subsequently London) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.135|162.158.202.135]] 21:24, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
::::There's "mainland Europe", excluding islands. Or at least any of several possibly island archipeligos and/or island nationstates. e.g. Mont-Saint-Michel might not be (exluded, that is, due to being French and having a (tide-dependant) ground access), Jersey would be (British Crown Territory island), Malta probably (island state), Sicily would depend on your thinking (it being Italian, and much larger than the strait that makes it an island offshoot). Most of Scandinavia might be interestingly included (with Denmark) or excluded (with Iceland), according to context. Even Gibraltar might or might not be, depending upon upon the thinking (or lack of it) behind the use of the term. (But, fiddling around the edges aside, (the English) London is not in "mainland Europe" and hasn't been for maybe a full 10kY before it became "London" in any useful sense.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.49|172.70.163.49]] 23:44, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
::::: The phrase "continental Europe" is also used, and might be implied by a British person saying "I travelled around Europe last year". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.54|172.69.195.54]] 15:01, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
::::: The (semi-)apocryphal headline "Fog In Channel, Continent Cut Off" is perhaps indicative of the {{w|Continental Europe#Great Britain and Ireland}} British collective mindset (of which I must therefore be a component, albeit not at that end of the spectrum). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.71|172.71.242.71]] 15:39, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
:::I'd say The European Council has at least as good (or bad, depending which way you look at it) a claim to be 'Europe' as the EU does, and London (through the UK) is in that (for now, anyway).[[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.55|172.71.242.55]] 09:07, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benxi Benxi Lake] is actually considered to be the smallest lake in the world. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.205|172.70.135.205]]
:{{cn}}[[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.176|172.70.86.176]] 14:40, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:Many websites says Benxi lake is recognized by Guinness records, but guinnessworldrecords.com does not have such a record. Either they recognized smallest lakes previously but not anymore, or they never had such a record and we are witnessing citogenesis ([https://xkcd.com/978/]) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.210|172.71.154.210]] 17:33, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
::I've been getting the Guinness World Records book for 20 years. I just checked my 2004 edition, and there is no record for "smallest lake". Doesn't mean it wasn't left out due to space concerns, but I'm not checking all the books. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 04:34, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

London is both a City (London) and a City within a City (The City of London) and an Area (Greater London)
There are also many more places named London than the one that is the Capital of the UK .. Serbia, France, Canada (Which is larger and the one in the UK), 10 in the USA, and one on Kiribati 17:56, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
:Are you saying London, Ontario, Canada is BIGGER than the more famous London, England??? That's a country capital! Is that seriously true? I'm Canadian, I don't know London, ON as being THAT big... [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[7User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:52, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
::It's very unlikely to be larger in population terms than the (common!) wider definition of the main UK London, as that would make it larger than any other city in Canada by a large margin. In terms of area, London ON is very likely to be larger than the City of London (which is surprisingly small). More widely, the definition of what actually is a "city" is more complex than it appears to be at first glance; administrative areas (what official statistics are collected for) are often quite different from where the bulk of people are. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 07:20, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
:::Some wikipedia figures, for reference:
:::*{{w|London, Ontario}} = 168.76 sq mi, Population 422,324
:::*{{w|City of London}}, subset of Capital of UK = 1.12 sq mi, Population 8,618
:::*{{w|London}}, administrative/etc capital of UK = 606.96 sq mi, Population 8,799,800
:::*{{w|London, Belgrade}} = a 'neighbourhood' (<1 sq mi?), Population unknown
:::*{{w|London, France}} = 'a small agricultural village'
:::*...
:::*{{w|List of minor planets: 8001–9000#837|8837 London}} = 1.5 mi diameter (~28s q mi, ~14 cu mi?), Population... some of the {{w|Clangers}}?
:::I skipped a few of the others (e.g. the various US ones: cities, townships, communities)... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.230.46|162.158.230.46]] 18:10, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

I'm surprised there were no phishing-type questions (i.e. "what are the last four digits of your social security number", "what are the three numbers on the back of your debit card", etc).22:33, 19 April 2024 (UTC)

The only correct answer(s) to "who played the drums" would be "the drummer", or "twelve drummers", but I would accept Phil Collins, Alex Van Halen, or Ringo Starr for half a point each [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.100|108.162.241.100]] 02:40, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
: "Who played the drums" is Keith Moon; in this cryptic clue, "Who" is the name of the band, and "played the drums" indicates the drummer; hence the answer is Keith Moon, the drummer of The Who. [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 04:29, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
:Clearly the correct answer is 'Animal'.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.176|172.71.178.176]] 08:45, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

I asked my Mom these questions & she said the answer to #7 so flatly: ''Boeing ''
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 02:44, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

On the Capital of Australia: Melbourne hosted parliament before Canberra was built, and Jervis Bay was part of the ACT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jervis_Bay_Territory

Are there people outside of the USA that are surprised to learn that Washington D.C. is the capital of the USA, rather than New York, Los Angeles, Chicago etc. due to its relatively small population? ("only" ~670000 in 2024) [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 06:50, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

I came here all prepared to say that the Title Text should have Ontario, Canada as a (likewise correct) answer, but I see somebody already put that into the table, LOL! I feel like the "More Reasonable" version of the planet question should NOT mention Pluto, it should be the question IMPLIED in the comic whose answer is 9 (such as "How many planets were originally in our Solar System", but without the ambiguity of "originally". Basically a question whose answer is 9, pushing people to include Pluto, while allowing people the mistake of saying the current answer of 8, but mentioning Pluto would ruin that/the question). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:52, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

There could also be a person Named "London" who is located somewhere, perhaps in the same bar (or not) -- [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.71|172.70.46.71]] 12:13, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_%28name%29 [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.31|172.70.42.31]] 16:27, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

I thought I knew the minimum size of a lake by definition, at least in the US, but I just found different authorities asserting 1, 10, and 20 acres as the distinction between a lake and a pond. Two non-metric distinctions are that a lake has an aphotic (dark) zone, or a lake is fed and drained by a river, but they don't help here. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.53|172.70.43.53]] 16:22, 20 April 2024 (UTC)

For the love of god can we stop saying that Pluto was "demoted" to a dwarf planet? It didn't have its category changed, it had its category defined (for the first time!). It was a founding member of a newly named category. And it's not like planets are better than dwarf planets, they're just different. (I'm going to die on this hill, ain't I?)
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.16|172.68.34.16]] 01:35, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
:Yes, you probably are. When it happened, many people, including astronomers, considered it a downgrade. There's some prestige in being a planet -- the Sun and the planets are considered the most significant objects in the Solar System. The qualifier suggests that it's less important than the "real" planets, and was kicked out of the planet club for being deficient in some way. Maybe we need a campaign from dwarf humans to remind everyone that they're just smaller, but they have no less dignity. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:41, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
:I'll cheerfully die there with you. But I'll also point out while I'm doing so that if it's a 'dwarf ''planet''', then clearly it is still a planet. I mean, people would look at you funny if you tried to claim that a dwarf elephant wasn't an elephant. And perhaps more pertinently, a dwarf star is still a star. So the answer to 'how many planets are in our solar system?' is 'at least 16 that we know of - depends how far down you count. Unless you discount the gas giants, in which case you need to subtract four. Or maybe two. Wait - how many are we on now again?'[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.157|172.71.178.157]] 11:14, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

For the planet question there's also Theia, which is theorized to have been a planet prior to smashing into proto Earth and forming the moon and modern larger Earth. So there used to be at least nine planets by the current definition in our solar system.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.20|162.158.155.20]] 03:50, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

For question #8, it's not that mathematicians were idling around. A lot of partial results were made, see Wiki. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.33|172.71.160.33]] 08:22, 21 April 2024 (UTC)

I was confused by this question at first. The answer is "no." It is disproved by example. 21+3=24 21 is not a prime. 24 is even. {{unsigned ip|162.158.154.65|19:38, 21 April 2024}}
:24 is the sum of many pairs of numbers. Amongst those pairs (as with any even number >2) may be one ore more pairs of primes (even 2, if you count 1 as a prime - though generally one doesn't). 24 is (just looking at the odd numbers >1) 21+3, 19+5 (both primes!), 17+7 (both primes), 15+9 (no), 13+11 (both primes) and then of course the reverses of these (if you count those). So 24 is the sum of two primes (three, or six, times). 4 is just the sum of 2+2, 6 is only 3+3, 8 is only 5+3... And every even number checked from there on up ''can'' be expressed as the sum of two primes (at least once). But is there ever a point at which there is an even number that is not?
:With 3, 5 and 7 being primes, then you can definitely say that if N is an even number that has (or even relies upon) a solution with 3, then N+2 and N+4 are, which would be answerable by the same sum but with 5 or 7 instead. Plus N+8 (3->11), N+10 (3>13). And maybe you can fill in the N+6 and N+8 by the ''other'' prime used being also a suitable twin prime that you can swap out for the P±2 partner. But only if it's the right prime of any given pair, and not all primes are twins, so there's a lot more to consider about whether any given advancement up the even-numnber ladder can be answered by a suitable pair of primes.
: e.g. 15440=7717+7723 (one possible solution). 15442 therefore needs +2 to that. But 7717 and 7723 ar adjacent primes that areen't two apart (so you can't just add two to 7717 and have 7723 + 7723) and the next adjacent primes are 7703 and 7727 (not two apart, and not obviously useful to go 7717->7703, either). So there must be another solution (theoretically, but also proven by having been checked). By doing ''quite a bit'' of to-and-fro (if that's how we're doing it), we can finally announce that 15442=7649+7793 (but I also found 7523+7919, 7541+7901, 7559+7883 and 7589+7853, before I stopped the search). So It works up to 15442.
:15444? Well, neither 7649 or 7793 have a +2 prime-partner. But 7589 is followed by 7591 (as a new partner to 7853). And 7559 is followed by 7561, so 7561+7883 would also be an answer. There will (probably) be many others.
:But will there ''always'' be many others? Or even just the one? I'm sure someone has been counting how many unique (bidirectional) solutions each number has, and probably there are some that ''only just'' get the requisite single pair of primes that sum to it. Could it ever not even manage that? Those actually familiar with the efforts to prove the conjecture would know, rather than a fool like me coming fresh to the problem. (Relatively, that is... I already knew about it, but I've never tried to wade into the actual theory until right now, and this random example I set up to 'explain' this, just now.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.175|172.71.242.175]] 21:01, 21 April 2024 (UTC)
:: It looks like it was a mistake on my part to infer that the question meant "exclusively the sum of two primes." Allen [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.237|162.158.62.237]] 15:12, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
::: Ah, I see. Well, ''no'' number is "''just'' the sum of two primes" (4=3+1, and 1 isn't prime; or 4+0, and neither of those are; all before considering negative, fractional or even complex/quaternian 'summations' (e.g. (2+3i)+(2-3i)=4), which primes definitely are not part of, regardless of how they together become '4'...), so "Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?" sort of has to imply only that there "are two primes which sum", rather than ever "the only numbers which sum will all be primes". Hyper-pedanticity (or deliberate linguistic trickery) aside, that's really not in question.
::: But nice to understand where you were coming from, at least. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.49|172.70.163.49]] 20:15, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
*About Q2: the "number of sides" may be "the average number of sides" of a Platonic solid, which is 10, despite having no Platonic decahedron
*About Q10: with a correct list of answers, it ''may'' be kept as-is with having to select the drummer(s).
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.38|162.158.78.38]] 10:47, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
:That assumes that the Platonic solids occur in equal numbers in the universe. In actuality, there are probably more of some than others, which would throw your average off. Alternatively, you could argue that none of any of them actually exist (by virtue of them being Platonic, and any example being an imperfect approximation), in which case the answer is either 'none' or 'unanswerable', since you can't average nothing.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.156|172.70.85.156]] 12:39, 22 April 2024 (UTC)

The smallest lake in the world is Snowf Lake. {{unsigned ip|172.70.34.58|02:22, 23 April 2024}}

The title text reminds me of some old viral social media post where an alleged smart-a** teacher made a test question that was like "What is the opposite of 'old'? (a) new (b) young". (I don't remember if it was specifically mentioned, but the implication was that the question would then be graded completely arbitrarily.) [[User:Zowayix|Zowayix]] ([[User talk:Zowayix|talk]]) 21:01, 23 April 2024 (UTC)

== Smallest lake ==

IMHO there is a reasonable interpretation of the smallest lake question: what is the smallest officially named naturally occurring body of freshwater. [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 06:31, 24 April 2024 (UTC)
: Does this go so far as to include "...that has the word 'lake' in it"? (Or ’lac’, or other acceptably ''exact'' linguistic equivalent, perhaps?)
: There is the "How many lakes are there in the {{w|Lake District}}?" classic British quiz question. Possible answer: there are perhaps 21(ish) 'lake-like' water bodies, but only Bassenthwaite Lake is ''called'' a lake, the rest are 'water's, 'mere's, 'tarn's (maybe then "not-a-lake", like "lochens are not lochs") and a handful of reservoirs (maybe not a lake, for being not natural?). Thus to avoid trouble, and especially how far to go to down the "pond, pool and puddle" route, the only truly unambiguous answer, once you know the 'trick', is "one". (Noting that "Lake Windermere" is a common misnomer for the body of water that is really just "Windermere", the actual largest "English lake". It having perhaps been tautologically enhanced to distinguish from "Windermere, the town", the main settlement in the area that was actually called Birthwaite prior to the arrival of the railway station that took the 'lake' name and then just rolled with it for the benefit of the unwashed/washed visiting masses.)
: ...this being sort of summarised in the Explanation at one point, actually, but got considered surplus. But a "smallest lake in the Lake District" question of this kind now explicitly excludes all the arguments about whether that means Easedale Tarn (by most linear dimensions) or Hayeswater (volumetric), whether or not you subscribe to other physical classification exclusions or the "Lake Windermere" name. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.48|172.70.163.48]] 08:54, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

2881: Bug Thread

2024-01-16T22:00:18Z

NealCruco: Added crosslink to similar comic.

{{comic
| number = 2881
| date = January 15, 2024
| title = Bug Thread
| image = bug_thread_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x495px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = After some account issues, we've added 6 new people from the beach house rental website support forum.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an UNFIXED BUG MEETUP - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

A bug thread, or issue tracker, is a type of forum intended for discussions of unintended behavior in a program, also known as a bug. Examples include Github and Bugzilla. Or a part of a more general forum may be expected to be used for such technical queries, as opposed to general feature requests, FAQs and other community interactions. Most bug threads have a rule to only leave a comment if you have something insightful to add, such as being able to reproduce how the bug occurs or possible solutions to resolving it. However in practice this rule is often ignored and many threads end up with multiple people simply commenting that the bug still exists, which may be acceptable if the facts are already there and do not need explicitly restating. Additionally, those who are perfectly content with a product have few reasons to enumerate their happy experience in a 'bug thread'. Those seeking help may tend to just see mostly the others who are, or have been, seeking help, if there are not also proper solutions and people to explain them.

The exact nature of the bug in the comic is unknown, but there are multiple people reporting the problem (based upon their distinctive profile pictures). Just one possible individual (the user with the half-obscured thumbnail of the topmost visible post) may have followed up as also one or other of the two most recently visible contributors with sufficiently similar avatars, indicating that this is not a case of a rare problem where [[979: Wisdom of the Ancients|only one or two]] people have ever been known to be affected. Most of the visible posts just state the originator's inclusion in the list of those affected by the bug, including with just one word replies ("Same"), or shorthand as an expression of emotion ("{{w|Like button|+1}}. So frustrating."), although another has apparently seen fit to provide three links to the specific 'solutions' that they have already seen and (unsuccessfully) tried. There appear to be no official representatives of the {{w|Developer#Computers|'devs'}}, or any other knowledgeable users, providing actual workarounds or seeking further information about the problem, at least within this small window upon the collected messages.

Although we cannot see the unreadable timestamp information on the posts, one author (the penultimate, using a [[White Hat]] image) makes the observation that the problem has now been ongoing for five years. This is followed by a [[Cueball]]-identified user pondering that, perhaps even in lieu of fixing the bug, this group of like-minded individuals may enjoy meeting up in the physical world. They suggest leasing a beachfront property for a weekend, which is more suggestive of taking a break than for brainstorming possible bug resolutions (although that type of event isn't unknown). Whether this is [[Randall]], or not, his own follow-up comic commentary suggests that bonding over such adversity is as good a reason for friendship as any.

The title text reveals that the meet-up was actually attempted, suggesting that there were at least some still active (and still bug-bound?) participants of the thread. Although it appears that they encountered (potentially unrelated) issues with an online service through which they booked the vacation venue. Now having gained a taste for linking up with fellow 'victims' of bugs, however, the organizer appears to have extended the general invitation (venue permitting) to several other new acquaintances who have likewise fallen foul of the holiday-home service's own problematic implementation, likely having started to similarly bond upon the bug-thread/forum where this latter issue must have stubbornly remained similarly unresolved. These new additions presumably have no interest in the original issue, but have been invited purely for social reasons.

[[979: Wisdom of the Ancients]] also refers to an online discussion thread about a bug, and [[1305: Undocumented Feature]] also involves a tech support forum which is eventually used only for socializing.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Part of a discussion thread in progress on an online forum is shown. Each comment has the writer's avatar to the left of the text and small illegible text immediately above the text. Part of the first comment's text is cut off at the top.]
:Commenter #1: Same issue here.
:Commenter #2: I'm having this problem too. None of the posted fixes work.
:Commenter #3: Same.
:Commenter #4: +1. So frustrating.
:Commenter #5: I'm still having this. Did you all ever figure out a fix?
:Commenter #6: Same problem as everyone. I tried the steps in the posts here, here, and here. Nothing.
:Commenter #7: Add me to the list.
:Commenter #8: Same. Ugh. Can't believe this thread is 5 years old now.
:Commenter #9: Where does everyone live? Do we want to get a beach house for a weekend or something?
:[Caption below the image:]
:At some point, you just have to give up on fixing the bug and embrace the fact that you have dozens of new friends.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]

2764: Cosmological Nostalgia Content

2023-04-18T22:48:20Z

NealCruco: Restored section header and tag

{{comic
| number = 2764
| date = April 17, 2023
| title = Cosmological Nostalgia Content
| image = cosmological_nostalgia_content_2x.png
| imagesize = 316x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Later renouncing clickbait, Einstein called his inclusion of cosmological content in general relativity the biggest blunder of his career.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|1=Created by a z=90s KID - Needs more explanation of what the click bait in the title text refers to in the context of the Einstein blunder and why that belongs in this nostalgia comic. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Like many xkcds, this comic is a figurative {{w|Portmanteau|multimanteau}}, in this case a combination of "{{w|cosmological constant}}" (an astrophysics term to quantify the rate of expansion of the universe) and "[https://movementstrategy.com/editorial/nostalgia-social-media/ nostalgia content]" (clickbait marketing aimed at a specific age group referencing pop culture from their youth). The [https://tvtropes.org canonical examples] of nostalgia content are "[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/only-90s-kids--2 Only 90s Kids Remember...]" and "[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/feel-old-yet Feel Old yet?]".

In cosmology, z is the symbol for {{w|Redshift|redshift}}, which is the phenomenon where photons travelling from an object that is moving away from the observer exhibits an increase in wavelength, resulting in its colour shifting towards the red end of the spectrum. Due to the accelerating expansion of the universe, objects that are further away from us are moving away from us at a faster velocity, resulting in higher redshift. As light has finite velocity, it takes a longer time for light from faraway objects to arrive at the observer.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light#Spaceflight_and_astronomy] So the light observed at the present must have been emitted by the faraway object further back in time. Megan is stating that only people that appear to the observer with high redshift (z=10) will have existed sufficiently further back in the past to remember when the first stars were still forming. Megan also has a red tint (she is drawn in the colour [https://www.color-hex.com/color/462424 #462424], a very dark red; here is a comparison of #462424 and black: &emsp; &emsp;), indicating that she is one such z=10 kid. This would mean that she was born around 500 million years after the universe was formed, or almost 13 billion years ago. However, the James Webb Space Telescope famously discovered fully formed, large, bright galaxies around z=10 (of which the only explanations forthcoming so far are {{w|primordial black hole}}s[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ac927f/meta][https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.09391] or {{w|axion}} miniclusters[https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.107.043502]) so Megan's nostalgia may be somewhat confabulatory.

White Hat, meanwhile, is referencing the fact that the universe has {{w|Scale factor (cosmology)|three eras}}: radiation dominated, matter dominated, and dark energy dominated. As the universe expands, the density of radiation and matter decreases due to their dilution, causing the universe, which first started off being dominated by radiation, to then become dominated by matter, then by dark energy (which does not dilute as the universe expands). Dark energy dominated era, which is when "dark energy started accelerating the universe's expansion" started around 5 billion years ago while {{w|Evolution of bacteria|bacteria evolved around 3 billion years ago}}, meaning that they evolved closer to dark energy domination than to today.

The title and title text play with the similarity in sound between 'content' and 'constant', segueing between web(page) content and cosmological constant.

The title text refers to Einstein's inclusion of the {{w|Cosmological constant|cosmological constant}} to his theory of general relativity in order to attain a static model of the universe, which he later removed, reportedly referring to it as his "biggest blunder". Cosmological constant has, today, been generally accepted as a part of the current cosmological model, relating to the concept of dark energy.

==Transcript==
:[Megan (with a red tint) holds both her arms out and up while she is talking to Cueball to the left of her. To the right of Megan White Hat is holding both arms out and down while he is talking to Ponytail to the right of him.]
:Megan: Only Z=10 kids remember watching the cool dark gas that suffused the universe being eaten away by expanding bubbles of plasma around the first stars!
:White Hat: Want to feel old? Bacteria evolved closer to when dark energy started accelerating the universe's expansion than to today!

:[Caption below the panel]:
:Cosmological Nostalgia Content

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]
[[Category:Comics with color]] 
[[Category:Cosmology]]
[[Category:Biology]] 
[[Category:Clickbait]]

Steroids

2021-01-31T20:34:39Z

NealCruco: Removed spamvertising content and restored redirect.

#REDIRECT [[1173: Steroids]]

1881: Drone Training

2020-02-29T03:03:22Z

NealCruco: "Many" is a stretch.

{{comic
| number = 1881
| date = August 25, 2017
| title = Drone Training
| image = drone_training.png
| titletext = The joke will be on him in a few weeks when animal control shows up and takes custody of his Roomba.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Black Hat]] enters a pet store run by [[White Hat]]. He wants to buy something to help him train his drone, which keeps flying into the wrong rooms. This is absurd as drones are semi-autonomous flying machines, not living creatures like dogs or cats, which can be trained to do tricks, or stay in the correct areas (inside his property). He also wants a shock collar for his {{w|Roomba}}, which would train it to stay inside or at least on his lawn.

{{w|Cat repellents}} are devices or substances for training cats or repelling them from furniture or other areas. An example of a cat repellent spray which can be created at home as shown here: [http://www.instructables.com/id/Friendly-but-Effective-Cat-Repellent/ Friendly (but Effective) Cat Repellent].

Roomba is an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner and controlling it by electric shocks from a {{w|Shock collar|shock collar}}, normally used for dogs, is more than questionable. Those collars are legal in the US but banned in nine other countries. A Roomba was previously mistaken for a dog in [[1558: Vet]].

This might be playing with the concept of machine learning. Knowing Black Hat, he might be poking fun at people's assumptions that modern robots are more advanced than they actually are. It is also possible, however, that he just wants to terrify people with the idea of robot abuse/conditioning, and even more likely that he genuinely believes he can force robots to obey him via inflicting suffering.

The title text may mean one of three things: The endeavor will become a total flop when the Roomba gets rid of the collar and terrorizes the neighborhood; as a result dogcatchers from the {{w|Animal control service|animal control service}} will arrest this "wild animal." Or animal control services will confiscate the Roomba to save it from its abusive owner. Or, possibly, the text refers to White Hat, who also owns a Roomba, and it will be taken into custody because it has not been trained with a shock collar.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat stands in front of a store counter facing White Hat who stands behind.]
:Black Hat: My drone keeps flying into the wrong rooms. Do you have anything to discourage it?
:White Hat: Sir, this is a pet store.

:Black Hat: Yeah, I was thinking one of those spray bottles for cats.
:White Hat: I don't think you can train a drone.

:[White Hat hands a spray bottle over the counter.]
:Black Hat: Eh, they say that about cats, too. Plus, these days they probably all come with deep learning or whatever. Drones, I mean. Maybe cats too.
:White Hat: Fine, here's a bottle.

:Black Hat: Do you sell a shock collar that can fit around a Roomba?
:White Hat: I'm going to have to ask you to leave.

==Trivia==
*This is the first comic since [[1875: Computers vs Humans]] that does not involve the [[:Category:Total Solar Eclipse 2017|August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse]] as subject matter.
*This is the first comic where Black Hat and White Hat speak directly to each other.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Drones]]
[[Category:Roomba]]

Talk:2184: Unpopular Opinions

2019-11-05T04:10:17Z

NealCruco:

I wonder if it has to be below 50% with critic score, audience score, or both? [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 17:36, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:Genisys has an Audience Score of 53%, so I think it has to be critic score (Tomatometer). [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.124|108.162.241.124]] 21:42, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
::Critics and audiences are really two distinct groups. So to be "apples to apples", I'd think it would have to be a movie with an Audience score below 50. Disagreeing with something critics hated isn't that rare among the general audience. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.18|162.158.106.18]] 04:46, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
::The whole idea of the challenge doesn't make sense if the movie is "only" hated by a handful of random critics. As Randall points out, it is easier to hate a movie that everyone loves, so that is also true for critics. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.46|172.69.55.46]] 18:41, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
::I have to agree that basing it on the critic reviews only doesn't make much sense. I can find dozens of movies I like that are rated rotten by the critics, but nearly all of them got good audience reviews (Bright, Constentine, Super Troopers, K-Pax, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, etc). I can only find one that I like that that scores under 50% with both groups, Southland Tales, and even I'll admit it has many flaws. I suspect Randal Monroe was looking at movies that were rated "Rotten" by both groups (green icon and <60%), vs "fresh" (red icon > 60%). But the rules were already a bit too lengthy to spell it out explicitly. [[user]][[User:Whereisspike|Whereisspike]] ([[User talk:Whereisspike|talk]]) 21:42, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/browse/dvd-streaming-all?minTomato=0&maxTomato=49&services=amazon;hbo_go;itunes;netflix_iw;vudu;amazon_prime;fandango_now&genres=1;2;4;5;6;8;9;10;11;13;18;14&sortBy=tomato Movies] on DVD or streaming, tomatometer 49% down to 0%.

Plenty of Twilight fans will raise their hands - it is rated 49% --[[User:Thomcat|Thomcat]] ([[User talk:Thomcat|talk]]) 18:09, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:Well, I'm around the typical age of (original) Twilight fans, and none of the movies in the saga came in my adult life. (But they're all below 50%)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.147|162.158.103.147]] 18:27, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

I mean, Shaft got a 30% on the Tomatometer and a 94 on the audience score, and I loved it. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.22|108.162.241.22]] 18:57, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Do Waterworld, in spite of the fact that it only ticks two of the boxes, count? I really liked that one.
:I also liked Waterworld (44%, 1997) and The Postman (9%, 1995) (both with Kevin Kostner, and sort of the same story). Assuming the definition of adult is 18, they both qualify for the adult part, but not the after 2000 part. I also loved Star Wars Episode I, but sure enough, it's above 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 17:28, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

:If it didn't come out while you were an adult, then it doesn't count. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:16, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:My immediate search was also for Water World. Would it also not count when you didn't watch it until after 2000? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.46|172.69.55.46]] 18:35, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

I don't watch enough movies (or know Rotten Tomatoes well enough) to participate in this particular challenge, but it seems like every time I enjoy a video game, it turns out to have a sizeable and vocal hatedom. I seriously can't relate to the caption here. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.165|162.158.107.165]] 20:25, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Batman v. Superman is probably a good answer for a fair number of people-it has a reasonable number of fans (including myself) who liked it, despite its very poor rating (28%) [[User:SirEpp|SirEpp]] ([[User talk:SirEpp|talk]]) 21:05, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
: I went to that movie for finding the plausible reason why Batman who only fights criminal and Superman being too unreal for ever being angry for no reason might have a fight which each other. Got less than I expected, in this aspect. But Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Thor: Ragnarok and Iron Sky are objectively superb films the critics hated. Perhaps with the exception of the relationship between Valerian and Laureline, perhaps, though.[[User:Gunterkoenigsmann|Gunterkoenigsmann]] ([[User talk:Gunterkoenigsmann|talk]]) 17:37, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Not a movie, per se, but I thought season 8 of Game of Thrones was fantastic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.88|162.158.214.88]] 22:23, 2 August 2019 (UTC)

Critically panned films that I like include: Crimes of Grindelwald, Passengers, and Warcraft. Critically acclaimed films that I do not like: Avatar and Life of Pi. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.213|173.245.48.213]] 22:47, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:Oooh, ''Passengers'' is a good one, I'm stealing that. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 01:16, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:I second Crimes of Grindelwald (37 RT), and add Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (48 RT), which I also enjoyed and actually recommend to people. Now these movies aren't "classics" or "great movies", they aren't perfect, but they are effective entertainment, and ''not'' because they "are so bad their good". Grindelwald has many effective scenes and acting, and Valerian is a very effective effort at making a movie out of a comic book that ''feels like a comic book''-- a fact I appreciated. Of course 48 RT is also just under the 50 RT threshold.[[User:Careysub|Careysub]] ([[User talk:Careysub|talk]])
:It's almost like you totally misunderstood the point of the comic. [[User:A74xhx|A74xhx]] ([[User talk:A74xhx|talk]]) 09:00, 5 August 2019 (UTC)
::How so? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.16|172.69.69.16]] 21:00, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

Not under 50%, but I'm shocked that "The Secret Life of Walter Smitty" has only 51%... National Treasure has only 46%... I like this game, it is a test in optimism.
:"The Secret Life of Walter '''Mitty'''" deserves a low rating, particularly when compared to the original with Danny Kaye. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.73|162.158.107.73]] 05:31, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Frankly it would be easier to list the movies I like that aren't below 50% on rotten tomatoes. [[User:CJB42|CJB42]] ([[User talk:CJB42|talk]]) 00:23, 3 August 2019 (UTC)s

My experience with rotten tomatoes ratings in particular is that they have no clue and I find their ratings useless. The challenge from Randall in this comic is a case in point: the first movie I though to check, “Another Gay Movie” gets a 40% on the tomatometer yet is one of my favorites. Same thing with all the “Eating Out” movies: good comedies that I enjoy, yet Tomatometer scores of 16%, 44%, and 17% for the first three. (And why is “Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds” so much higher ranked than 1 or 3? It’s not that different...)
I think the criteria that Randal assumes (but doesn’t mention) is that the movie has to be a box office hit that appeals to mainstream audiences.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.73|162.158.107.73]] 03:55, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

I don't see why Suicide Squad got trashed. It was light, colourful, had an engaging story, and well made. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.253.209|172.68.253.209]] 04:04, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Sucker Punch. There, I said it. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.77|141.101.99.77]] 07:36, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:I definitely came to this discussion thinking of this movie. It's properly interesting, but it's also easy to see why critics and half the audience hate it. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.64|162.158.34.64]] 10:03, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

There's a certain type of movie that 'h8ers' will auto-trash before they even come out (especially "Gender-switched version of a classic", like that ''Ghostbusters'', and "Strong female type", like ''Wonder Woman'' - as easy examples of those that some people love to hate, regardless of actual merit). So I recon there'd be good mileage in keeping an eye on (for example) the double-whammy that is the upcoming Female Thor movie. If it doesn't ''actually'' turn out to be so bad that you personally don't like it, I predict that it'll be pre-release troll-sniped down below 50% in "popular" opinion and even if they're not at all right about their guess there'll be a window of opportunity before any counter-viewpoint from actual viewers ups the score again. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.66|141.101.107.66]] 10:21, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:No one hated Wonder Woman. It has 93%, and is arguably the best live action superhero movie that DC has released so far. Ghostbusters was a money grabbing remake that brought nothing new. It COULD have been great with almost no effort, by getting someone to write an original script that built on the things that came before that everyone loves, instead of trying to replace it with an inferior version. The only one to blame is the Hollywood studios that would rather throw money at something that already exists instead of taking a risk on an unknown. Then they add insult to injury and tell everyone that the reason they failed isn't because they made bad decisions, but because ''people don't like seeing women in leading roles'', which is not true in any form. No real people care if the lead is male or female. They care about a good story, good acting, and having a good time watching a movie they paid their money for. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 17:09, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

What the heck are all these Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller movies doing at sub-50%? I didn't know people supposedly hated Night at the Museum that much. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.67|172.68.189.67]] 17:13, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Thanks to the link I found two: Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I don't consider them like super-good, but I like them. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:09, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

Thanks to the link I found four: Hancock, Knowing, The Lovely Bones, The Book of Eli.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.150.28|162.158.150.28]] 11:06, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

Immediately: Venom (29%) I like to pretend I like it for the "so bad it's good", but here in anonymous interwebzland, I can admit I just enjoyed it (despite expecting to hate it for the retcon). Does it matter that the RT audience score is 81%? I often find that my enjoyment of a movie is inversely proportional to how much critics didn't, and it seems I'm not alone.[[User:Daemonik|Daemonik]] ([[User talk:Daemonik|talk]]) 09:43, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

I think the point here is that people feel more comfortable disliking something than liking it. It isn't that we don't all have movies that we like that other people hated, it's that many of us are afraid to say it. Also, t's not a movie, but I honestly enjoyed that one episode of ''Stranger Things''. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 04:20, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

I admit a weakness for the Roland Emmerich movies ("The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012"). OK the science behind the events is pretty rubbish, but they are decent action movies nonetheless with a few enjoyable twists (like the USA having to beg Mexico to let them emigrate south in TDAT).

I'm shocked no one else has mentioned Jupiter Ascending yet; there was a decent amount of silliness in that movie, but I genuinely found it super compelling, and it deserves better than a 27%. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.90|172.68.65.90]] 16:13, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

300 got very mediocre reviews (52% on Metacritic), but I'ts absolutely one of my all-time favourite action movies. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.46|172.69.55.46]] 16:04, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

Geostorm. Didn't even need the link for that. [[User:Conster|Conster]] ([[User talk:Conster|talk]]) 21:57, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

Like another user said, Roland Emmerich movies like TDAT and 2012 are ones I'll always be a sucker for. Also, The Book of Eli (2010) is actually a great movie IMO despite having a 48% on RT. I always put that as a classic. Meet the Fockers (2004) is funny, too.

Side note: Armageddon is a pre-2000 movie (1998), but I think most would agree that it's a classic apocalyptic movie.

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.33|162.158.74.33]] 14:48, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

Also, a reminder that the original Purge movie has a 39% on RT. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.33|162.158.74.33]] 15:00, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

How, by all that is holy, does The Human Centipede get a 49% Tomatometer rating? Give me a win for Mr Popper's Penguins, though. [[User:Observer of the Absurd|Observer of the Absurd]] ([[User talk:Observer of the Absurd|talk]]) 18:48, 14 August 2019 (UTC)
== Post-2000? ==

Anyone have an idea why "post-2000" is a criteria? [[User:Stevage|Stevage]] ([[User talk:Stevage|talk]]) 23:58, 2 August 2019 (UTC)
:Maybe because Rotten Tomatoes was launched close to the end of the 1990s, so post-2000 movies are the only ones that have been reviewed as they came out? Or perhaps it's to limit the scope of "movies that came out in your adult life", since adult life could go back a long way for some people. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 01:16, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:I don't know for certain, but I feel incredibly confident that it's the timing of Rotten Tomatoes, that older movies that came out before the site existed won't be thoroughly / properly covered. Like if you look closely you'll see the 40% rating on this movie comes from only 1 vote. I suspect Randall feels that as of 2000, there was enough activity on the site to provide sufficient coverage. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:40, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:Pre-2000 films, being prior to RT, have the 'benefit'  of studied hindsight. Anybody who bothers to review [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1003722_casino_royale the ''original'' Casino Royale], which would be my choice for this if I were allowed, just has far too much baggage to be thinking the same as with something just being appreciated in the context as a new-release. Including me, probably, across the many years since I first saw that film and fell in love with it, despite the obvious and total car-crash of its Development Hell! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.66|141.101.107.66]] 10:21, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:And there's a lot of selection bias in who reviews movies from pre-2000 as anyone who reviews a movie probably only went to that movies page and wrote a review, because they either really like the movie, or really really really hate it.[[User:Whereisspike|Whereisspike]] ([[User talk:Whereisspike|talk]]) 21:56, 4 August 2019 (UTC)
:It's stated in the explanation: it is so that most respondents would choose a movie that they have seen in their adult life and avoid the "childhood nostalgia" bias where you have fond memories of a movie watched as a kid but that you wouldn't enjoy watching as an adult.

I KNOW that there are many, many movies I can apply to this challenge - I often find myself enjoying unpopular movies. Plus, critics suck, they seem to always forget that this is ENTERTAINMENT. A clever movie that is dull as dirt and makes you fall asleep should NOT receive high praise, it fails at the primary function - but I can't think of them in the moment. About a week ago on Facebook I had a memory, a list of facts about Eurotrip, where the article called it a flop, while I loved it, so probably that one. This comic triggered my first ever visit to Rotten Tomatoes, who lists Eurotrip as I think 46%, but much higher for Audience score, so I THINK it counts? What bumps me is that it seems like "Audience Score" would be popular opinion, making Eurotrip actually a Popular movie, which seems like then it wouldn't apply here. ???? [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:40, 3 August 2019 (UTC)
:Got one! I love The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Rotten Tomatoes scores it a 17% Tomatometer, 44% Audience score. Dunno why, I found it so cool, so enjoyable! I often wish there was a sequel or even a series. :)[[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 07:24, 20 August 2019 (UTC)

Hypothesis: People generally give more positive then negative reviews, and positive reviews also cause more people to watch. The number of watching for something bad is therefor lower, while a good movie is watched so often there is always a critic.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.55.190|172.69.55.190]] 10:19, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

What the hell is wrong with people who don't like Ghost Rider or Daredevil? — [[User:Kazvorpal|Kazvorpal]] ([[User talk:Kazvorpal|talk]]) 19:03, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

My favorite bad movies Wild Wild West, The One, Returner, Equilibrium, The Warrior's Way [[User:Houligan|Houligan]] ([[User talk:Houligan|talk]]) 15:59, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

I liked 50 First Dates. But for my really controversial opinion, I'm gonna say not only was Armageddon a terrific movie, but it got enough of the science right to earn our suspension of disbelief :D
--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.245|172.68.142.245]] 21:59, 5 August 2019 (UTC)

Is [[653: So Bad It's Worse]] related enough to be mentioned in the explaination or trivia? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 12:16, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

I just came here to say, "Pandorum".

How to talk to girls at parties (2018) - [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.113|172.68.46.113]] 20:49, 7 August 2019 (UTC)

Guilty Pleasure: ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'' - [[User:Acrisius|Acrisius]] ([[User talk:Acrisius|talk]]) 06:54, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

Think of a video-game based movie you actually like. It probably fits this. 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and 2005's Doom have 47% and 34% audience rating, respectively, and I loved both of those (despite the fact that they had basically nothing to do with the games). A few game-based movies have over 50% audience rating, but even then, only 2-3 ever got above 50% with the critics. Heck, even the Pokemon movies got horrible critic ratings (the second movie came out in 2000, so you'd have to start with the third to adhere to that 'post-2000' rule)...

==My big, late comment==

So my three are
:''50 First Dates'' (I'm a sucker for hopeless romantic-type stuff and the gross out comedy didn't go too far to cancel it out),
:''Bruce Almighty'', because Morgan Freeman killed it as God, and
:''Book of Eli'', because that twist is awesome on the successive watch, and even on the first if you figure it out early

However, I take issue with a STRICT limitation of "post-2000", and I would just say if you're going to choose one pre-2000, it has to be a personal favorite, like personal top-50 or so movie, and for me, those would be
:''Hook'', because Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman did their duty to the script and deserve at least 50% on the tomato meter, no matter what balls the other characters or plot dropped,
:''Robin Hood: Men in Tights'', because the cast, characters, gags, and anachronisms are essentially timeless; from Broomhilda breaking the concrete when the horse dodged her; to Blinkin... idunno, everything Blinkin; to Achoo's added attitude and flavor; and all the character's breaking of the fourth wall... goodness... the critics missed this one
:''Boondock Saints'' - not for everyone, but dang, it's just a really interesting and slightly morbid romp of a story about vigilantes rising up against organized crime, mixing humor in with seriousness in just the right amounts and just about perfect pacing

Ok, so I also think there are a few that really don't deserve the low rating they got, even if they weren't the best or my "favorites" - my rubric for adding them here was if I thought they deserved at least 30% more on the tomato meter. If they're just a teeny bit low (like 10%) then that's too close to personal taste for me to add as an argument, so...
:I Think ''Crimes of Grindelwald'' should have gotten more like a 70%, mostly for the world building they continued from the first movie
:I really liked ''Jumper'' (just not QUITE enough to stick my neck out for the real list above) - really great concept that wasn't ruined by sub-par acting, even if it wasn't exactly enhanced - should have been more like 50%
:''The Day The Earth Stood Still'' - again, not the best movie in existence, but got a bad rap - just above 50% seems more appropriate to me
:''After Earth'' - far from either of the Smith's best works, but more deserving than 11% for the world and effects
:''Planes'' - maybe the sequel was too much, and of course it's largely a cash grab and targeted at kids, but it was a decent story and the characters were executed well above a 25% rating - I'd say it should even be just barely fresh, so 60%
:''Chappie'' - I think it was just really interesting, despite the stretches technologically speaking, giving a window (sort of) into a culture not well represented in the U.S. - basically I think it should be just barely fresh as well

And finally what I'm really glad nobody spoke up about are a few of my pet peeves - movies that deserved a low score and got it, but every once in a while I hear people saying they enjoyed it. I'm just glad nobody prior to this seems to have mentioned: Semi Pro and any of the Transformers travesties. I just wanted to take a moment and thank you all for that. -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 20:28, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.83|108.162.246.83]] 02:43, 9 October 2019 (UTC)
So personally, I'm trying to figure out if I can even make a list of all qualifying movies. Would make the game easier if we could have that, but I can't even figure out how to search Rotten Tomatoes for movies beyond what's currently out in theatres. Any advice or relevant links, anyone?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.83|108.162.246.83]] 02:43, 9 October 2019 (UTC)

I loved the 2001 version of Planet of the Apes. Both the First In, Last Out and the "ape D.C." ending were atypical and unexpected. I think the reason that people hated this movie was for the same reason that they hated "The murder of Roger Ackroyd" by Agatha Christie. But both this movie and that novel were amazing because they "broke the rules." [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.89|108.162.212.89]] 20:35, 17 October 2019 (UTC)

From looking at the [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/browse/dvd-streaming-all?minTomato=0&maxTomato=49&services=amazon;hbo_go;itunes;netflix_iw;vudu;amazon_prime;fandango_now&genres=1;2;4;5;6;8;9;10;11;13;18;14&sortBy=release%7CRotten link] in the explanation, I can name Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and the entire Divergent trilogy as examples. Eagerly awaiting sequels to all of them. (And yes, a little bitter that Ascendant got canceled, though I've long since accepted that. Allegiant could have had a worse ending.) [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 04:10, 5 November 2019 (UTC)

1919: Interstellar Asteroid

2017-11-23T02:14:28Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Fixed "incomplete" tag

{{comic
| number = 1919
| date = November 22, 2017
| title = Interstellar Asteroid
| image = interstellar_asteroid.png
| titletext = Every time we detect an asteroid from outside the Solar System, we should immediately launch a mission to fling one of our asteroids back in the direction it came from.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Please change this when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|ʻOumuamua}} is the first detection of an [https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense/faq/interstellar interstellar asteroid] passing through the Solar System originating from another solar system.

[[Megan]]'s list of objects with a similar shape ratio:
* 1:4:9 {{w|Monolith (Space Odyssey)|monolith}} from the sci-fi movie ''{{w|2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)|2001: A Space Odyssey}}''
* {{w|Star Destroyer}}, a spaceship in the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe
* Huge eggplant emoji (<span class="emoji-inner" style="background: url(chrome-extension://immhpnclomdloikkpcefncmfgjbkojmh/emoji-data/sheet_apple_32.png);background-position:14.042303172737954% 30.0235017626322%;background-size:5418.75% 5418.75%" data-codepoints="1f346">, U+1F346 Aubergine, commonly used to represent a penis).
* Statue of {{w|"Weird Al" Yankovic}}, an American singer and parodist
* iPhone XXXXX, likely making fun of Apple's {{w|iPhone X}} and larger in size
* [http://voltron.wikia.com/wiki/Voltron_(Voltron_Force) Voltron], a giant robot from the animated series ''{{w|Voltron|Voltron: Defender of the Universe}}''
* A giant {{tvtropes|BurialInSpace|space coffin}} with someone inside.

As soon as Megan lists off the last item, she is about to start speculating within her own speculative scenario, before being interrupted by Cueball. Cueball attempts to bring Megan back down-to-earth by reminding her that she has too little data to work with, but Megan is far too excitable to listen to reason. The dangers of speculating irresponsibly, it would seem.
It could also be argued that Megan with this makes fun of many news outlets who speculated about the looks of the object from the first second on. Making fun on media covering science news is a reoccuring theme on xkcd.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan walks towards Cueball while looking at her phone. Cueball sits in front of his laptop.]
:Megan: Hey, you know that asteroid that tumbled past from another star system? It's apparently really long and skinny.
:Megan: Like a ratio of 6:1 or 10:1.
:Cueball: Weird. Wonder what it's shaped like.

:Megan: Without more data, it would be irresponsible to speculate further.
:Cueball: So...you're going to?
:Megan: ''Absolutely.''

:Megan: Here are some objects with a similar shape ratio:
:Megan: The 1:4:9 monolith from ''2001: A Space Odyssey''.
:Megan: A star destroyer.
:Megan: A huge eggplant emoji.

:Megan: A statue of Weird Al. An iPhone XXXXX. Voltron.
:Megan: A giant space coffin. But who could be inside? We can only guess. I'll start:
:Cueball: This is all based on ''how'' many data points, again?
:Megan: One. But it's a ''perfect'' fit!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Talk:1897: Self Driving

2017-10-04T02:27:39Z

NealCruco:

I think this is more a reference to various projects (like the ReCAPTCHA that protects this site) that use CAPTCHAs to digitise text and so on, by involuntarily crowdsourcing the typing out of the text by users trying to complete a login, rather than specifically about bots trying to circumvent anti-bot protection. It also brings to mind things like the Zooniverse projects, where volunteers contribute to the classification of astronomical bodies, identification of animals in game reserves, and so on, in that a computer is able to make a rough guess as to what the image is, but it takes a human intervention to make a reliable (and therefore useful) identification. Similarly, Google's (now discontinued) Picasa software had a 'People' function where it would attempt to guess who the people in your photos were - yet it would make so many false identifications, and make you go through saying 'Yes/No' to each of them, that it often felt as though you might just as well have classified them all yourself in the first place.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.32|162.158.155.32]] 10:33, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

The comic clearly references techniques like reCAPTCHA that trick (1) unsuspecting people into doing the real work for free while they think they are solving a captcha, and (2) users of the final product who think it was created by an AI (or at least an OCR) when it was done "by hand". The comic is neither about teaching AIs, nor voluntary collaborative projects.
Zetfr 11:42, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

:I think the comic is about the borderlands between knowingly volunteering your time and unknowlingly supplying an AI with valuable information. When reading the caption my first thought was Google Translate, where the gamification / voluntary work is based on the texts submitted by a lot of unsuspecting users. When voluntarily contributing to the AI, I've been presented with some poor bloke's chat log, and another person's travel plans. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.100|162.158.134.100]] 12:11, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

From what I have read, some image recognition AI projects use human input to refine their algorithms. Many AI algorithms also give probabilities of the correctness of the results. So in the domain of image recognition for self-driving cars it is conceivable that the computer would request human input to verify the interpretation of the scene. The comic is considering this possibility in a context that pokes fun at the field of AI in a rather scary real-world situation. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 13:31, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

"From the creators of "Twitch Plays Pokemon" comes an all new reality series that'll blow you away! "Twitch Taxi!" Coming this Fall!" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.153|162.158.62.153]] 13:38, 2 October 2017 (UTC)
:Twitch-driven car would crash in SECONDS. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 03:52, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
::We need Twitch Plays Mario Kart. Right now. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 02:27, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

It seems to me the person viewing the image and registering some product is not an occupent of the "self driving" car being referred to in the comic. Rather, the self driving car (possibly containing passengers) is dependent on some random stranger on the Internet responding (correctly) to the question about the stop sign. Maybe this is obvious but when I first glanced at the comic, my interpretation was the occupants of the vehicle were being asked for the information. But after thinking about it a bit, I believe that any passengers in the car are blissfully unaware of their situation, likely assuming the car doesn't depend on input from someone in the next 5 seconds or so. Not really sure how to word all this in the explanation. But it seems like a business model Black Hat would employ. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.23|172.68.58.23]] 19:54, 2 October 2017 (UTC)Pat

This is a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard_of_Oz_experiment whereas actual self-driving cars, to the extent that they can use Recapcha-like human detection systems, would produce an asynchronous decision system. Other synchronous decision systems which actually exist are political voting and money as a token of the exchange value of trade. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 14:48, 3 October 2017 (UTC)
:I added a paragraph based on that comment to the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 18:09, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

1121: Identity

2017-02-21T21:44:47Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ All dialogue is via text. That's a characteristic of all comics. Not sure why this was mentioned.

{{comic
| number = 1121
| date = October 15, 2012
| title = Identity
| image = identity.png
| titletext = Not sure why I just taught everyone to flawlessly impersonate me to pretty much anyone I know. Just remember to constantly bring up how cool it is that birds are dinosaurs and you'll be set.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] lost the server password and is asking [[Megan]] what it is. Megan correctly comments that she can't be sure through text-based messages that it's really Cueball asking for the password; it could be someone impersonating him attempting to {{w|Social engineering (security)|socially engineer}} access to the server. Cueball answers by starting to develop a cryptographic protocol they can use for proof of identity, probably something like {{w|Off-the-Record Messaging|OTR Messaging}} as implemented in many {{w|XMPP}} chat clients or {{w|Fiat-shamir protocol|Feige–Fiat–Shamir identification scheme}}. In reality, it would already be too late for that — they should have prepared something beforehand. Before he even finishes, Megan answers "It's you", meaning that no one else is so geeky that they would answer like that. Cueball, dismayed at the fact that his geekery has become a defining characteristic of his and also at a lost opportunity to devise his protocol, shouts "No!".

In the title text, [[Randall]] suggests that this is, in fact, his own personality, and that anyone reading the comic can now impersonate him. For a bonus, he notes his own fascination with the fact that [[1211: Birds and Dinosaurs|birds are just modern dinosaurs]], which one could use to impersonate him as well.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Hey, I lost the server password. What is it, again?

:Megan: It's— ...Wait. How do I know it's really you?

:Cueball: Ooh, good question! I bet we can construct a cool proof-of-identity protocol. I'll start by picking two random—
:Megan: Oh good; it's you. Here's the password...
:Cueball: ''NO!''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Psychology]]
[[Category:Internet]]

931: Lanes

2016-04-04T03:53:57Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Fixed explanation to match transcript.

{{comic
| number = 931
| date = July 29, 2011
| title = Lanes
| image = lanes.png
| titletext = Each quarter of the lanes from left to right correspond loosely to breast cancer stages one through four (at diagnosis).
}}

==Explanation==
[[xkcd]] [[tagline|is a]] webcomic of [[:Category:Romance|romance]], [[:Category:Sarcasm|sarcasm]], [[:Category:Math|math]], and [[:Category:Language|language]]; humor isn't necessarily guaranteed. This comic is an example of that, it being severely depressing.

The comic is built around a dialogue between two people (we'll say Cueball is the one talking, and the other is his friend) about cancer, presumably cancer that [[Megan]] has been diagnosed with. The conversation itself is about as straightforward as a conversation can be. It details the maturation of [[Cueball]]'s and [[Megan]]'s understanding of cancer diagnoses, knowledge which we can presume he has gained, reluctantly, by watching a loved one suffer.

This whole [[:Category:Cancer|cancer series]] was sparked because [[Randall]]'s then-fiancee, now wife, is currently in Megan's position, and we, the readers, are now the beneficiaries of this new understanding of cancer diagnoses without having to watch somebody close to us suffer.

The comic's title, Lanes, comes from the two panels which illustrate both ends of the spectrum of Cueball's mental representation of how cancer treatment proceeds. In that there are many possible outcomes for cancer treatment, the image of a multi-lane freeway seems an apt metaphor to represent this understanding visually.

In the first freeway diagram, there are several paths, but the system is very simple, and easy to take in. Only a few lanes lead off into the oblivion which surrounds the freeway, a single off-ramp circles back from the path to survival to treatment, and survival is a visible endpoint.

In the second freeway diagram, however, things are much, much more complex, and much more bleak. Even six years out, survival isn't visible, and many lanes end in oblivion, sometimes not veering off for years after treatment. The title text informs us that this is meant to be loosely representative of breast cancer stages one through four, proceeding by quarters from left to right. It's a grim outlook, hence the friend's understated but completely fitting reaction to this plethora of new knowledge.

Specific numbers:
:There are 52 lanes, so 13 lanes per cancer stage.
:*Stage one has a 1:13 =~8% chance of recurrence leading to death within 6 years.
:*Stage 2 has a 5:13=~38% chance.
:*Stage 3 has a 7:13=~54% chance.
:*Stage 4 has an 11:13=~85% chance of death within 6 years.

Given Randall's concern, these numbers are probably pretty accurate. Go get a mammogram.

Fuck cancer.

==Transcript==
:[The panels are arranged top to bottom. The first is set above a larger image.]
:Friend: So, are you guys out of the woods?
:Cueball: We don't know.
:Friend: Well, did the treatment work?
:Cueball: We don't know.

:[Cueball's next few lines are set by themselves in their own panels, arranged around a larger image.]
:Cueball: I always assumed that when you got cancer, they gave you a prognosis, then treated you, and at the end of treatment either you beat it or you died.

:[The diagram shows a simple highway. Starting at the bottom, with diagnosis for five lanes, the road travels through a cloud of treatment, after which two lanes disappear, and three continue. Later on, there's another off-ramp labeled 'cancer "comes back"', which loops back into the treatment cloud. Otherwise, the highway enters a later cloud called survive.]

:Cueball: And I knew sometimes it "recurred," which I assumed meant back to square one.
:Cueball: But that's turned out not to be quite right.

:[Back to Cueball and his friend.]
:Cueball: Once most cancers spread out into your body, they're incurable.
:Cueball: If your 10-year prognosis is 60%, that means a 40% chance that some cancer will slip past the treatment and get out.

:[The frame zooms in to show just Cueball.]
:Cueball: So they kill all the cancer they can find, and then you're a "survivor." But your odds are still 60%.

:[The panel zooms in further, now showing only Cueball's top half.]
:Cueball: They can't scan for individual cancer cells. The only way to know if it worked is to wait for tumors to pop up elsewhere.
:Cueball: If you go enough years without that happening then you were in the 60%.

:[The frame shows both people again.]
:Cueball: And often the first sign is a cough or bone pain.
:Cueball: So you spend the next five or ten years trying not to worry that every ache and pain is the answer to the question "Do I make it?"

:[There's an extra large panel, with a small one floating inside it.]
:[The panel shows fifty-two lanes emerging from the cloud of 'Treatment'. Signs show 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, 6 years. Lanes branch off and fade into darkness earlier on the right, with some lanes continuing off the top of the panel.]

:[Inset panel.]
:Friend: Man.
:Friend: Fuck cancer.
:Cueball: ''Seriously.''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Cancer]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Psychology]]

1626: Judgment Day

2016-01-08T02:05:51Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Can we please stay as neutral as possible here? Refer to WP:NPOV on Wikipedia.

{{comic
| number = 1626
| date = January 6, 2016
| title = Judgment Day
| image = judgment_day.png
| titletext = It took a lot of booster rockets, but luckily Amazon had recently built thousands of them to bring Amazon Prime same-day delivery to the Moon colony.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Terminator_(franchise)#Judgment_Day|Judgement Day}}, from the film ''{{w|Terminator 2: Judgment Day}}'', refers to the day that the {{w|artificial intelligence}} (AI) {{w|Skynet (Terminator)|Skynet}} becomes self-aware and starts a nuclear strike on the United States, Russia, and other regions, killing three billion people. This story has spawned lots of copycats; most stories with this plot have the AI be evil and promptly nuke humanity. This strip could also be an alternate ending for many movies (including the 1970 film Colossus: The Forbin Project).

In this strip, the AI believes that {{w|nuclear weapons}} are not good things to have, and that the amount of them we have now is extreme overkill (17000 held by the U.S.A and Russia alone). Once it's done freaking out, its solution is to shoot the world's nuclear arsenal into the sun. But before it does so it asks the humans: ''What's wrong with you?'' It has thus passed a judgment over humanity. The comic title is thus a pun on the word "{{w|judgment}}" since the computer is being {{w|judgmental}} with humanity and scolding us while correcting our ways, instead of instigating {{w|Last Judgment|Judgment Day}} or any other kind of {{w|Armageddon}}.

As pointed out in the [[what if?]] [http://what-if.xkcd.com/5/ Robot Apocalypse], nuclear weapons aren't any safer for computers than for human beings (the {{w|Nuclear electromagnetic pulse|EMP}} would destroy circuits), so an AI would want them gone as quickly as possible.

{{w|North Korea}} claimed to have [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35240012 successfully tested] its first {{w|hydrogen bomb}} in the evening on the day before this comic was published; at about 8:30 PM in {{w|Massachusetts}} where [[Randall]] lives. (At that time it was already 10:00 AM on the day of the comics release in {{w|Pyongyang}} the capital of North Korea, but that was still several hours before this comic were released). This comic could thus be Randall's response to the ongoing {{w|nuclear arms race}}.

Even the most powerful of nuclear weapon launchers, {{w|intercontinental ballistic missile}}s, are not designed to make anything other than {{w|sub-orbital}} flights and could not fly to the Sun (which is actually surprisingly difficult, even with the soon-to-be-mentioned extra boosters, since the rocket would have enough {{w|delta-v}} to bleed off the {{w|orbital speed}} of the Earth around the Sun -- it is likely that the sentient AI is using the same strategy of the Solar Probe Plus and planning several flybys of Venus to do that work). The title text rationalizes that the capability to do so may perhaps be granted by the use of an {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}} resource that might have also been developed by the time of this instance of computer sentience, aided (if not initiated!) by the fact that Amazon's whole business infrastructure is already highly computerized and could ''at the very least'' be complicit with the process of delivering and then controlling the rocket-power, without any conscious human intervention. As there is already an extended colony on the Moon, it will for sure take many years before we reach this future scenario.

"A lot of booster rockets" is likely to be a reference to the spaceflight simulator game {{w|Kerbal Space Program}}, which Randall has [[1106|referenced]] on a [[1244|number]] of [[1356|occasions]]. In the culture of that game, any launch failure can be resolved by [https://imgur.com/20aIBMW "adding more boosters"] to the spaceship design.

It is the second time in a few months that the speed of Amazon's deliveries has been the subject of a joke, the last time was [[1599: Water Delivery]], where it was the one hour delivery that was the subject of the joke. It is also the second title text in a row (after [[1625: Substitutions 2]]) where Amazon has been mentioned.

This particular 'machine take-over' future is in distinct contrast to the possible future directions given in [[1613: The Three Laws of Robotics]], but this comic likely depicts spontaneous ''self-''sentience, not a system with deliberately imposed human 'values' and possibly no actual conscience or even consciousness of its own. Other problems with hostile AI take over is presented when it fails completely in [[1046: Skynet]]. Also it is not all AI that wish to interact with us at all as shown in [[1450: AI-Box Experiment]]. These are just a few of the many [[:Category:Artificial Intelligence|comics about AI]] in {{xkcd}}.

==Transcript==
:[Several rockets can be seen heading away from Earth, while speak is coming from the Earth in three rectangular speech bubbles.]
:AI: Oh my god, why do you even ''have'' all these?
:AI: What's ''wrong'' with you?
:AI: We're launching them into the sun.

:[Caption below the comic:]
:The moment the computers controlling our nuclear arsenals became sentient
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Computers]]
[[Category:Space]]

1553: Public Key

2015-07-22T02:30:59Z

NealCruco: This explanation looks quite complete.

{{comic
| number = 1553
| date = July 20, 2015
| title = Public Key
| image = public_key.png
| titletext = I guess I should be signing stuff, but I've never been sure what to sign. Maybe if I post my private key, I can crowdsource my decisions about what to sign.
}}

==Explanation==

In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography Public-key cryptography], two keys are generated for a user. The public key can be used to encrypt messages, but not decrypt them. The private key is necessary for decryption, and as its name implies, is meant to be used solely by the user.

Since the public key is initially designated to be shared, anyone who has that key can send the user an encrypted message that only he or she can decrypt. Cueball has been following this rule, but he notices that it appears nobody has ever used his public key for anything. He contemplates sharing his ''private'' key, which he believes would generate more interest in him personally. However, he appears to overlook the fact that doing so would allow anyone to decrypt messages sent to him, thus defeating the entire purpose of encryption.

If Cueball had initially released his private key instead of his public one, it would make no difference, since the importance is in keeping one key private - the keys themselves do not hold "private" or "public" roles until one is released and becomes the public key. However, since Cueball has already released his public key, releasing his private key would compromise the key pair. Even if he attempted to remove records of his public key, chances are that some sites would still have it somewhere.

The title text refers to another feature of Public-key cryptography: In addition to assuring that certain messages can only be read by a specific key owner, it can also assure that certain messages could only have been ''written'' by a specific key owner, by "signing" it using the private key. Anyone can read a signed message, but readers with the public key can then verify that the owner of the private key wrote (or at least signed) the message, rather than someone pretending to be the owner. If Cueball published his private key, then anybody could sign any message as him, effectively impersonating him and also defeating the purpose of encryption.

{{w|Crowdsourcing}} is the term used for delegating work or tasks to a largely volunteered and uncontrolled set of people on the Internet. It is similar in concept to {{w|outsourcing}}, in which work is delegated to an external source of labor, typically a company in a foreign country. Famous instances of crowdsourcing include {{w|reCAPTCHA}} (in which users both verify they are human and help digitize words and phrases in books that digitization software cannot understand) and [http://www.ideaconnection.com/open-innovation-success/Crowdsourcing-Down-on-the-Farm-00304.html a farm in the UK] in which ordinary Internet users make decisions about how the farm is run. In Cueball's case, delegating decisions about his contracts and spending to the Internet is not likely to be a wise choice.

When Cueball first created the key pair, he imagined it would be something he used from time to time, for reading messages only intended for him or for sending "signed" messages. Since nothing of the sort happened, he imagines releasing both keys might cause some activity, and at this point he is happier with a "bad" outcome than with a boring one.

Randall previously ironically mentioned a public key in [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/370 370: Redwall].

==Transcript==
[In the first panel, Cueball is sitting in a chair and is using a laptop.]

Cueball: I've been posting my public key for 15 years now, but no one has ever asked me for it or used it for anything as far as I can tell.

[Two panels with Cueball thinking silently.]

Cueball: Maybe I should try posting my ''private'' key instead.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

Talk:1548: 90s Kid

2015-07-09T03:37:33Z

NealCruco:

Usual gripes that the median does not have to mean typical
13:49, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

(Above comment not properly signed..? It's not me, anyway.) I authored the first go at an explanation. Looks too wordy. But probably could do with other links to the various other "time flies, doesn't it?" cartoons, if anything ought to be added.

Not sure about my comments about LOL. I didn't really encounter it in force until >2000, before which I never really experienced Web 2.0. "ROFL" or various smilies having been the more standard on areas of Usenet that I frequented in the decade before that where web pages were rarely quite so chatty and 'social' IME.

(My own childhood was in the '70s in the UK. For some reason I'm actually fairly aware of Rugrats, but Doug is just something 'I know about'. There must be a child of the '90s, or late '80s, who can better describe the shows.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 14:07, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

Median may not be typical, but it *does* mean right at the 50% mark, which means that a significant portion of the top half of the bell curve is going to be 90s kids, with the proportion continuing to increase throughout the decade as more years from the 90s come of age. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.169|173.245.56.169]] 14:09, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

"Typical" doesn't have quite as strict a meaning as "median" ... but yeah, assuming the median date of birth of a new mother is 1 January 1990, then half of all new mothers are pre-90's kids. Taking into account mothers born in the 2000s, this would mean that the majority of new mothers are NOT 90's kids. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 14:13, 8 July 2015 (UTC)
:There would be only a few mothers that were born in the 2000s right now. If one was born on January 1st, 2000, then he/she would have gotten pregnant during freshman year, which would be very rare (keep in mind that not even 3% of females in the US get pregnant during their teenage years, and, of those, about 75% were 18 or 19. Anyone born after 2000 would be so young that I couldn't even find any teenage pregnancy website that covered their age.[[User:Mulan15262|Mulan15262]] ([[User talk:Mulan15262|talk]]) 03:16, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

I teach British teenagers, and they scoff at people who "still use facebook". These "time passes" comics are getting a little tedious for my tastes. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 14:13, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

:What the hell are you supposed to use? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.32|108.162.215.32]] 14:52, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

::Twitter and/or IRC. Although if I ever choose to post something lengthy, I go with either pastebin or (and yes people will laugh at this) my ancient LiveJournal. [[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 15:09, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

:::Snapchat, usually. "Charlotte, stop using Snapchat." "How did you know I was using Snapchat?" "You're ALWAYS using Snapchat." [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 16:10, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

:::IRC? Wow. That's pretty much almost as retro as email. (I suppose, like email, it's now all graphical with some equivalent to full HTML formatting including attached MIME encoded image contents.) It's been two decades since I last used IRC, so I've probably missed various 'improvements' to it. I hope the 'cool kids' know its noble history and aren't just under the impression that it's as some form of modern Mass Instant Messaging machine. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 22:27, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

::::I use IRC on occasion, and as far as I can tell, it's still just plain text. Here's what ChatZilla, an IRC client for Firefox, looks like. [http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj637/backagain2012/irc_zpsu2lzdlvf.png] [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 03:37, 9 July 2015 (UTC)

BTW, Cosmogoblin, you're probably right to change my original "'90s" to "90's" based on the comic style, but I thoroughly disagree with the format Randall chooses. Stylebooks be damned (or at least those that say it can/''should'' be done this way), but as a contraction of the plural of "1990" it really ought to have an apostrophe (if anywhere) for the characters lost in the contraction and ''no'' apostrophe for the pluralisation. (In fact, in the comic, it should actually be "90s' kid", best to omit the first apostrophe and put the second where it ''actually'' belongs in this possessive context.) Rant over. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 15:02, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

:I absolutely agree! If the comic didn't have the 90's format I'd have preferred 90s (or even 1990s). Thank you your polite comment. I noticed that the actual comic title is "90s Kid", no apostrophe! [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 16:10, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

:Oy, I had to get a word or two in here on this. While I agree with the logic behind the recommended placement (or absense) of the apostrophe, I think there's a place for them anywhere. Like the comma, I think the apostrophe can be placed where it can reduce confusion or the like. In this case, to split a number from a letter. If that's not done then I want to pronounce it as ninety-ess, as if it were a code (such as s70b45t).

:I disagree on the possessiveness. Would "New York kid" be similar? It would not be "New York's kid".... Location or location in time don't get possessive. Think of it as if it was 1994 kid, a single year. Yep, now you understand. (That's all the example and thought I have on it, so, if you have a winning example, let's hear it.) [[User:Azule|Azule]] ([[User talk:Azule|talk]]) 17:58, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

::Years refer to a specific period in history. So do geological ages, and the same linguistics should apply.
::For example, "The dinosaurs roamed the Earth during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods." Here, "periods" has no apostrophe.
::Similarly, "The years 1990, 1991, ... and 1999 comprise the 1990s, often shortened to the '90s".
::Still, I think it's appropriate to use the comic's version in this article. Just as I try to pronounce and spell people's names as they say, not as I think they should be pronounced and spelled. I'm still annoyed by the CIA Factbook's insistence on spelling the English and Australian Labour Parties as "Labor", because it's factually wrong - even if they disagree with spelling it "Labour"! [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 20:32, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

::Ok, I wouldn't say "kid of New York" (normally), but I would say "kid of the '90s". But I accept a "'90s kid" could be sententially the same as "a blonde kid".
::(I'm not willing to be quite so charitable about the idea of the apostrophe reducing confusion, in this case. It's the same style as "1000's of DVD's as little as for low prices! Save $$$$'s!" (or "££££'s", but for this example I'll aim at everyone from Antuiga to Zimbabwe, including the 321 million US residents, rather than the rather more limited populations including the 65 million United Kingdom... and it's a horrible 'headline shortcut', anyway, regardless of symbol). It makes no more sense than the perfectly understandable "1000s of DVDs for low prices! Save $$$$s!" so the use of an apostrophe in a style incompatable with rules that apply to ''standard'' words is... an affectation at best.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 22:27, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

:"Use the letter s but '''not an apostrophe after the figures''' when expressing decades or centuries. Do, however, use an '''apostrophe before figures''' expressing a decade if numerals are left out." Figures = digits. So, 1990s, the '90s. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/02/ [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 23:25, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

;Median mother at 25 today
I did edit the explain because we have some simple math Randall was thinking of: The median mother at 25 was born in 1990, she knowns those cartoons from the 90s. But median means that there are today mothers born later and earlier. Mothers at age of 35 today are common but a women born in 1999 is 15 or 16 today and does not have kids - ok, a few have but that's not common. So that young kids today have parents at an age were the parents were kids in the 1990's. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:02, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

:As long as we're not accidentally counting "mothers at 35" rather than "''first time'' mothers at 35". The latter would be less common than the former. It'd be more akin to a bell curve with upper and lower 'tails' than a cumulative distribution S-curve where eventually everyone (who ''will'' ever be a statistic) is represented at the upper-end of the time scale.
:Probably 25plus10 years first-time-mothers are more common than 25minus10 years first-time-mothers, but that's a potential assymetry of the 'tails', and still the two middle quartiles could be unarguably relevent. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.252|141.101.98.252]] 22:27, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

1526: Placebo Blocker

2015-05-19T01:14:29Z

NealCruco: Fixed date to match other comic articles.

{{comic
| number = 1526
| date = May 18, 2015
| title = Placebo Blocker
| image = placebo blocker.png
| titletext = They work even better if you take them with our experimental placebo booster, which I keep in the same bottle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Could be improved-Clumsy wording}}

The {{w|placebo}} effect refers to the phenomenon in which patients given an inactive treatment (such as a sugar pill) can still show improvement relative to an untreated patient, if they believe that they are receiving an effective treatment. The placebo effect is important to consider for experiments to test whether new drug treatments are effective, since even ineffective treatments can lead to improved outcomes. Thus, modern drug trials are conducted as {{w|Blind experiment#Double-blind trials|double blind}} experiments, where patients are randomly given either the treatment or a placebo without either them or the administering doctors knowing which is which.

Several reasons for the placebo effect have been proposed, from study artifacts such as under-reporting of negative outcomes by patients who think they are being treated, to neurological explanations for how mental state can translate into physical outcomes. This comic refers to a study published this month about possible mechanisms for the placebo effect:

: Kathryn T. Hall, Joseph Loscalzo, and Ted J. Kaptchuk. (2015) ''Genetics and the placebo effect: the placebome.'' Trends in Mol Medicine. Volume 21, Issue 5, May 2015, Pages 285–294 [https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/J.MOLMED.2015.02.009 doi:10.1016/j.molmed.2015.02.009]

[[Cueball]] announces the creation of a drug designed to prevent the placebo effect from occurring. The joke centers around the difficulty in designing an experiment which would test whether such a drug worked. Following the typical experimental design, patients experiencing the placebo effect (i.e. who had just taken a placebo and been told it was a treatment for some ailment) would be split into two groups. The first group would receive the blocker drug, while the second would receive a placebo. However, Cueball then trails off after realizing the problems with such a scheme, such as the fact that one group receives two different placebos, or that it is unclear how the patients could be told what the drug was designed for without negating the effect of the original placebo.

After [[Hair Bun Girl]] develops a headache from trying to think of a proper experimental design for the placebo blocker, Cueball offers her a sugar pill as a cure. While this might have helped the headache via the placebo effect had he told her it was a headache treatment, by revealing the pill as merely a sugar pill, it may suppress or reduce the effect [http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591 but still be effective.] He has thus revealed that his placebo blockers are almost certainly placebos themselves.

In title text, Cueball is talking about a placebo booster that he keeps in the same bottle with his placebos, suggesting that a placebo booster could simply be another placebo that patients are told will enhance the placebo effect. It's unclear whether it would be ''called'' a placebo booster in front of the patients, which would possibly have the effect of ''diminishing'' the effect of the first placebo.

Alternatively, the placebo booster may be effective. However since it's kept in the same bottle as the placebo [[Hair Bun Girl]] won't know if she got the placebo (sugar pill) or the real booster, which might then reactivate the placebo effect in her brain since she doesn't actually know which one she got. But if she got the booster but didn't get the placebo, what would the booster boost? She should probably take two, as the title text suggests. But then did she get two placebos, two boosters, or one of each? My head hurts...

Placebo-blockers do exist. A side-effect of the opiate antagonist {{w|Naloxone}} blocks the placebo effect. [http://healthland.time.com/2009/08/26/a-neurological-explanation-for-the-placebo-effect/]

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Some researchers* are starting to figure out the mechanism behind the placebo effect.
:Cueball: We've used their work to create a new drug: a ''placebo effect blocker.''
:Footnote: * Hall et al, DOI: [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/J.MOLMED.2015.02.009 10.1016/J.MOLMED.2015.02.009]
:Cueball: Now we just need to run a trial! We'll get two groups, give them both placebos, then give one the ''real'' placebo blocker, and the other a...
:Cueball: ...wait.
:[Hair Bun Girl holds her chin, while Cueball looks towards the ground.]
:Hair Bun Girl: ...my head hurts.
:Cueball: Mine too.
:[Cueball begins to take the lid off of a medicine bottle.]
:Cueball: Here, want a sugar pill?

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Science]]

878: Model Rail

2015-05-11T21:55:39Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ I don't know what this is supposed to mean, but it clearly doesn't belong in the article.

{{comic
| number = 878
| date = March 28, 2011
| title = Model Rail
| image = model rail.png
| titletext = I don't know what's more telling--the number of pages in the Wikipedia talk page argument over whether the 1/87.0857143 scale is called "HO" or "H0", or the fact that within minutes of first hearing of it I had developed an extremely strong opinion on the issue.
}}

==Explanation==
In model rail construction, {{w|HO scale}} refers to the currently most popular scale for modeling railroads, in which 3.5 millimeters in the model corresponds to 1 real-world Imperial foot. As the comic suggests, it works out to a ratio of about 1:87.1. In Europe, the scale is defined as exactly 1:87 instead, to avoid reference to non-metric measurements.

The (apparently less-experienced) modeller wants to make an HO model layout of his town. However, the more-experienced modeller points out that this is a bad idea, due to nesting. To make it a perfectly accurate model, the modeller would have to include a model of his house, which includes his basement, which includes the model. So, he would have to make a model of the model, which will include a smaller model of the model, and so forth.

{{w|Matryoshka doll|Matryoshka dolls}} are toys of Russian origin that can be stacked inside one another. Here, the "Matryoshka limit" is the hard barrier that follows as a result of the nesting. Matter is not infinitely divisible; once one gets the level of atoms, it is impossibly difficult to go any smaller. The unit shown in the last diagram is the {{w|Angstrom|ångström}}, a preposterously small unit of measurement that was created when humans started discovering preposterously small things, like crystal structures and wavelengths.

The rules of model train layouts reference the 1999 cult classic ''{{w|Fight Club}}'', where the first rule of Fight Club is "do not talk about Fight Club." However, while the club instituted the rule because their activities were morally and legally questionable, the rule in the comic was instituted by friends and family members who, apparently, were sick of hearing the train enthusiasts talk about model train layouts all the time.

The "Philistines" comment is not referring to citizens of ancient Palestine (at least not directly), but rather the philosophy of {{w|Philistinism}}. {{w|Friedrich Nietzsche}} defined a Philistine as someone who is purely negative in how they define style, i.e. they know exactly what they hate and don't really have anything they like. A common stereotype for artists is to refer to anyone who dislikes their work as "Philistines," thus dismissing their criticism as being part of a larger personality defect on the critic's part rather than any particular failing of the artwork in question.

The title text references {{w|HO scale}} and, more specifically, whether it should be spelled with the letter "O" or the number zero (0). Such debates often seem petty to the "layman", yet the people involved in the debates can form ''very'' strong feelings for their side. Randall recognizes "nerdy tendencies" almost immediately when he gets the urge to take a side. The comic [[1167: Star Trek into Darkness]] is about a similar debate on Wikipedia.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: I want to build a perfect HO-scale (~1/87) model train layout of my town.
:Friend: In your basement? Bad idea. Never make a layout of the area you're in.

:Cueball: Why not?
:Friend: Because it'd include a little 10" replica of your house.

:Cueball: So? That's be cool! I'd make tiny replicas of my rooms, my furniture—
:Friend: —and your train layout?

:[The comic shows how the models would nest together.]
:[Layer 1: 18 meters across. The two modelers are shown standing next to it.]
:[Layer 2: 21 cm across.]
:[Layer 3: 2.4 mm across. A mosquito is shown for comparison. It stands over roughly half of the town.]
:[Layer 4: 28 μm across. A strand of spider silk is shown for comparison. It is much thicker than the roads.]
:[Layer 5: 320 nm across. A cold virus is shown for comparison. It covers roughly a quarter of the town. At this level the town becomes notably "fuzzy" as individual atoms are discernible.]
:[Layer 6: 37 Å across. The town is simply spheres (atoms) at this point. The large hill near the back is the only noticeable feature, consisting of five atoms jutting out from the mostly flat ground.]
:The Matryoshka limit: It is impossible to nest more than six HO layouts

:Cueball: My God.
:Friend: Yeah. It's the second rule of model train layouts: No nesting.

:Cueball: ...What's the first rule?
:Friend: "Do ''not'' talk about model train layouts." That rule was actually voted in by our friends and families.
:Cueball: Philistines.

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

1519: Venus

2015-05-01T15:43:51Z

NealCruco: This text is clearly in italics in the comic.

{{comic
| number = 1519
| date = May 1, 2015
| title = Venus
| image = venus.png
| titletext = The sudden introduction of Venusian flowers led to an explosive growth of unusual Earth pollinators, which became known as the "butterfly effect."
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This explanation requires some touching up.}}
[[Miss Lenhart]] is teaching a class scientifically incorrect information that oppose the majority of currently scientifically acknowledged facts concerning the planet Venus, while using actual scientific terminology incorrectly to support her claims.

In the first panel we see Miss Lenhart teaching the history of Venus. Planetary scientists think that Venus had surface water billions of years ago, but it all evaporated due to stronger sunlight, and was eventually lost due to ultraviolet dissociation. However, there is no evidence that Venus ever had fields of flowers, or Venusians, or any other form of life.

In the second panel, {{w|runaway greenhouse effect}} is a pun. Miss Lenhart uses the term literally and claims the existence of sentient greenhouses actually running away. In reality, the effect caused Venus to develop a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which raised its temperature to 460 C (860 F), hotter than daytime on Mercury.

The third panel ties the previous distortion into the very real (but unconnected) {{w|Tulip mania|historic reputation}} of the Netherlands as {{w|Netherlands#Agriculture|flower growers}}, as a further fabrication by Miss Lenhart. In the final panel we see that she is a month away from retirement and doesn't care about relaying acurate information anymore.

The title text is a pun on the {{w|Butterfly effect}}, misattributing it to Miss Lenhart's false explanation of history.

==Transcript==
:[Miss Lenhart is standing in front of an image, presumably a temperate Venus, with greenhouses, grass, flowers and a river flowing into a sea.]
:Miss Lenhart: Venus once was temperate. It had seas and rivers, and Venusians cultivated vast fields of beautiful flowers.

:[The image is now zoomed out to see the entirety of Venus, with continents and oceans. The greenhouses are shown fleeing ("running") away from Venus.]
:Miss Lenhart: Until their greenhouses fled the planet due to the runaway greenhouse effect.

:[Miss Lenhart is now standing in front of a classroom and addressing Hair Bun Girl sitting at a desk.]
:Miss Lenhart: The Venusians pursued their greenhouses to Earth, settling in the Netherlands and kickstarting the Dutch floral industry. Any questions?

:Offscreen: Because you're retiring in a month, do you just not care what you say anymore?
:Miss Lenhart: ''What?!'' I '''''ride the skies''''' atop a screaming bird of truth! Also, yes, I do not.

{{comic discussion}}

<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Puns]]
</noinclude>

1514: PermaCal

2015-04-20T13:04:45Z

NealCruco: I'm going to be bold and change this. With no evidence, I find it hard to believe that Randall released this comic on a Sunday.

{{comic
| number = 1514
| date = April 20, 2015
| title = PermaCal
| image = permacal.png
| titletext = The flood of PermaCalNTP leap-second notifications was bad enough, but when people started asking for millisecond resolution, the resulting DDOS brought down the internet.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic proposes a new calendar system. This is similar to comic [[1061: EST]]. In this new calendar system, the date stays constant, and only changes with {{w|February 29|leap days}}. PermaCal is a portmanteau of the words "permanent" and "calendar".

In the comic, the date is the same as the day before the comic was released, the 19th of April, 2015.

Leap days in the {{w|Gregorian calendar}} are days added to the end of {{w|February}} every year that is a multiple of 4, but not by 100, unless it's also a multiple of 400. The purpose is to sync the calendar with Earth's orbit without having a partial day each year.

NTP servers are used to keep local computer time from drifting. {{w|Leap second|Leap seconds}} normally account for the differences in the length of our 24 hour day and a solar day (the time taken for Earth to rotate so the same point points towards the sun), and are announced several months before hand, but in the context of this comic probably refer to a system with constant time, and the time is adjusted by an NTP call every second. The title text refers to the bandwidth used by correcting the time every millisecond, resulting in a {{w|DDoS}}, and is probably a reference to other retail consumer products that have {{w|Denial-of-service_attack#Unintentional_denial-of-service|unintentionally}} caused DDoS attacks because of a flaw in implementation. See here an example of a real-life unintentional [http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.org.operators.swinog/10055 DDOS attack].

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are in the panel. Cueball appears to be holding a phone, tapping.]
:Megan: What day is it?
:Cueball: Sunday the 19th.
:Megan: But you said it was the 19th yesterday.
:Cueball: It changed ''again''? Crap, better add another leap day.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:My simplified calendar system assumes the date never changes, then corrects any drift via leap days.

==Trivia==
*The "H" in Megan's version of "19TH" is missing the upper part of the left bar, making it look like an mirrored "h". This must be unintended, since the H in "19TH" is written correctly when Cueball says it. Also only capital letters are used in the comics (except in special cases).

{{comic discussion}}


[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball‏]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan‏]]
[[Category:Time management]]
[[Category:Portmanteau]]

1513: Code Quality

2015-04-19T14:12:29Z

NealCruco: It looks complete to me. The similes are explained, and I don't see a need for fine-tuning.

{{comic
| number = 1513
| date = April 17, 2015
| title = Code Quality
| image = code quality.png
| titletext = I honestly didn't think you could even USE emoji in variable names. Or that there were so many different crying ones.
}}

==Explanation==


Ponytail is about to look at some source code Cueball has written, and he is warning her that he is self-taught so his code probably won't be written the way she is used to. Although few programming languages require a perfectly rigid style so long as the code is syntactically accurate, most programmers follow some sort of {{w|Programming_style|style}} to make the code easier to read. This includes indenting lines to show levels and using descriptive variable identifiers with {{w|CamelCase|CamelCase}} (or camelCase) or {{w|Snake case|snake_case}} capitalization (capitalizing each word except for the first, and separating lowercase words with underscores, respectively).

In spite of Ponytail's initial (polite) optimism, she comments in three increasingly harsh and absurd similes. First, she suggests that reading his code is like being in a house built by a child, using a small axe to put together what he thought was a house based on a picture. This relates to a technique especially common for new programmers. They follow and adapt tutorials, and find examples of similar problems being solved, copy the solution ("cutting" it out as with an axe), {{w|Jury_rig|jury-rig}} it together, and tinker with it until it seem to work. This can lead to code that is hard to follow or otherwise "messy" and inconsistent. Once a piece of code is working, inexperienced or deadline-driven coders are reluctant to go back and rewrite it to be cleaner or clearer, for fear of breaking something that has been working. This improvement practice is known as {{w|refactoring}} and code projects that incorporate cycles of refactoring tend to be easier to read and maintain than those that don't. Including good test cases reduces the risks.

Second, she suggests that it looks like a salad recipe, written by a corporate lawyer (who are notoriously difficult to understand), on a phone with autocorrect that only corrected things to formulas from Microsoft Excel (which are notoriously complicated). This may relate to the way many programmers use {{w|integrated development environment}}s (IDEs). They serve as syntax-checkers and often also help correct other programming errors, but the result of just fixing what the IDE complains about often results in less-than-elegant code.

Third, she suggests that it is a transcript of the dialogue of couple arguing at {{w|IKEA}} (a world-wide chain of furniture stores which feature large, maze-like showrooms as well as a large warehouse area where you can pick up the furniture you want to buy in flat, some-assembly-required packaging; especially on weekends when many people crowd in to a store, they can be stress-inducing places), the transcript of which was then randomly edited until the computer compiled it with no errors.

Finally, Cueball surrenders and makes the rather weak assurance that he will read “a style guide”.

The title text refers to {{w|emoji}}, or "smiley faces". They exist in Unicode, or can be simulated using ASCII characters. Many languages will allow variable names to include underscores, so a variety of sad face ASCII emoji will be legal variable names, such as <code>T_T</code>, <code>p_q</code>, <code>ioi</code> etc. Progressively more possible crying-face emoji are possible if variables can include [http://hexascii.com/sad-emoticons/ UTF-8 characters] or full Unicode. To this end, Ponytail is implying that at least a portion of, and possibly most or all of Cueball's variables were emoji variables.

In the realm of Unicode, there are many crying emojis, as the comic states (e.g. 😢,😭,😂,😿,😹) In most programming languages it would be impossible to use them in variable names, as the symbols would break the language's syntax rules. Notable exceptions to this are {{w|Go (programming language)|Go}} and {{w|Swift (programming language)|Swift}}, Apple's new programming language, in which the code can understand and use emojis in variables. Java, as another example, allows unicode characters in variable names as long as they are letter, numeric, combining or non-formatting marks. (See [http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-3.html#jls-3.8] and [http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Character.html#isUnicodeIdentifierPart%28int%29]). Also, some C++ compilers support foreign Unicode characters and can have emoji in that manner.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball showing Ponytail his laptop]
:Cueball: Keep in mind that I'm self-taught, so my code may be a little messy.
:Ponytail: Lemme see - I'm sure it's fine.

:[Ponytail sits at desk]
:Ponytail: ...Wow. This is like being in a house built by a child using nothing but a hatchet and a picture of a house.

:Ponytail: It's like a salad recipe written by a corporate lawyer using a phone autocorrect that only knew Excel formulas.

:Ponytail: It's like someone took a transcript of a couple arguing at IKEA and made random edits until it compiled without errors.
:Cueball: '''''Okay,''''' I'll read a style guide.

{{comic discussion}}


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

675: Revolutionary

2015-04-12T02:44:48Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ One sentence in this explanation was completely wrong.

{{comic
| number = 675
| date = December 14, 2009
| title = Revolutionary
| image = revolutionary.png
| titletext = I mean, what's more likely -- that I have uncovered fundamental flaws in this field that no one in it has ever thought about, or that I need to read a little more? Hint: it's the one that involves less work.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic contrasts brilliant revolutionary scientific thought with the simplistic arrogance of assuming one understands the current scientific theory enough to correct it. The character with the goatee has a degree in {{w|philosophy}}, and perhaps has certain ideas of his own about how the world should fundamentally be described by physics. He has studied Einstein's {{w|theory of special relativity}} for less than an hour and thinks it is wrong, and that he has a better theory. When confronted about this, he considers the objection as based in {{w|dogma}}, and remains so confident that he wants to email the "president of physics". His ignorance of the field is emphasized by thinking that the entire field of physics has a president - although certain important organizations such as the {{w|American Physical Society}} do have presidents.

[[Cueball]] concedes that it is possible for such a revolutionary idea to come from a relative outsider. One example is {{w|Albert Einstein}}'s own formulation of {{w|special relativity}}, which came while he was working at a patent office in Switzerland, although he did already have a Ph.D in physics. A {{w|thought experiment}} considers some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences.

The "racecar on a train" idea alludes to thought experiments involving {{w|Frame_of_reference#Simple_example|frames of reference}}, which are important in relativity. If the philosopher had studied more, he would know that this idea is accounted for by the fact that, when a system is moving at nearly the speed of light, any motion within the system that could otherwise cause faster-than-light travel results in the flow of time changing so as to avoid this issue.

The title text compares two possible scenarios:
*That decades of work by numerous physicists is fundamentally incorrect, and I found the flaw immediately
*That I need to read a little more

[[Randall]] hints that believing you have found fundamental flaws in a theory is much easier than doing more research on it. Usually, when someone with little understanding of the subject thinks that they have found a flaw, it takes only a little bit more reading to discover that the flaw is in fact completely explained already.

As an example, lets say a high school student happens to do sqrt(5-6). His calculator tells him 'Error', and he thinks he has uncovered a function which has no answer. In fact, with a little more reading, he would discover that mathematicians have a whole area devoted to this type of mathematics, namely {{w|Imaginary numbers|imaginary numbers}}.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: Yes, science is an open process in which a good idea can come from anybody.

:Cueball: Yes, widely-believed theories are on occasion overturned by simple thought experiments.

:Cueball: And yes, your philosophy degree equips you to ask interesting questions sometimes.

:[Cueball is talking to a philosopher with a goatee, who is sitting at a computer.]
:Cueball: But you did not just overturn special relativity, a subject you learned about an hour ago, with your "racecar on a train" idea.
:Philosopher: You just don't like that I'm turning a rational eye to your dogma. Hey, what's the email for the president of physics?

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

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-12T02:22:35Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Made misc. improvements through the explanation and removed pointless tag.

{{comic
| number = 1509
| date = April 8, 2015
| title = Scenery Cheat Sheet
| image = scenery cheat sheet.png
| titletext = At the boundary between each zone, stories blend together. Somewhere in the New Mexico desert, the Roadrunner is pursued by a tireless Anton Chigurh.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic [[Randall]] jokes that large areas of the continental (mainland) United States can be characterized by the locations of a single movie. Especially in the Midwest, there are several very large areas that he describes with just one film. The map is the most detailed in the {{w|Northeastern United States|northeast}}, which is where Randall lives.

The map is divided into the 48 states of the mainland by thin gray lines. On top of these are drawn black lines that divide the map into 50 sections. (A 51st section is located in the Atlantic Ocean). Inside each section is at least one reference that is supposed to describe the entire area encompassed by the section. In most cases it is the title of a movie (or two to three titles), but it could also be more general specter of movies (all movies with a big budget, or those with whose title is a east coast city name) or it could even be a book/song that describes the relevant area.

The map's heading describes the idea behind it; if you know this and the relevant movies, you can use it to determine where you are by comparing your knowledge of the movies with the scenery you can see from where you stand. Below the heading, the two groups of people who will get the most use out of this sheet are listed. The first is "GeoGuessrs". {{w|GeoGuessr}} is a game using {{w|Google Street View}} images, which drops the player in a random location and challenges them to work out where they are. (It was previously referenced in [[1214: Geoguessr]]). The second group is "crash-landed astronauts". Obviously, if you've just crash-landed on Earth, knowing your location would be very helpful.

Some entries (for instance, ''{{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}'') reflect the locations where the stories are set, and others (like ''{{w|Dances with Wolves}}'') reflect where they were filmed. Others are even more detached, as it is the sceneries from the movie that resembles a given place, even though it is neither filmed there or takes place there. It could also be a cartoon, which is of course only set in an imaginary world that may resemble the real world.

The title text references {{w|Anton Chigurh}} (portrayed by {{w|Javier Bardem}}), who is the main antagonist of the film ''{{w|No Country For Old Men}}.'' In this case he would have taken over the role of {{w|Wile E. Coyote}}, and would thus hunt down {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|The Road Runner}} at the boundary between the sections for these two movies, which would be somewhere in the {{w|New Mexico}} desert.

==Table==
*In this table all the movies (and others) from the map are mentioned from top to bottom and (when possible) by going through the columns that seems to appear in the sections when going from left to right.
*The setting for the movie vs. the actual filming locations will be given to be compared to the section of the map where the titles are written.
*Explanations will be given in the Notes section.
*The {{w|State Postal Codes}} will be used when referring to the states covered by each section.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Movie Title
! Setting for Movie
! Actual Filming Location(s)
! Section on map
! Notes
|-
| {{w|The Goonies}}
| Astoria, OR
| Cannon Beach, and Astoria, OR
| Oregon's northern coast
|
|-
| {{w|Twilight (2008 film)| Twilight}}
| Forks, WA
| Portland, OR
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Washington (state)|WA}}, {{w|Oregon|OR}} and most northern part of {{w|California|CA}} except for the part taken up by The Goonies.
| Same sections as 50 Shades of Grey
|-
| {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|50 Shades of Grey}}
| Seattle, WA
| Vancouver, BC
| Same sections as Twilight which is clear from this fact: The Fifty series was originally a {{w|fan fiction}} version of Twilight, but then developed into three full novels.
|-
| {{w|Zodiac (film)|Zodiac}}
| San Francisco Bay Area
| San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles
| San Francisco Bay Area
| According to {{w|Zodiac_(film)#Production|Wikipedia}}, "The San Francisco Chronicle was built in the old post office in the Terminal Annex Building in downtown Los Angeles. A building on nearby Spring Street subbed for the Hall of Justice and the San Francisco Police Department. Production began on September 12, 2005. The filmmakers shot for five weeks in the San Francisco Bay Area and the rest of the time in Los Angeles, bringing the film in under budget, wrapping in February 2006. The film took 115 days to shoot."
|-
| {{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}
| {{w|Alcatraz Island}}
| {{W|Alcatraz Island}}
| Alcatraz Island
|
|-
| {{w|Dances with Wolves}}
| Fort Sedgwick, CO
| South Dakota and Wyoming
| rowspan= "2" | Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska
|
|-
| {{w|Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers}}
| Planet Klendathu
| Hell's Half Acre, WY
|
|-
| {{w|Napoleon Dynamite|Napoleon Dynamite}}
| Preston, Idaho
| Preston, Idaho
| Idaho
|
|-
| {{w|The Sandlot|The Sandlot}}
| Suburban Los Angeles
| Salt Lake City, Utah
| Idaho, Utah
|
|-
| {{w|Wild Wild West|Wild Wild West}}
| The southwest area
| Tuscon, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Pierce, Idaho
| Nevada
| Set near Promontory Point, UT
|-
| {{w|Top Gun|Top Gun}}
| NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| Nevada, NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| rowspan="2" | Nevada
|
|-
| {{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Part of Independence Day}}
| Grand Canyon & Area 51
| Utah / Nevada
|
|-
| {{w|Sideways|That movie about wine & talking}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| {{w|Central_Valley_(California)|California Central Valley}}
| He clearly means ''Sideways''. Mapped area does not include the Santa Ynez Valley wine country, but instead shows the {{w|Central_Valley_(California)|California Central Valley}}.
|-
| {{w|List of most expensive films|Every movie with a big budget...}}
|
| Hollywood, CA
| {{w|Southern_California|SoCal}}
|
|-
| {{w|Brokeback Mountain|Brokeback Mountain}}
| Wyoming
| Southern Alberta
| Wyoming
|
|-
| {{w|Oregon Trail (video_game)|Oregon Trail}}
| {{w|Platte River|Platte}}, {{w|Snake River|Snake}}, and {{w|Columbia River|Columbia}} river valleys
| Video Game, not a film
| Nebraska, Colorado, Utah
| Could also refer to the film ''{{w|The Oregon Trail (1936 film)|The Oregon Trail}}''.
|-
| {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|Roadrunner cartoons}}
| {{w|Southern Arizona}}
| Animated, not filmed
| Four Corners - UT, AZ, NM, CO
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}} but with desert in the background
| "Seahaven" (fictional place in the Los Angeles, CA area)
| Seaside, Florida, and Los Angeles, California
| Las Vegas NV, California, Arizona
| If it were filmed in Las Vegas ...
|-
| {{w|Tombstone (film)|Tombstone}}
| {{w|Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone, AZ}}
| Arizona
| rowspan="2" | Southern Arizona
|
|-
| {{w|The Mask of Zorro|The Mask of Zorro}}
| California
| Mexico
|
|-
| {{w|No Country for Old Men (film)|No Country for Old Men}}
| (West) Texas
| Texas, New Mexico
| Southern Arizona, Southern New Mexico, Southwest Texas
|
|-
| {{w|Fargo (film)|Fargo}}
| Fargo ND, Brainerd MN, Minneapolis MN
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, Hallock MN, Bathgate, ND
| Minnesota, Both Dakotas, Montana
|
|-
| {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}} (Earth parts)
| {{w|Northeast_megalopolis|BosWash}} (converted to farmland), probably near former NYC
| Alberta
| rowspan="3" | Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Star Trek (film)|Star Trek (2009)}} (Earth parts)
| Iowa
| Iowa
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Field of Dreams|Field of Dreams}}
| Primarily IA; also, Boston, MA, and Chisholm, Minnesota
| Dyersville, IA
|
|-
| {{w|The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man}}
| River City, IA
| Warner Bros Studio, Burbank, CA
| Iowa, Missouri, Not-Chicago Illinois
|
|-
| {{w|The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz}}
| Kansas, Oz
| Culver City, California
| Kansas, Colorado
| The Judy Garland version, presumably. The earth parts.
|-
| {{w|Twister (1996 film)|Twister}}
| Oklahoma
|
| Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas
|
|-
| {{w|True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit}}
| Arkansas
| New Mexico
| Northern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas
| Obviously the {{w|True Grit (2010 film)|2010 version}}
|-
| {{w|Office Space|Office Space}}
|
| Austin, TX
| rowspan="3" | Texas Triangle plus Southern Texas
|
|-
| {{w|Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused}}
| Austin, TX
|
|
|-
| {{w|Kill Bill|Kill Bill}}
| El Paso, TX
|
|-
| {{w|The Blues Brothers (film)|Blues Brothers}}
| Chicago
| Chicago and Milwaukee
| Chicago, Rockford, Kenosha, and some extra parts of Illinois
|
|-
| {{w|8 Mile (film)|8 Mile}}
| Wayne County, Michigan
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|A Christmas Story|A Christmas Story}}
| Hammond, IN
| Cleveland, OH
| rowspan="2" | Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio
|
|-
| {{w|Jack & Diane|That song about Jack and Diane}}
|
| Lake Monroe, IN
| "In the Heartland"
|-
| Anything by {{w|Mark Twain}}
| Hannibal, MO
|
| Cairo, IL, Mississippi River parts of Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi
| The mapped area doesn't quite include Twain's home town of Hannibal, MO.
|-
| {{w|Walk the Line|Walk the Line}}
| Tennessee
|
| Tennessee and Kentucky
|
|-
| {{w|Big Fish|Big Fish}}
|
| Wetumpka and Montgomery, AL
| rowspan="2" | Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia
|
|-
| {{w|O Brother, Where Art Thou?|O Brother Where Art Thou}}
| Parchman Farm, MS
| Canton, MS; Florence, SC
|
|-
| {{w|Duck Dynasty|Duck Dynasty}}
| {{w|West Monroe, Louisiana|West Monroe, LA}}
|
| Northern Louisiana and Mississippi
|
|-
| {{w|The Princess and the Frog|Princess and the Frog}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
| rowspan="2" | Southern Louisiana
|
|-
| {{w|All Dogs Go to Heaven|All Dogs go to Heaven}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|Beasts of the Southern Wild|Beasts of the Southern Wild}}
| Louisiana
| Montegut, LA
| Mississippi River Delta
|
|-
| {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
| {{w|Punxsutawney,_Pennsylvania|Punxsutawney, PA}}, {{w|Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh}}
| Woodstock, IL
| Western Pennsylvania, Western New York
|
|-
| {{w|Dirty Dancing|Dirty Dancing}}
| {{w|Catskill Mountains|Catskill Mountains}}
| {{w|Mountain_Lake_(Virginia)|Mountain Lake, VA}} and {{w|Lake_Lure,_North_Carolina|Lake Lure, NC}}
| Virginia/West Virginia border
|
|-
| {{w|October Sky|October Sky}}
| Coalwood, WV
| East Tennessee
| Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia
|
|-
| {{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}
| Tara, near {{w|Jonesboro, Georgia|Jonesboro, GA}}
|
| rowspan="2" | Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia
|
|-
| {{w|Forrest Gump|Forrest Gump}}
| Alabama
| Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}}
| Los Angeles area
| {{w|Seaside, Florida|Seaside, FL}}
| Florida without Miami or the Everglades
|
|-
| {{w|Adaptation (film)|Adaptation}}
| Everglades, FL and surrounding areas
|
| Everglades, FL
| Very loosely based on the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, which chronicles the lifestyle of orchid thief and dealer John Laroche. The movie is about a screenwriter who struggles to adapt the book into a movie, turning himself into a main character in his own story.
|-
| {{w|Miami Vice|Miami Vice}}
| Miami
| Television show: Many episodes in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, FL, also Broward and Palm Beach counties, FL; Film: Caribbean, Uruguay, Paraguay and South Florida
| Miami metro area
| Or the {{w|Miami Vice (film)|film}}
|-
| {{w|Super Troopers|Super Troopers}}
| Vermont, NY ("Somewhere near the border")
| Various locations in New York State, including the City of Beacon, Westchester County, Rockefeller State Park Preserve, Fishkill, Newburgh, and Wappingers Falls
| Vermont, NY ("Somewhere near the border")
|
|-
| {{w|My Side of the Mountain|My Side of the Mountain (book)}}
| Adirondack Mountains, NY
| Catskill mountains, near Delhi, NY
| Northern New York
| The area shown on the map includes the Adirondacks, as well as the Tug Hill Plateau and the Finger Lakes. The Catskills appear to be excluded.
|-
| {{w|War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds (2005)}}
| Massachusetts
| California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia
| Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island
| Also referenced in [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]
|-
| {{w|Signs (film)|Signs}}
| {{w|Doylestown, Pennsylvania|Doylestown, PA}}
|
| rowspan="2" | Eastern Pennsylvania
|
|-
| {{w|The Village (2004 film)|The Village}}
| Covington, PA
| {{w|Chadds Ford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Chadds Ford, PA}}
|
|-
| [Generic City]
| Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia
| N/A
| Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia
|
|-
| {{w|Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact}}
| Atlantic Coast
|
| North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware
| The Mega-tsunami
|-
| {{w|Pet Semetary|Pet Semetary}}
| Ludlow, Maine
| Hancock, Maine
| Maine
|
|-
| {{w|What About Bob?|What about Bob}}
| Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
| Smith Mountain Lake, VA
| New Hampshire
|
|-
| {{w|The Departed|The Departed}}
| Boston, MA
| Boston & New York
| Boston
|
|-
| {{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}
| Amity Island (stand-in for Martha's Vineyard)
| Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts (scenes on land or on the surface of the water), waters off Australia (footage of real sharks), California (underwater scenes)
| Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Long Island, Rhode Island
|
|-
| {{w|The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October}}
| Climaxes somewhere off the eastern seaboard of North America ({{w|Grand Banks}} of Newfoundland are mentioned)
| Much of the sea filming was actually in the Pacific, near Los Angeles
| A large swathe of Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the US
| Starts in Barents Sea. Enters Atlantic via Iceland, but underwater. Underwater scenes were filmed in "smoke tanks". There are also sequences in a river (Penobscot, ME)
|}

==Transcript==
:[Above the frame is the following text.]
:'''A cheat sheet for'''
:figuring out where in the US you are
:by recognizing the background from movies
:(for use by GeoGuessr players and crash-landed astronauts)

:[In the frame is a map of the mainland USA with the 48 mainland states lined out in thin gray lines. All areas on the map have been enclosed in sections divided by curved black lines. These sections sizes goes from encompassing several states down to just a small section of a single state. The sections cover the entire USA without any holes. There is also one section in the Atlantic Ocean. All sections are labeled. If the section is large enough the text stands inside, if it is too small, the text is outside and an arrow will point to the relevant section

:[Here below all the text on the map (mainly film titles) will be transcribed from top to bottom and (when possible) by going through the columns that seems to appear in the sections when going from left to right. The {{w|State Postal Codes}} will be used when referring to the states covered by each section]

:[Small section on the west coast around the state border between WA and OR, which is surrounded on three sides by the next section mentioned below. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:The Goonies
:[Large section covering WA, OR and top of CA. The section has two titles, with the second one standing with smaller font below the first:]
:Twilight
:50 Shades of Grey
:[Small section around San Francisco, CA:]
:Zodiac
:[Very tine section covering only Alcatraz off the coast of San Francisco, CA. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:The Rock
:[ Large section covering most of MT as well as part of WY, SD and NE. The section has two titles:]
:Dances with Wolves
:Starship Troopers
:[Medium section section covering most of ID and part of MT:]
:Napoleon Dynamite
:[Medium section section covering part of OR, ID, NV and UT:]
:The Sandlot
:[Medium section section mainly covering the top part of NV:]
:Wild Wild West
:[Medium section section covering most of NV and small part of CA. The section has two titles, with the second one standing with smaller font below the first plus description:]
:Top Gun
:& the part of Independence Day where Will Smith crashes
:[Small section covering central CA:]
:That movie about wine & talking
:[Medium section section covering a large part of the southern part of CA around Hollywood, Los Angeles:]
:Every movie with a big budget, explosions or someone who says "cool!"
:[Medium section section covering half of WY and small parts of UT and CO:]
:Brokeback Mountain
:[Medium section section covering part of WY, CO and NE. The part in parenthesis in a smaller font:]
:Oregon Trail
:(the only part I ever got to)
:[Large section covering small part of UT and the half bottom of UT and CO and top half of AZ and NM:]
:Roadrunner cartoons
:[Medium section section covering a small part of the southern CA and small part of AZ. The part beneath the title in a smaller font:]
:The Truman Show,
:but with desert as the background
:[Small part at the bottom of AZ. The section has two titles:]
:Tombstone
:& The Mask of Zorro
:[Large section covering the a small part of AZ, the bottom half of NM as well as a third of TX:]
:No Country for Old Men
:[Large section covering all of ND, most of MN, half of SD and a small part of MT:]
:Fargo
:[Medium section section covering most of NE and small parts of MN and IA. The section has three titles. The top two are marked with a square bracket to the left. The text of this given before the third title:]
:Interstellar
:Star Trek (2009)
:] Earth parts
:Field of Dreams
:[Medium section section covering large parts of IA, MO and IL:]
:The Music Man
:[Medium section section covering mainly KS, but also a small part of Co and OK:]
:The Wizard of Oz
:[Medium section section covering most of OK and small part of MO and AR:]
:Twister
:[Covering the top part of TX and small parts of OK and AR:]
:True Grit
:[Large section covering a third of TX (the eastern part all the way down) and small parts of AR and LA. The section has three titles:]
:Office Space
:Dazed and Confused
:Kill Bill
:[Small section around and below Chicago, IL, which is surrounded on three sides by the next large section mentioned below. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Blues Brothers
:[A small circle centered around Detroit, MI completely inside the section here below. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:8 Mile
:[Large section covering all of WI, MI, IN and OH as well as parts of IL and KY. That is except for the two small sections described above, which are inlaid in this one. There are two items in this section. The one below is in smaller font:]
:A Christmas Story
:&That song about Jack and Diane
:[Medium section section covering half of AR, small parts of IL and MO as well as bits of KY, TN and MS:]
:Anything by Mark Twain
:[Medium section covering half of TN and part of KY:]
:Walk the Line
:[Large section covering all of AL most of MS and half of GA. There are two titles in this section:]
:Big Fish
:O Brother Where Art Thou
:[Small section covering top of LA and small part of MS:]
:Duck Dynasty
:[Medium section covering the bottom half of LA and the very bottom of MS. There is a very small section at the bottom of LA that are not included in this but in the next. There are two titles in this section:]
:Princess and the Frog
:All Dogs go to Heaven
:[Small section covering the very eastern end of the bottom of LA – maybe including New Orleans. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Beasts of the Southern Wild
:[Medium section section covering half of PA and western part NY:]
:Groundhog Day
:[Small section covering the middle part of VA as well as small parts of PA, MD and WV:]
:Dirty Dancing
:[Medium section section covering most of WV, half of TN, a small parts of KY as well as tiny bits of VA, NC and GA:]
:October Sky
:[Large section covering all of SC, most of NC as well as half of VA and GA. There are two titles in this section:]
:Gone with the Wind
:Forrest Gump
:[Large section covering most of FL except the bottom part which are covered by the next two sections:]
:The Truman Show
:[Small section covering the very bottom of FL except the east coast. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Adaptation
:[Small section covering the very bottom the east coast of FL. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Miami Vice
:[Small section covering most of the top of VT and a small part of NY. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:Super Troopers
:[Small section covering the central part of NY.]
:My Side of the Mountain (book)
:[Small section covering the eastern part of NY, western part of MA, top part of CT as well as bits of VT and RI.:]
:War of the Worlds (2005)
:[Small section covering the eastern part of PA and small bits of NY and MD. There are two titles in this section:]
:Signs
:& The Village
:[Medium section section covering several large cities of the east coast including New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. It covers most of DE and NJ and large parts of MD (with DC) and the bit of NY with the city. The text is not a title and the it is written in square brackets…:]
:[Generic city]
:[Small section covering the east coast along VA and NC, but also with small bits of MD and DE at the top:]
:Deep Impact
:[Medium section section covering all of ME, the top tip of NH and eastern top of VT:]
:Pet Semetary
:[Small section covering the most of the bottom parts of NH and VT:]
:What about Bob
:[Very small section surrounding Boston in MA. It is labeled with an arrow:]
:The Departed
:[Small section covering the east coast along MA, RI, CT and NJ:]
:Jaws
:[Large section off the east coast in the Atlantic Ocean:]
:The Hunt for Red October

==Trivia==

Not everything {{w|Mark Twain}} wrote was really set on the {{w|Mississippi River}}. For instance, he first gained attention as a fiction writer with "{{w|The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County}}," which is about {{w|Northern California}}. Indeed, during his lifetime, Twain was known mostly as a travel writer, not a novelist.

Kill Bill doesn't take place in southern or eastern Texas. The wedding chapel scene takes place in {{w|El Paso}}, around the same area No Country for Old Men takes place.

==See also==
*[https://geoguessr.com/ GeoGuessr's official website]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Maps]]

1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2015-04-10T16:13:52Z

NealCruco: (dummy edit) ...every single word in the actual explanation, or even some of them. It's just the section headers. If you can't figure out what they are, you have a problem.

{{comic
| number = 1167
| date = January 30, 2013
| title = Star Trek into Darkness
| image = star_trek_into_darkness.png
| titletext = Of course, factions immediately sprang up in favor of '~*~sTaR tReK iNtO dArKnEsS~*~', 'xX_StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNess_Xx', and 'Star Trek lnto Darkness' (that's a lowercase 'L').
}}

==~*~ExPlAnAtIoN~*~==
The talk page of a Wikipedia article is used to discuss changes to the article. An {{w|Wikipedia:Edit warring|edit war}} is a dispute about a specific edit to an article, manifesting as a series of edits alternating between making and reverting the change, and usually accompanied by a more-or-less heated debate on the talk page.

Here, [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] is referring to a dispute on the Wikipedia article about ''{{w|Star Trek Into Darkness}}'' (an upcoming Star Trek film at the time of the comic's posting). On the day before the comic was published, the article name had a lowercase "into", and the talk page looked [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Star_Trek_Into_Darkness&oldid=535542349 like this] (rounded off in a friendly way, with the posting of {{w|User:Frungi/Star Trek Into Darkness capitalization|a summary of the arguments}}, and an exchange of virtual hugs).

[[Cueball]] changes the title so that every other letter is capitalized, and adds framing tildes and asterisks (a common, childish way of emphasizing titles online). This will probably not go over well.

Megan's line of "They should have sent a poet." is a quote from the film ''{{w|Contact (film)|Contact}}''. The quote is also featured in [[482: Height]].

The title text indicates Randall's belief that such arguments are perpetual and will always arise. He suggests that the edit to the Wikipedia page will result in a dispute over variants of Cueballs "compromise". Because the lowercase "L" and the capital "I" appear similar in many fonts, he also puts forth the potential argument that the character in the movie's title is a lowercase "L".

The old "favorite edit war" might be the one referenced in [[878: Model Rail]].

==xX_tRaNsCrIpT_Xx==
:[Cueball staring at computer screen.]
:Cueball: Oh, wow. Look at Wikipedia's Talk page for Star Trek into Darkness. I have a new favorite edit war.
:Megan (off-panel): Oh?

:Cueball: Forty ''thousand'' words of debate over whether to capitalize "into" in the movie's title. Still no consensus.
:Megan: That's ''magnificent''.
:Cueball: It's breathtaking.
:Megan: They should have sent a poet.

:Cueball: Well, I'm making an executive decision. I hope both sides accept this as a fair compromise.

:[A Wikipedia page titled "~*~ StAr TrEk InTo DaRkNeSs ~*~"]

==+~tRiViA+~==
After the publication of the comic, the debate continued with full force, complete with {{w|Talk:Star Trek Into Darkness/Archive 5#xkcd Mention|a section of xkcd-inspired suggestions}}. The article itself was soon protected, so that only administrators could edit it. A day later, the title was changed to one including a capital "Into" by the administrator {{w|User:Mackensen|Mackensen}}. (The debate continued on {{w|User talk:Mackensen/Archive20#Star Trek into Darkness move|his talk page}}.) Currently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/~*~_StAr_TrEk_InTo_DaRkNeSs_~*~ is a valid link and it redirects to the correct page.

{{w|The Independent}} published an article about the "[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/trekkies-take-on-wikis-in-a-grammatical-tizzy-over-star-trek-into-darkness-8475705.html grammatical tizzy]", and the affair as a whole was added to Wikipedia's humorous list of the {{w|WP:Lamest edit wars|lamest edit wars}}.

{{comic discussion 1167}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Compromise]]

1167: Star Trek into Darkness

2015-04-10T16:11:47Z

NealCruco: Undo revision 84252 by 173.245.53.24 (talk) Seriously? We aren't "encoding"

1486: Vacuum

2015-03-17T20:20:46Z

NealCruco: No.

{{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==
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 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 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 did not realize they were supposedly impossible, such as {{w|spin-stabilized magnetic levitation}}. This comic could be seen as a nod to that.

==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]]

Talk:1005: SOPA

2015-03-17T19:13:41Z

NealCruco:

Anyone try the brightness-contrast with the XKCD [[521: 2008 Christmas Special|2008 x-mas Special]]? [[Special:Contributions/66.19.70.101|66.19.70.101]] 02:20, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

:Negative. [[Special:Contributions/108.233.253.211|108.233.253.211]] 02:53, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

:Yes. There is NO color information in those black panels, all pixels read 0x000000. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.53|108.162.216.53]] 20:52, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

:I tried it in Microsoft Office 2010 and got a faint, but very readable image just like the one above.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.42|141.101.99.42]] 18:35, 6 March 2015 (UTC)

What do they mean "typical XKCD fashion"? What other comics have hidden messages in them? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.91|173.245.48.91]] 22:11, 8 August 2014 (UTC)
:The "typical xkcd fashion" line wasn't referring to the exact scenario of a hidden message in the comic. It was referring to the tendency of xkcd comics to have deeper messages (besides the explicit point being made) that may not be immediately visible. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 19:13, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

1005: SOPA

2015-03-17T19:10:08Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Why would Randall be protesting SOPA by getting drunk? Double meanings do not imply puns.

{{comic
| number = 1005
| date = January 18, 2012
| title = SOPA
| image = sopa.png
| titletext = In protest of SOPA, I'm currently getting totally blacked out.
}}

==Explanation==
SOPA, the {{w|Stop Online Piracy Act}} and PIPA, the {{w|Protect IP Act}}, were a pair of controversial bills being considered by the United States government in late 2011 and early 2012. The bills contained the ability for the US government to deny American internet users access to certain sites at a judge's request. These would be activated if the government could prove to a court that a site was primarily used to harbor illegally distributed copyrighted goods, such as video games, music, and TV shows.

Many people considered this to be censorship and were concerned that this could instead be used by larger corporations to squelch smaller competing sites who may not have the resources to challenge a "take-down notice" in court, should judges continually agree with the larger corporation.

As the bills gained infamy online, many popular websites and web comics participated in a mass protest on January 18, 2012, to announce their displeasure with the bill in an attempt to convince the House of Representatives to reverse their judgement, which had at the time been considered likely to pass if drafted. This was xkcd's participation in the protest. [[Randall]] discusses that as someone who would have better copyright protection that he would not have ever gotten popular if fans had not been allowed to distribute the comic.

[[File:sopa hidden message.png||upright=2|The comic image with the message revealed.]]

In typical xkcd fashion, this comic contains several layers of depth that may not be immediately obvious to the casual observer. In this instance, the apparently solid-black region contains a hidden image revealed with simple brightness+contrast manipulation (or simply loading the image into Microsoft Paint and using the fill tool), with [[Black Hat]] saying "A message from sysadmins everywhere: Seriously, don't screw with DNS. If you break this internet, we are ''not'' making you a new one." This stems from the fact that sites could be ordered taken down by allowing manipulation of the {{w|DNS}} system itself, effectively making a site completely disappear from the web. This court-enforced DNS manipulation was considered by many technical professionals to damage the underlying structure of the internet, as well as potentially criminalizing recent work to improve its security.

The image text referred to a common theme across protesting sites: a blackout of the internet. Sites such as Google changed to a black background, while Wikipedia prevented access by linking their sites to a black page with white text explaining their participation. On the day of the protest, xkcd was similarly "blacked out," with all comics redirecting to this one.

After the protest, the bills were postponed from being drafted on January 20, 2012.

==Transcript==
:[don't censor the web.]
:[Hidden in the background of the above text is Black Hat.]
:Black Hat: A message from sysadmins everywhere:
:Black Hat: Seriously, don't screw with DNS. If you break this internet, we are ''not'' making you a new one.
:I make my living drawing xkcd, which wouldn't have been possible if people hadn't been able to freely share my comics with each other all over the internet. As a copyright holder and small business owner, I oppose SOPA and PIPA. See the links below to learn more.
:[Randall Munroe's signature, with a little drawing of Cueball on one of the tails.]

{{Comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Randall Munroe]]
[[Category:Politics]]

1283: Headlines

2015-03-16T03:58:54Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Fixed comma splice.

{{comic
| number = 1283
| date = October 28, 2013
| title = Headlines
| image = headlines.png
| titletext = 1916: 'PHYSICIST DAD' TURNS HIS ATTENTION TO GRAVITY, AND YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HE FINDS. [PICS] [NSFW]
}}

==Explanation==
This comic satirizes the sensationalist language used in Internet headlines. Many websites generate ad revenue for getting visitors ("getting more clicks"), so some unscrupulous editors seek to manipulate their readers using tantalizing yet formulaic and crass headlines, designed to attract readers rather than summarize the article's contents. You might recognize this technique from those ridiculous text advertisements — "local mom discovers 1 weird tip to reduce belly fat." The practice is nothing new: {{w|tabloid journalism}} has been doing this for many years (e.g. ''{{w|National Enquirer}}''). The numbers shown at the headline are also often wrong and not covered by the article.

Signs of a dishonest headline include giving undue weight to trivial topics, or appealing to readers' emotions or needs (fear, outrage, pity, lust, laziness) instead of offering serious information. In severe cases, it may be a {{w|bait-and-switch}}, claiming to offer something it isn't. By failing to give a useful summary of the story, whilst attempting to force the reader to click on every story on the off-chance that it's interesting, they amount to an intentionally deceptive form of spam.

[[Randall]] parodies the formula in this comic with such trivializing headlines for important historical events:

*1905 - How a shocking new theory, discovered by a dad, proves scientists are wrong about ''everything!''
:{{w|Albert Einstein}} published his {{w|Annus Mirabilis papers}}, which changed views on space, time, mass, and energy, and laid the groundwork for much of modern physics. They included his papers on {{w|special relativity}} and on {{w|mass–energy equivalence}} ("E = mc2"). He had an infant son in 1905 (born May 1904).
:The use of the term "dad" helps readers tune in emotionally. "Proving scientists wrong about everything" is obviously an inflation of Einstein's achievements. Einstein was awarded the {{w|Nobel Prize}} in 1921 for his work on the {{w|photoelectric effect}}; his work on relativity was still not accepted by many physicists at that time.
*1912 - 6 ''Titanic'' survivors who should have died
:{{w|Sinking of the RMS Titanic}}. "should have died" seems to be referring to six passengers whose survival was downright miraculous, though the wording is (deliberately) ambiguous to imply the six passengers ''deserved'' to have died. Possibly referred to here is the survival of {{w|J. Bruce Ismay}}, chairman and managing director of the White Star Line (the company responsible for the Titanic), who was condemned as a coward for leaving the sinking liner.
*1916: 'Physicist dad' turns his attention to gravity, and you won't believe what he finds. [PICS] [NSFW]
:Einstein published his theory of {{w|General relativity}}, which is a vast generalization of the theory of {{w|Special relativity}} from 1905 and provides a model for gravity. In 1916 Einstein had two sons who lived in Zurich while he lived in Berlin.
:[NSFW] is "Not Safe for Work" - a tag to identify explicit images. Here it is used to trick readers hoping to find pornography.
:[PICS] tells the potential viewer that there are images embedded
*1920 - 17 things that will be outlawed now that women can vote
:The {{w|Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution}} was passed, guaranteeing voting rights for women in all US states. The prediction of new prohibitions is a reference to alcohol prohibition under the authority granted to the federal government by the {{w|Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution}}. While the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified before women's suffrage was guaranteed by the Nineteeth, alcohol prohibition was widely seen as an issue driven by women's opinions (hence the suggestion that more things would be prohibited now that women had the vote).
*1928 - This one weird mold kills all germs
:{{w|Penicillin}} was discovered.
*1929 - Most embarrassing reactions to the stock market crash [GIFS]
:This is a reference to the {{w|Wall Street Crash of 1929}}, the most devastating stock market crash in history and the beginning of the Great Depression. The "embarassing reactions" may be a reference to the suicides of people suddenly impoverished by the depression.
:[GIFS] indicates that the post will contain an animated GIF image - a crude form of short video
*1945 - These 9 Nazi atrocities will make you lose faith in humanity
:1945 is the year that World War II ended. It's also the year that many war crimes committed by Nazi Germany were discovered or declassified.
*1948 - 5 insane plans for feeding West Berlin you won't believe are real
:1948 is when the Soviet Union established the {{w|Berlin Blockade}}, preventing food and other critical supplies from reaching occupied Berlin. In response, Western forces organized the {{w|Berlin Airlift}}.
*1955 - Avoid polio with this one weird trick
:The {{w|polio vaccine}} was developed.
:"One weird trick" is a common phrase used in Internet ads: see [http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/07/how_one_weird_trick_conquered_the_internet_what_happens_when_you_click_on.html this article] for more information.
*1957 - 12 nip slips potentially visible to Sputnik
:The Soviet Union launched {{w|Sputnik 1}}, the world's first artificial satellite. A ''nip slip'' is when a woman unintentionally exposes all or part of one or both of her nipples; in the context of the internet, it generally refers to a photograph capturing such a moment.
*1968 - This year's assassinations ranked from most to least tragic
:{{w|Martin Luther King Jr.}} and {{w|Robert F. Kennedy}} were both assassinated in 1968.
:Assassinations are rare and considered to be always tragic, so "ranking" them trivializes the political and emotional depth of the events.
*1969 - This is the most important photo of an astronaut you'll see all day
:{{w|Apollo 11}} performed the first manned lunar landing. During this historic trip newspapers printed as many pictures of astronauts as they could.
*1986 - This video of a terminally ill child watching the ''Challenger'' launch will break your heart
:Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight. See {{w|Space Shuttle Challenger disaster}} for details. This was the first shuttle mission that included a teacher on board as part of the crew ({{w|Christa McAuliffe}}, ''{{w|Teacher in Space Project}}''), so there were many children -- a New York Times poll put the number at 48% of 9-13 year olds in the US -- watching this particular launch live as teachers around the country had TV sets in their classrooms showing the ill-fated launch in real time. The launch was not shown on most mainstream TV stations; only {{w|CNN}} broadcast it live.
*1989 - You won't ''believe'' what these people did to the Berlin wall! [video]
:{{w|Fall of the Berlin Wall}}.
:[video] indicates a link to a video
*Jan 1, 1990 - 500 signs you're a 90s kid
:A 90s kid is someone born in the late 80s or early 90s (and spent most their childhood in the 1990s). Headlines like [http://www.buzzfeed.com/melismashable/25-ways-to-tell-youre-a-kid-of-the-9 this one from BuzzFeed] toy with their readers' sense of nostalgia. The parody headline is funny because it starts precisely on the first day of the 1990s, meaning that the only "90s kids" that it would apply to would be newborns. This is a reference to a common joke about the 90s not having a concrete identity in some ways like the 70s or 80s did in terms of popular culture, and yet those born in that decade always seem to have long lists of things that make you a "90s kid".

This topic is re-used in [[1307: Buzzfeed Christmas]].

==Transcript==
:20th Century Headlines
:Rewritten to get more clicks

:1905 - How a shocking new theory, discovered by a dad, proves scientists are wrong about ''everything!''
:1912 - 6 ''Titanic'' survivors who should have died
:1920 - 17 things that will be outlawed now that women can vote
:1928 - This one weird mold kills all germs
:1929 - Most embarrassing reactions to the stock market crash [GIFS]
:1945 - These 9 Nazi atrocities will make you lose faith in humanity
:1948 - 5 insane plans for feeding West Berlin you won't believe are real
:1955 - Avoid Polio with this one weird trick
:1957 - 12 nip slips potentially visible to Sputnik
:1968 - This year's assassinations ranked from most to least tragic
:1969 - This is the most important photo of an astronaut you'll see all day
:1986 - This video of a terminally ill child watching the ''Challenger'' launch will break your heart
:1989 - You won't ''believe'' what these people did to the Berlin wall! [video]
:Jan 1, 1990 - 500 signs you're a 90s kid

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Language]]

User:NealCruco

2015-03-15T19:03:22Z

NealCruco:

Hello! Call me Neal.

I come here pretty frequently to read, as the explanations this wiki provides enhance the comics. I also help out fairly frequently.

As my contributions show, a good chunk of my edits remove "incomplete" templates. This is because I feel that editors here are too hesitant to mark an explanation as complete. It greatly irritates me. Here's some reasons I've seen for marking or continuing to mark a complete explanation as incomplete:
 
 
"First draft.": This is the idea that no comic can be fully explained on the first try. If it's a simple, straightforward comic, there may be little to explain. Don't add the tag just because the explanation is new- add it only if there are concrete flaws in the explanation that you can't fix immediately.
 
 
"I'm new and my explanation needs review.": It does, but it gets that review constantly. Any wiki page is reviewed just by being read. If there's a flaw in your explanation, it will be fixed; if it can't be fixed immediately after being noticed, then an incomplete template is warranted. If you think you don't have the knowledge to finish the job, go ahead and use the template; all edits are appreciated. But if you seriously think you have explained it pretty well, don't mark it as incomplete just because it's only your first/second/third explanation.
 
 
"Maybe this could be improved some more? Otherwise this tag can be removed.": This is just a way to say, "I think this tag should be removed, but I'm afraid to do it myself." Don't do this. There is nothing you can do on this site that can't be undone with a few mouse clicks. {{w|WP:BB|Be bold}} and make what changes you think need to be made.

1498: Terry Pratchett

2015-03-15T19:00:41Z

NealCruco: Not anymore, it doesn't.

{{comic
| number = 1498
| date = March 13, 2015
| title = Terry Pratchett
| image = terry pratchett.png
| titletext = Thank you for teaching us how big our world is by sharing so many of your own.
}}

==Explanation==

[[File:10.12.12TerryPratchettByLuigiNovi1.jpg|Sir Terry in 2012|thumb]]

This comic is a tribute to the late {{w|Terry Pratchett|Sir Terry Pratchett}}. It came out the day after the renowned fantasy author died.

The comic quotes a (slightly abridged) passage from ''{{w|The_Nome_Trilogy#Wings_.281990.29|Wings}}'', one of the three books of ''{{w|The Nome Trilogy|The Bromeliad Trilogy}}'' (also known as ''The Nome Trilogy''), a series of children's books by Sir Terry.

During the first five panels of the comic [[Cueball]] reads the quoted passage in his book ''Wings''. This passage describes what Masklin thinks about when he told Grimma that they "were going to get married, and all she could talk about was frogs." He then recounts what she told him about a type of {{w|tree frog}} that are found in {{w|bromeliad}} flowers where they lay their eggs, which hatch into tadpoles, and then live most of their lives in a single plant. (See a {{w|The_Nome_Trilogy#Diggers_.281990.29|description}} of this plot point when it happened in ''{{w|The_Nome_Trilogy#Diggers_.281990.29|Diggers}}''). She—amongst other things—muses about the fact that they are blind to the rest of the Universe, and that most people are blind to them.

After reading this Cueball puts the book down and walks off, and soon finds that he himself has been living at the bottom of a flower much like the frogs in the bromeliad. This is an allegory for a common praise of the best fantasy and science-fiction writing: That by reflecting our own world in a different context, it allows us to better see ourselves. In the allegory, Cueball's journey to the edge of the leaf is a representation of broadening one's horizons, perhaps even in ways that are somewhat frightening.

(On a more literal level, the concept of living on a flat surface with a precipice at the edge is explored at length in the ''{{w|Discworld}}'' series, Pratchett's most iconic work.)

The title text continues, more directly, the point previously made allegorically. It thanks the late Sir Terry, noting that his fictional worlds allowed us to better see the real world. "How big our world is" also ties into another point raised in the quoted passage, that there are countless amazing things happening around us all the time without our knowledge.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is reading a book over the first four panels at the top of the comic. He shifts position from sitting, leaning back on one hand, laying down on his belly to finally sitting more upright. Above these four panels and breaking the frame of the outer panels of the comic we see what he reads during these four panels:]

:''I told her we were going to get married, and all she could talk about was frogs.''
:''She said there's these hills where it's hot and rains all the time, and in the rainforests there are these very tall trees and right in the top branches
:''of the trees there are these like great big flowers called... bromeliads, I think, and water gets into the flowers and makes little pools and there's a
:''type of frog that lays eggs in the pools and tadpoles hatch, and grow into new frogs and these little frogs live their whole lives in the flowers right
:''at the top of the trees and don't even know about the ground, and once you know the world is full of things like that, your life is never the same.''

::::::::::::::::::::::::::''-- Masklin, Terry Prattchet's'' '''''The Bromeliad Trilogy'''''

:[Below are four more panels. Cueball stops reading in the book. Leaves the book and begins to walk. Walks out on a leaf from a big flower. Finally, zooming in on him at the edge of the leaf, he looks down and sees what is below the flower.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]

1493: Meeting

2015-03-02T21:35:42Z

NealCruco: The placeholder-becoming-trademark idea is mentioned up above. Also, the bit about CompanyName.website actually being registered seems to fit better as trivia.

{{comic
| number = 1493
| date = March 2, 2015
| title = Meeting
| image = meeting.png
| titletext = Here at CompanyName.website, our three main strengths are our web-facing chairs, our huge collection of white papers, and the fact that we physically cannot die.
}}

==Explanation==

[[Beret Guy]]'s business, as previously seen in [[1032: Networking]] and [[1293: Job Interview]], is going well, although it is unclear why. The common theme in these three comics is that Beret Guy misuses common business cliches. The following are examples and phrases that [[Randall]] is likely making a joke about:

* "If you're reading this, the webserver was installed correctly." When a web server is installed automatically (like apache using apt-get), it typically comes with a minimal configuration meant to deliver a single page saying all is working fine. Usually, a company will then configure the web server to provide actual meaningful content. It appears that in this case Beret Guy's company kept the page as is, but also trademarked the sentence as the company's motto, and proudly displays it under the company logo.

* "Welcome to a meeting!" The usual way to start a meeting is to welcome the participants by telling them in which meeting they are (e.g. "Welcome to the meeting on ..."). Here, the complete lack of specifics in this sentence is an indication that the meeting has, in fact, no purpose at all, except to be just "A meeting". It could also mean that Beret Guy does not know the proper way to welcome people to a meeting.

* "I'm almost out of words so I'll keep this short." A common theme in the busy world of business is lack of time, so "I'm almost out of time" would be a valid reason for keeping a meeting short, rather a finite quantity words. Aside from the fictional movie [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thousand_Words_%28film%29 A Thousand Words] or people taking a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vow_of_silence Vow of Silence], people usually don't have a particular quota on the number of words they have or can use.

* "Just wanna touch bases." Often business professions will contact a customer to "touch base," meaning to check in for a status update. The use of the plural "bases" suggests Beret Guy does not know what this means. This could also be a word play on the expression "Cover some bases".

* "Self-driving car project" Google has been working on self-driving cars, which usually shouldn't be lost track of and found by the police. The statement "by accident during this morning's carpool" implies that the employees all somehow left the car while it was moving, and it kept moving until it somehow stopped (hit something, ran out of fuel, etc.)

* "Sales, any luck figuring out who our customers are?" In the real world, when companies want to find out "who [their] customers are", they are talking about learning more about their existing customers in order to more closely match these customers' needs, and to discover ways to attract more of them. Here, Beret Guy and [[Ponytail]] apparently use the phrase literally. In a normal enterprise, however, money doesn't usually appear from nowhere, and most businesses would be very unsettled if their cash flow was from an unknown source.

* "Cool red beetle in the hallway" Beret Guy might be referring to seeing an insect. But given his continually surreal world, he might have instead seen a red Volkswagen Beetle, meaning there is an actual car in the hallway. This also matches with the "self-driving car project", potentially explaining why the car is inside the building. Randall's all-caps lettering hides the "beetle" versus "Beetle" distinction.

* "Bug tracker" usually refers to systems used to track discovery, analysis, and fixing of software bugs, not the location of actual insects or Volkswagen Beetles which are also called bugs.

* "Web-facing" (title text) usually refers to software or a server that is connected to the internet using a web interface. However, in this case the term is applied to chairs placed in front of a computer with internet browsing capability.

* "White papers" (title text) are usually policy recommendations, but Beret Guy is likely talking about actual (near-worthless) blank white pieces of paper.

* "Main strengths" (title text) typically refer to one's skills, but "we physically cannot die" refers to the fact that incorporated companies are in a sense anthropomorphised—they're legally treated as "persons", with the ability to sue and be sued in civil courts.

There is an alternative explanation for the company portrayed: it is run by computers. This explains the misinterpretations of language, the empty chair, the non-traceable money (perhaps from other computers) and the self-driving car project.

==Trivia==
"CompanyName.website" is actually a domain name that was registered on 2014-11-20 and [http://companyname.website which redirects to xkcd.com]. Presumably, it is owned by Randall, for the same reason as in [[305]].

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy is shown in silhouette. Above Beret Guy there is a black sign with white (and grey) text. Above this is his address to those in the meeting:]
:Beret Guy: Welcome to a meeting! I'm almost out of words, so I'll keep this short. Just wanna touch bases.
:[White text in the black sign (''.website'' in grey):]
:CompanyName.website
:''If you're reading this, the web''
:''server was installed correctly.''TM

:[Beret Guy stands in front of an office chair and a table talking]
:Beret Guy: First, a few updates. We've learned from the state police that the self-driving car project we launched by accident during this morning's carpool has come to an end about 90 miles outside of town. :Very exciting!

:[Pony tail sits at the table.]
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Profits are up. Sales, any luck figuring out who our customers are?
:Ponytail: Nope. Money keeps appearing, but we have no idea how or why.
:Beret Guy [off-panel]: Great!

:[Back to the situation from frame two]
:Beret Guy: Oh, and one last thing— I saw a cool red beetle in the hall. Can someone add it to the bug tracker?
:Ponytail [off-panel]: Just did!
:Beret Guy: Thanks!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Beret Guy’s Business]]

705: Devotion to Duty

2015-02-13T21:36:06Z

NealCruco: ...And again, my profanity filter messed up the explanation.

{{comic
| number = 705
| date = February 22, 2010
| title = Devotion to Duty
| image = devotion_to_duty.png
| titletext = The weird sense of duty really good sysadmins have can border on the sociopathic, but it's nice to know that it stands between the forces of darkness and your cat blog's servers.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, we see a man talking on a phone. We are unsure of his aims (terrorism, robbery, etc.) but he has taken hostages and cut all links to the outside world, in order to control the situation and prevent the police from observing the interior of the building (as popularly depicted in film and television). Initially all appears to be normal (for a hostage situation) to the reader but then the hostage-taker explains on the phone that someone has entered the building, climbed the air vents to bypass their cordon, effortlessly killing other hostage-takers (who are likely hardened killers with weaponry) on his way to the server room and then ignored the hostages, preferring instead to reconnect the servers to the outside world. The hostage-taker is evidently puzzled by this and explains it to the person on the other end of the phone, who immediately recognizes the reason: the man that entered the building is a "sysadmin" (short for {{w|System administrator}}), and he is concerned that his servers are losing "uptime" to the internet. This evidently concerns the man on the phone, who knows that a good sysadmin is an unstoppable force once started!

This comic is a reference to one of two things (or both): the Hollywood depiction of heroes able to perform superhuman feats in tricky situations (such as John McClane in ''{{w|Die Hard}}'', which the first two panels are a deliberate reference to), or the duty that people impose upon themselves to go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that they carry out their work (in this case a dutiful sysadmin, concerned for those trying to use his server).

The title text is a simple nod to the fact that many read unusual sites like cat blogs(where owners write about their cats) and the brutal actions of killing by the sysadmin was simply to allow the user to reach those sites. An additional joke is the unreasonable comparison of 'forces of darkness' being the opposite of 'cat blog's'.

A sysadmin is also mentioned in the title text of [[309: Shopping Teams]].

==Transcript==
:[Bearded criminal is holding a pistol and talking on a mobile phone.]
:Criminal: We took the hostages, secured the building and cut the communication lines like you said.
:Phone: Excellent.

:[Still talking on the phone, waving gun around in the air animatedly.]
:Criminal: But then this guy climbed up the ventilation ducts and walked across broken glass, killing anyone we sent to stop him.

:Phone: And he rescued the hostages?

:[Criminal looking confused and defeated, shoulders hunched and pistol hanging limply at his side.]
:Criminal: No, he ignored them. He just reconnected the cables we cut, muttering something about "uptime".
:Phone: Shit, we're dealing with a ''sysadmin''.

{{comic discussion}}

705: Devotion to Duty

2015-02-13T21:34:51Z

NealCruco: Fixed the explanation. The explanation had no section header, and at least one sentence was missing from its beginning. Weird.

{{comic
| number = 705
| date = February 22, 2010
| title = Devotion to Duty
| image = devotion_to_duty.png
| titletext = The weird sense of duty really good sysadmins have can border on the sociopathic, but it's nice to know that it stands between the forces of darkness and your cat blog's servers.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, we see a man talking on a phone. We are unsure of his aims (terrorism, robbery, etc.) but he has taken hostages and cut all links to the outside world, in order to control the situation and prevent the police from observing the interior of the building (as popularly depicted in film and television). Initially all appears to be normal (for a hostage situation) to the reader but then the hostage-taker explains on the phone that someone has entered the building, climbed the air vents to bypass their cordon, effortlessly killing other hostage-takers (who are likely hardened killers with weaponry) on his way to the server room and then ignored the hostages, preferring instead to reconnect the servers to the outside world. The hostage-taker is evidently puzzled by this and explains it to the person on the other end of the phone, who immediately recognizes the reason: the man that entered the building is a "sysadmin" (short for {{w|System administrator}}), and he is concerned that his servers are losing "uptime" to the internet. This evidently concerns the man on the phone, who knows that a good sysadmin is an unstoppable force once started!

This comic is a reference to one of two things (or both): the Hollywood depiction of heroes able to perform superhuman feats in tricky situations (such as John McClane in ''{{w|Die Hard}}'', which the first two panels are a deliberate reference to), or the duty that people impose upon themselves to go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that they carry out their work (in this case a dutiful sysadmin, concerned for those trying to use his server).

The title text is a simple nod to the fact that many read unusual sites like cat blogs(where owners write about their cats) and the brutal actions of killing by the sysadmin was simply to allow the user to reach those sites. An additional joke is the unreasonable comparison of 'forces of darkness' being the opposite of 'cat blog's'.

A sysadmin is also mentioned in the title text of [[309: Shopping Teams]].

==Transcript==
:[Bearded criminal is holding a pistol and talking on a mobile phone.]
:Criminal: We took the hostages, secured the building and cut the communication lines like you said.
:Phone: Excellent.

:[Still talking on the phone, waving gun around in the air animatedly.]
:Criminal: But then this guy climbed up the ventilation ducts and walked across broken glass, killing anyone we sent to stop him.

:Phone: And he rescued the hostages?

:[Criminal looking confused and defeated, shoulders hunched and pistol hanging limply at his side.]
:Criminal: No, he ignored them. He just reconnected the cables we cut, muttering something about "uptime".
:Phone: ***, we're dealing with a ''sysadmin''.

{{comic discussion}}

1291: Shoot for the Moon

2015-02-13T20:50:00Z

NealCruco: /* Transcript */ My profanity filter messed with the transcript.

{{comic
| number = 1291
| date = November 15, 2013
| title = Shoot for the Moon
| image = shoot_for_the_moon.png
| titletext = Shoot for the Moon. If you miss, you'll end up co-orbiting the Sun alongside Earth, living out your days alone in the void within sight of the lush, welcoming home you left behind.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic and the title text both parody the motivational quote attributed to {{w|Les Brown (speaker)|Leslie Brown}}, which originally says, "Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

In the original form, the quote is figurative, meant to inspire people to pursue ambitious goals, reasoning that even if they fail to achieve them, they may still accomplish other great things while trying. The comic and title text, on the other hand, attempt to interpret the quote literally, exploring the humorous aspects of doing so. Megan wants to destroy and kill the moon in order to humble it, feeling taunted by its orbiting merrily over her head, and so she inspires her students to physically attempt to destroy the moon whenever possible, only to become sheepish when she realizes the moon is right behind her, as if it were a person who could become offended by what she is saying. This is, of course, a [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RightBehindMe common comedy trope].

The [[title text]] invokes another literal interpretation of the phrase - if a space vehicle aims at the Moon and misses, it will end up in a new orbit, possibly (depending on its velocity) escaping from the Earth-Moon system and following a separate but nearby orbit around the Sun. A solar orbit is very hard, very fuel-intensive, and very lengthy to return from, despite physically meaning you will remain very close to Earth, even close enough to see it with some optical magnification. Thus, as a hypothetical space explorer's life support gradually ran out because his craft could not make it back to Earth in time, he would be taunted by Earth remaining close to him.

==Transcript==
:[Megan stands at a podium.]
:Megan: Students, shoot for the moon. If you miss,

:[A surprisingly lunar-like object is starting to edge into the frame.]
:Megan: '''''SHOOT AGAIN'''''. Keep shooting and never stop.

:[The moon is now almost entirely in-frame.]
:Megan: Someday, one of us will destroy that stupid skycircle. And— ...What? What are you all—

:[The moon is now in frame, lurking ominously in the background.]
:Megan: ...it's right behind me, isn't it? '''''Shit'''''. Everyone act casual.

==Trivia==
*This comic is referenced in the What if? [http://what-if.xkcd.com/109/ Into the Blue] - see the title text at the third picture.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

1291: Shoot for the Moon

2015-02-13T20:48:20Z

NealCruco: /* Transcript */ Removed redundant word.

{{comic
| number = 1291
| date = November 15, 2013
| title = Shoot for the Moon
| image = shoot_for_the_moon.png
| titletext = Shoot for the Moon. If you miss, you'll end up co-orbiting the Sun alongside Earth, living out your days alone in the void within sight of the lush, welcoming home you left behind.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic and the title text both parody the motivational quote attributed to {{w|Les Brown (speaker)|Leslie Brown}}, which originally says, "Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."

In the original form, the quote is figurative, meant to inspire people to pursue ambitious goals, reasoning that even if they fail to achieve them, they may still accomplish other great things while trying. The comic and title text, on the other hand, attempt to interpret the quote literally, exploring the humorous aspects of doing so. Megan wants to destroy and kill the moon in order to humble it, feeling taunted by its orbiting merrily over her head, and so she inspires her students to physically attempt to destroy the moon whenever possible, only to become sheepish when she realizes the moon is right behind her, as if it were a person who could become offended by what she is saying. This is, of course, a [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RightBehindMe common comedy trope].

The [[title text]] invokes another literal interpretation of the phrase - if a space vehicle aims at the Moon and misses, it will end up in a new orbit, possibly (depending on its velocity) escaping from the Earth-Moon system and following a separate but nearby orbit around the Sun. A solar orbit is very hard, very fuel-intensive, and very lengthy to return from, despite physically meaning you will remain very close to Earth, even close enough to see it with some optical magnification. Thus, as a hypothetical space explorer's life support gradually ran out because his craft could not make it back to Earth in time, he would be taunted by Earth remaining close to him.

==Transcript==
:[Megan stands at a podium.]
:Megan: Students, shoot for the moon. If you miss,

:[A surprisingly lunar-like object is starting to edge into the frame.]
:Megan: '''''SHOOT AGAIN'''''. Keep shooting and never stop.

:[The moon is now almost entirely in-frame.]
:Megan: Someday, one of us will destroy that stupid skycircle. And— ...What? What are you all—

:[The moon is now in frame, lurking ominously in the background.]
:Megan: ...it's right behind me, isn't it? '''''***'''''. Everyone act casual.

==Trivia==
*This comic is referenced in the What if? [http://what-if.xkcd.com/109/ Into the Blue] - see the title text at the third picture.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

392: Making Rules

2015-02-13T20:31:32Z

NealCruco: Removed redundant line.

{{comic
| number = 392
| date = March 5, 2008
| title = Making Rules
| image = making_rules.png
| titletext = I never understood why someone would expect me to accept their rules right after they'd punched me. I'm sure it's all very symbolic or something.
}}
[[File:Fusca_estacionado.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5| Volkswagen Beetle (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
==Explanation==
"{{w|Punch Buggy}}" is a game played by two people with a view of traffic (often, but not here, during a car ride). For each Volkswagen Beetle that passes nearby, the first player to see it is entitled to punch the other player, while calling "Punch Buggy" followed by the colour of the spotted Beetle. Traditionally the other player is permitted to return the punch, unless the first player also calls "no punch back".

Many people will just assume that the game is always being played and punch you out of the blue, giving you no chance to opt out. Implicit in this game is the idea that you can make rules just by declaring them (e.g. "no punch back") even if those rules are ridiculously unfair. When [[Cueball]] realizes this, he decides to make the game stakes more desirable than just the right to punch someone, and (seemingly successfully) uses the same principle to secure the right to sleep with the other man's girlfriend.

The title text describes how silly these games are.

In the UK, a common variant uses a yellow {{w|Mini}} rather than the VW Beetle. Other examples of this type of game are the {{w|Car numberplate game}} and {{w|Padiddle}}.

==Transcript==
:[Two men are sitting. A yellow buggy passes by.]
:Man: Punch buggy yellow. No punch back!
:[Man punches Cueball, Cueball punches man back, with seemingly greater force, causing the Man to fall of the bench they are sitting on.]
:Man: I said no punch back!
:Cueball: You can do that?
:Cueball: Man, this changes everything.
:Soon...
:[A blue buggy passes by, and Cueball is holding Megan's hand.]
:Cueball: Sleep with your girlfriend buggy blue!
:Man: Hey!
:Cueball: No complaining back!
:Man: Aww...

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Sex]]

Talk:1486: Vacuum

2015-02-13T18:00:39Z

NealCruco:

This is obviously a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_energy Vacuum Energy].
The "Tremendous" part is because calculation based on quantum electrodynamics suggest it should be 100 order of magnitudes larger than measured (That is a "1" with 100 zeros after it). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.202|141.101.98.202]] 09:42, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
:AKA a googolplex -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:55, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
::No, that's just a googol. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.77|141.101.104.77]] 13:55, 13 February 2015 (UTC)

Wondering if this is a reference to Terramex [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Terramex] {{unsigned|Stese}}

:My antivirus says this link is [[609|not safe]]. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.77|141.101.104.77]] 10:50, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
::I see what you did there. - Equinox [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.120|199.27.128.120]] 17:03, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
:::can't speak to your antivirus, but I don't see any problem with the site (TVTropes) - it's a page about a video game called "Terramex" (which in summary is a game about adventurers finding a scientist that can prevent a meteor from hitting Earth) - no idea what that might have to do with vacuum energy, vacuum cleaners, living rooms, berets, or billiard balls, or even flying, but oh well -- [[User:Brettpeirce|Brettpeirce]] ([[User talk:Brettpeirce|talk]]) 12:55, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
::::You completely missed the point. xkcd comic 609 referenced TVTropes' addictive power. You can get trapped in the web of links all day. Therefore, 141.101.104.77 was simply joking that their antivirus had detected this, and warned them that the site was not safe. I understand not seeing the comic before, but the IP did provide a link to explain the joke. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 18:00, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
I tried to read this explanation, but couldn't because of xkcd 1240 [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:23, 13 February 2015 (UTC)
I was expecting something related to February 14. You know, something about YouTube, IBM, ENIAC, Pale Blue Dot, Shoemaker, Hilbert, Catalan, etc. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.77|141.101.104.77]] 10:39, 13 February 2015 (UTC)

Isn't 'the universe is mine to command!' a quote from Aladdin?? {{unsigned|Atty70}}

:Yes it is a quote from Aladdin (by Jafar when he becomes a genie) [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103639/quotes]. It is also a quote from "insert your bond/sci-movie here" as it is the usual goal for any scientist that creates a lot of energy or a new weapon (only exception to this is in the real world with Einstein and the atomic bomb). Maybe something to add to the description (looking at someone with better english and story telling skills than I got) [[User:Aquaplanet|Aquaplanet]] ([[User talk:Aquaplanet|talk]]) 12:44, 13 February 2015 (UTC)

faced?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.157|108.162.249.157]] 12:53, 13 February 2015 (UTC)

342: 1337: Part 2

2015-02-11T22:48:23Z

NealCruco: /* Trivia */ I'm pretty sure that's confirmed, and it's mentioned in the explanation.

{{comic
| number = 342
| date = November 13, 2007
| title = 1337: Part 2
| image = 1337 part 2.png
| titletext = Trivia: Elaine is actually her middle name.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Donald Knuth}} is a computer science Professor Emeritus at {{w|Stanford University}} who is famous for writing {{w|The Art of Computer Programming}} and developing the TeX computerized typesetting system. He may not have a mountain hideaway {{Citation needed}} (a reference to ''{{w|Kill Bill}}'', by the way), but he would be one of the best mentors a budding hacker could have.

The {{w|A* search algorithm}} and {{w|Dijkstra's algorithm}} are {{w|Graph traversal|graph search}} {{w|algorithm}}s. And what study of algorithms would be complete without a healthy study about finding complexities? {{w|Computational complexity theory|Time complexity}} is the amount of time an algorithm takes to execute. Upper and lower bounds for complexity is written in {{w|Big O notation}}. Best possible execution of an algorithm is constant time, or O(1), said in words, for any given data set no matter how large the algorithm will always return the answer in the same time. However, constant time is extremely difficult to achieve; linear time (O(n)) is also very good. For more complex algorithms, [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=plot+x*log%28x%29 O( n*log(n) )] is good, but [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=plot+x*log%28log%28x%29%29 O( n*log(log(n)) )] is better. (Note that logarithms in different bases are proportional to each other. So this would hold true for any base >1.)

From the evidence that [[Mrs. Roberts]] has two children, a daughter named [[Elaine Roberts|Elaine]], and a younger son named Bobby (presumably [[Little Bobby Tables|Bobby]]'); DROP TABLE students;--), we can assume that she is the same mother from [[327: Exploits of a Mom]]. Of course, the title text here explains that Elaine is only her middle name. In [[327]] we learned her first name is "Help I'm trapped in a driver's license factory". Mrs. Roberts appears to have had fun naming her children.

All comics in "[[:Category:1337|1337]]" series:
*[[341: 1337: Part 1]]
*342: 1337: Part 2 (this one)
*[[343: 1337: Part 3]]
*[[344: 1337: Part 4]]
*[[345: 1337: Part 5]]

This series was released on 5 consecutive days (Monday-Friday) and not over the usual Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball standing near a friend, who is on the floor near the armchair.]
:Friend: So the greatest hacker of our era is a cookie-baking mom?
:Cueball: Second-greatest.
:Friend: Oh?

:[A young Elaine with a ponytail is laying on the floor looking at the screen of a computer that appears to have been pieced together. A younger Bobby is finger painting at an easel.]
:Mrs. Roberts had two children. Her son, Bobby, was never much for computers, but her daughter Elaine took to them like a ring in the bell.

:[The back of a car is in frame. Mrs. Roberts is waving goodbye to her daughter who is wearing a backpack and is holding a walking stick. She is about to begin climbing a staircase built into a mountain.]
:When Elaine turned 11, her mother sent her to train under Donald Knuth in his mountain hideaway.

:[Donald Knuth is standing with a pointing stick at a chalk board with graph traversal patterns on it.]
:For four years she studied algorithms.
:Knuth: Child—

:[Knuth whips around slashing the stick like a sword. Elaine jumps and lands on the stick.]
:Knuth: Why is A* search wrong in this situation?
:''swish''
:Elaine: Memory usage!
:Knuth: What would you use?
:Elaine: Dijkstra's algorithm!

:[They are outside both working on a chalkboard with a separator down the middle so they cannot look at each other's work. Elaine is no longer wearing her hair in a ponytail.]
:Until one day she bested her master
:Knuth: So our lower bound here is O(n log n)
:Elaine: Nope. Got it in O(n log (log n))
:And left.

==Trivia==
*In this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24#t=21m30s Google-speech] Donald Knuth personally asked [[Randall]] what his ''n*log(log(n))'' algorithm for searching was, and Randall referred him to Elaine.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Elaine Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Mrs. Roberts]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Little Bobby Tables]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Knuth]]
[[Category:1337|02]]

1102: Fastest-Growing

2015-02-08T20:10:37Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Though relevant to the topic of this comic, I believe this link does not improve the explanation. Therefore, I have removed it.

{{comic
| number = 1102
| date = August 31, 2012
| title = Fastest-Growing
| image = fastest_growing.png
| titletext = I lead a small but extraordinarily persuasive religion whose only members are door-to-door proselytizers from other faiths.
}}

==Explanation==
Using percentage of growth can be a misleading value to use for gauging the importance or popularity of something. If you have 5 members and then add 5 more, that would mean you have achieved a growth of 100%.

In the case portrayed in this comic the claim appears to be that the other person's religion grew by 85%. [[Black Hat]] attempts humorously to show the flaw in using that statistic by growing his group by 100% (therefore, presumably, first place), which he simply does by adding his friend [[Rob]] to his religion, and thus increasing his membership from 1 to 2. The other person then says that his religion has a significant number of members (and not just one or two), but Black Hat doesn't care and responds that he hopes they are all OK with being "in second place" since the main argument from the other guy was about being the fastest-growing.

The title text is a comment by [[Randall]]. He enjoys the irony in converting only the very religious a door-to-door {{w|Proselytism|proselytizer}} to his own very persuasive religion. But it is not a missionary religion as he only converts people who comes to him to talk about religion. This would be people who came to Randall to do the same to him. It seems safe to assume he dislikes this type of missionary method.

Another interpretation is that the title text could be another way that Black Hat could take the 'fastest-growing' claim out of context to make it meaningless. By composing his religion of the unwitting proselytizers of other faiths, he can claim the highest ratio of converts to current adherents. Note that the amount of people converted is often exaggerated by groups that try to spread a faith. Although the beliefs spread by his proselytizers vary widely, Black Hat is not concerned with what his so-called followers believe. Thus, he can claim the title of fastest-growing religion without having any value to his religion.

==Transcript==
:[A man with a combover, a book, and a clipboard approaches Black Hat.]
:Combover: You should check us out. We're the fastest-growing religion in the country.
:Black Hat: "Fastest-growing" is such a dubious claim.
:Combover: It's true! We grew by 85% over the past year.

:[Black Hat shouts to someone out of frame.]
:Black Hat: Hey, Rob — wanna join my religion?
:Rob: Sure, whatever.

:[Black Hat turns back to Combover and produces a notepad and pen.]
:Black Hat: Well, looks like my religion grew by 100% this year.

:[Black Hat begins to walk away.]
:Combover: We have 38,000 members!
:Black Hat: Hope they're all ok with second place.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Rob]]
[[Category:Religion]]

1166: Argument

2015-02-04T22:17:21Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Changed link to more credible and well-known source.

{{comic
| number = 1166
| date = January 28, 2013
| title = Argument
| image = argument.png
| titletext = The misguided search for a perpetual motion machine has run substantially longer than any attempted perpetual motion machine.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|perpetual motion machine}} is a hypothetical device that is supposed to move infinitely with no external forces helping it, thus providing an unlimited source of energy. The existence of such an object would contradict the laws of thermodynamics, so perpetual motion machines are known to be impossible.

A conspiracy theory called {{w|free energy suppression}} asserts that it really is possible to get infinite energy and special interest groups have worked to hide it. In the comic, Randall says that he posted to a forum dedicated to the idea back in 2004, and the thread is still active — it kept on going forever, like the perpetual motion machine they desire (in contrast with real attempts to build such a machine, which all stop quite soon). Of course, the reason the thread continues is that its advocates continue to add energy to it, in the form of comments. "Hot air", if you will.

The {{w|second law of thermodynamics}} states that the {{w|entropy}} of an ''isolated'' system never decreases. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2knWCuzcdJo See this video about entropy]. Thus, even if you could build a perpetual motion machine, you wouldn't be able to use it to produce energy that could be consumed by another device.

The three supposed comments show humorous forms of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience scientific ignorance]:

#The first comment is simply wrong; neither pole of a {{w|magnet}} reverses entropy.
#The second comment confuses the {{w|first law of thermodynamics}} (conservation of energy) with {{w|Isaac Asimov}}'s {{w|Three Laws of Robotics|First Law of robotics}} (robots may not injure humans).
#The third comment invalidly conflates the notions of {{w|physical law}} and {{w|Law of the United States|US law}}, hoping for legal loopholes to make a {{w|flywheel}} spin forever. Perhaps Congress would repeal the law of gravity on one side.

==Transcript==
:[A page from a very long thread on "Free Energy Forum."]
:'''Thread:''' You're all crackpots who don't understand thermodynamics.
:Page 547 of 547
:Poster 1: No, idiot, only the ''north'' end of a magnet increases entropy. The south end decreases it.
:Poster 2: I wiki'd this "First Law" and I don't see the issue. My device isn't a robot and doesn't harm humans.
:Poster 3: What if we trick the government into only suppressing the ''left'' side of the flywheel?
:Ironically, the argument I started on a perpetual motion forum in 2004 shows no signs of slowing down.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Science]]

1035: Cadbury Eggs

2015-02-02T22:16:17Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Normally I don't edit an explanation that everyone's happy with, but I think this version is clearer.

{{comic
| number = 1035
| date = March 28, 2012
| title = Cadbury Eggs
| image = cadbury_eggs.png
| titletext = When they moved production from New Zealand to the UK and switched from the runny white centers to the thick, frosting-like filling, it got way harder to cook them scrambled.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Cadbury Creme Egg|Cadbury Eggs}} are a chocolate egg-shaped candy with a filling. They are supposed to replicate a real egg with a hard exterior and soft interior. However, unlike real eggs, the exterior is edible.

In this comic, [[Cueball]] is trying to say that sodas have way too much sugar to even be appealing as beverages, because they contain as much sugar as 2 or 3 Cadbury Eggs, and one Cadbury Egg alone makes him feel sick.

However, [[Megan]] interprets this in precisely the opposite way to what Cueball intended. Instead of comparing soda to Cadbury Eggs, she compares Cadbury Eggs to soda. If a [[1070|few]] Cadbury Eggs have the same amount of sugar as soda, Megan can eat as many as she wants year-round in place of soda, with no additional guilt. Cadbury Eggs are usually consumed around {{w|Easter}} — which is usually anywhere from late March to late April.

The title text mentions the closure of the {{w|Cadbury Creme Egg#Manufacture in New Zealand|manufacture in New Zealand}} in 2009 and the change of the filling from runny to thick as a consequence. The joke here is the comparison to real eggs, who can be cooked {{w|Scrambled_eggs|scrambled}}, the new thick filling is not liquid enough to be cooked in a pan, as was the old runny filling.

==Transcript==
:[Two Cadbury eggs, one in the foil, the other out of the foil and broken open to reveal the gooey center.]
:A Cadbury egg has about 20g of sugar. (25, Outside the US) "One Cadbury Egg" is a nice unit of sugar content.

:[A can of soda with an equals sign and two eggs; a bottle of soda with an equals sign and three eggs.]
:One 12oz. can of soda has about two Cadbury eggs worth of sugar. One 20oz. bottle has three.

:[Two unwrapped Cadbury eggs, with an arrow indicating they should be placed in a glass of water.]
:One Cadbury egg is enough to make me feel kinda gross. Now when I see Coke or Snapple or Nestea or whatever, I imagine drinking a couple of dissolved Cadbury eggs.

:[Megan puts her hand to her chin in thought, Cueball has his arms out in exclamation.]
:Megan: Wow. Huh. So the takeaway is... I can eat Cadbury eggs by the handful all season and feel no worse about it than I do about soda?
:Cueball: That's not really—
:Megan: This is ''awesome!''
:Cueball: *sigh*

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

1070: Words for Small Sets

2015-02-02T22:12:23Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ And I just saw more things that sorely needed fixing.

{{comic
| number = 1070
| date = June 18, 2012
| title = Words for Small Sets
| image = words_for_small_sets.png
| titletext = If things are too quiet, try asking a couple of friends whether "a couple" should always mean "two". As with the question of how many spaces should go after a period, it can turn acrimonious surprisingly fast unless all three of them agree.
}}

==Explanation==
The noun "couple" means "exactly two items of the same kind". This comic is satirizing how laymen sometimes use the word "couple" interchangeably with words like "few" or "several", which in this context mean "comparatively small but definitely greater than one". It is also satirizing arguments about the relative meaning of phrases like "few" and "several" (some people will argue that "several" should mean more than "few", while others will argue the opposite or that it doesn't matter), making this comic [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=troll+bait troll bait]. [[Randall]] is attempting to "troll" (intentionally provoke) a certain group of people by taking an unpopular side of the argument. To be certain the side he picked is an unpopular one, Randall has made up his own by proposing a "compromise" more likely to infuriate everyone than to make any side happy (a technique he's [[:Category:Compromise|used before]]). The comic's claim to "clear things up" also makes it similar to the "definitive standard" proposed in [[394: Kilobyte]].

The title text is just more troll bait. Randall says "Try asking a couple of friends [...] unless all three of them agree," which implies that a couple means exactly three.

==Transcript==
Just to clear things up:
{| class="wikitable" |
|A few
|Anywhere from 2 to 5
|-
|A handful
|Anywhere from 2 to 5
|-
|Several
|Anywhere from 2 to 5
|-
|A couple
|2 (but sometimes up to 5)
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Compromise]]

1070: Words for Small Sets

2015-02-02T22:08:31Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Removed unfounded and improbable speculation; fixed sentence; improved definition of "troll".

{{comic
| number = 1070
| date = June 18, 2012
| title = Words for Small Sets
| image = words_for_small_sets.png
| titletext = If things are too quiet, try asking a couple of friends whether "a couple" should always mean "two". As with the question of how many spaces should go after a period, it can turn acrimonious surprisingly fast unless all three of them agree.
}}

==Explanation==
The noun "couple" means "exactly two items of the same kind". The comic/chart is satirizing how laymen sometimes use the word "couple" interchangeably with words like "few" or "several", which in this context mean "comparatively small but definitely greater than one". It is also satirizing arguments about the relative meaning of phrases like "few" and "several" (some people will argue that "several" should mean more than "few", while others will argue the opposite or that it doesn't matter), making this comic nerd [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=troll+bait troll bait]; [[Randall]] is attempting to "troll" (intentionally provoke) a certain group of people by taking an unpopular side of the argument. To be certain the side he picked is an unpopular one, Randall has made up his own by proposing a "compromise" more likely to infuriate everyone than to make any side happy (a technique he's [[:Category:Compromise|used before]]). The comic's claim to "clear things up" also makes it similar to the "definitive standard" proposed in [[394: Kilobyte]].

The title text is just more troll bait. Randall says "Try asking a couple of friends [...] unless all three of them agree," which implies that a couple means exactly three.

==Transcript==
Just to clear things up:
{| class="wikitable" |
|A few
|Anywhere from 2 to 5
|-
|A handful
|Anywhere from 2 to 5
|-
|Several
|Anywhere from 2 to 5
|-
|A couple
|2 (but sometimes up to 5)
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Compromise]]

1271: Highlighting

2015-01-31T19:25:51Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Fixed adjective.

{{comic
| number = 1271
| date = September 30, 2013
| title = Highlighting
| image = highlighting.png
| titletext = And if clicking on any word pops up a site-search for articles about that word, I will close all windows in a panic and never come back.
}}

==Explanation==
A number of people find it easier to read long texts by marking their place as they move through the reading. When done on paper, this may be done with a ruler or pencil. On-screen, however, one of the most effective methods is by highlighting the text being read. People accustomed to this form of reading often do it absentmindedly. Some people simply highlight parts of an article they're consulting without regards to which line they're currently reading, just to occupy their hands.

Highlighting, however, has the potential to create shapes on screen. Randall is referring to the fact that the shapes created may occasionally be symmetrical, which creates satisfaction.

The bottom example refers to the practice of websites adding a script to disable highlighting, often to discourage readers from copying their content. This creates a great dissatisfaction in readers accustomed to highlight as they read, shown by the many overlapping X's.

The title text refers to the practice of websites of adding a script that searches upon clicking any word in the text; most notably done by Yahoo! news in years prior. The search may be of the site, the web, or of an advertisement provider. The script sometimes creates a popup, which, Randall says, causes him to "panic", and consequently never want to return to the site again. It is in fact quite annoying to the occasional highlighter, causing him to lose his place and interrupting his train of thought.

==Transcript==
:[A paragraph of text is shown. The highlight starts away from the leftmost edge of the highlight, and is a different distance to that between the rightmost edge of the highlight and the highlight end. Red X.]
:[A paragraph is shown. The highlight's starting point, end point, and number of lines included is such that there is an internal square in the middle, illustrated in green. Green tick.]
:[A paragraph is shown. Not only does it have an internal square, but the distance between the leftmost edge and the highlight start point is the same as the distance between the rightmost edge and the highlight end point. Green tick.]
:[A paragraph is shown. The entire paragraph is highlighted, making one big rectangle. Green tick.]
:[A paragraph is shown. The whole paragraph is selected, but the highlight starts away from the leftmost margin. This is shown with a red box, an arrow, and "?!?!". Red X.]
:[A paragraph is shown. Over the top is overlaid "[Clicking to highlight text is disabled]". Many, many red Xes.]
:I absentmindedly select random blocks of text as I read, and feel subconsciously satisfied when the highlighted area makes a symmetrical shape.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]

934: Mac/PC

2015-01-31T17:33:15Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Rewrote the explanation of the self-referential humor.

{{comic
| number = 934
| date = August 5, 2011
| title = Mac/PC
| image = mac_pc.png
| titletext = It's fun to watch browsers fumblingly recapitulate the history of window management. Someday we'll have xmonad as a Firefox extension.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a parody of the "{{w|Get a Mac}}" (also known as "I'm a Mac" or "Mac vs. PC") ad campaign for the {{w|Mac}} brand of computers. The ads personified the Mac and their competitors, the PC. The ads poked fun at the PC's terrible function while paying attention to the Mac's unique features. Each ad started with the duo introducing themselves as "I'm a Mac..." "...and I'm a PC."

The comic, however, presents the differences between them as no longer of much importance, since most everything nowadays is done through browsers due to the proliferation of cloud computing. In essence, using the same browser to visit the same website among different operating systems would give you an experience that is very much the same. Additionally, there is some self-referential humor here; both the Mac and PC are simple stick figures due to xkcd's style. Therefore, they are literally identical as far as appearance goes.

The title text refers to {{w|window management}}, which is software that controls windows on computers. {{w|xmonad}} is one such program, and [[Randall]] says that eventually it will be an extension usable with the browser {{w|Firefox}}. What makes it somewhat unusual (and thus worth mentioning) is that it is a {{w|Tiling window manager|tiling window manager}}, meaning it automatically arranges and resizes newly opened program windows to fit a grid. This is especially useful on large screens.

==Transcript==
:[Two adult humans stand facing out of the screen.]
:Mac: I'm a Mac
:PC: And I'm a PC.
:Mac & PC, together: And since you do everything through a browser now, we're pretty indistinguishable.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Computers]]

Talk:451: Impostor

2015-01-31T17:24:03Z

NealCruco:

It could be that no one understands the literary criticism, even if they read it. The panel shows a student listening to Cueball. A fun, alternative explanation is that Cueball has found his real niche! A natural genius in literary criticism! (I know that's not what he's driving at. Stick with my first explanation.)[[User:Theo|Theo]] ([[User talk:Theo|talk]]) 13:22, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

I know this is easy to find, but the wikipedia article on deconstruction is very relevant. There should be a link in the explanation. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.7|108.162.219.7]] 01:05, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I believe the multiple issues listed in the '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstruction Deconstruction]''' Wikipedia article speak for themselves:

:'''This article has multiple issues.''' Please help '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deconstruction&action=edit improve it]''' or discuss these issues on the '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Deconstruction talk page]'''.
:*This article '''contains [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:QUOTE too many or too-lengthy quotations] for an encyclopedic entry'''. (''February 2014'')
:*This article '''may be [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vagueness confusing or unclear] to readers'''. (''February 2014'')
:*This article '''may be too [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/technical#Adjective technical] for most readers to understand'''. (''February 2014'')
:*This article's '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:LEAD introduction] may be too long for the overall article length'''. (''February 2014'')
:*This article '''may need to be rewritten entirely to comply with Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style quality standards]'''. (''February 2014'')
:*The '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view neutrality] of this article is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NPOV_dispute disputed]'''. (''February 2014'')
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.5|199.27.133.5]] 20:10, 27 June 2014 (UTC)
::I'm wondering how anyone can make enough sense of that article to notice bias. :) [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 17:24, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

I think that, on the literary criticism explanation, Randall wrote "Eight papers and two books and they haven't caught on" to mean that he ''talked'' about eight papers and two books, not that he has already had a literary criticism writing career consisting of eight written papers and two books and no one has noticed. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.53|199.27.133.53]] 04:19, 16 July 2014 (UTC)
:I disagree. A 'paper' usually means an academic paper, not literary work. Then, the books part follows suit. --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 06:52, 3 August 2014 (UTC)

649: Static

2015-01-28T22:41:49Z

NealCruco: /* Transcript */ Standardized names.

{{comic
| number = 649
| date = October 14, 2009
| title = Static
| image = static.png
| titletext = I firmly believe that nothing can go wrong on a project if you're wearing one of those wrist things.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic describes an unlikely confusion between a {{w|condom}} and an {{w|antistatic wrist strap}}. The two characters, presumably Cueball and Megan, are in the dark and about to engage in {{w|sexual intercourse}}. Megan checks that Cueball has a condom on. Cueball thinks a condom isn't necessary because he has an antistatic wrist strap on. Megan finds this ridiculous.

{{w|Antistatic wrist straps}} are important safety tools for {{w|electronics}} work such as handling computer parts. The wrist strap provides a conduction path directly from one's skin to an {{w|electrical ground}}, preventing the buildup of {{w|static electricity}} which, if accidentally discharged upon touching part of a circuit, can damage sensitive electronic components.

{{w|Condoms}}, on the other hand, are an important safety tool for sex, as {{w|birth control}} and protection from {{w|STDs}}.

The confusion is humorous because both items have abstract similarities, but are used in wildly different kinds of activities. In an abstract sense, both are items that you want to be sure to put on before engaging in a certain activity, wearing it throughout that activity to prevent any disastrous accidental effects.

The last panel implies that in his confusion, Cueball put on a condom in order to replace the {{w|RAM}} in his computer the previous week. Rather than actually asking about it, Megan just thought that was weird. {{w|Geek squad}} is the computer service department of the {{w|Best Buy}} chain of American electronics superstores. So Cueball also implies that he put on a condom while working in Best Buy, for performing computer repair, and so he was fired for indecency.

The title text conveys the irrational belief that nothing can go wrong on a project while wearing an antistatic wrist band. In reality, the wrist band will only protect your electronics from {{w|electrostatic discharge}}, and there are plenty of other things that could go wrong on an electronics project, such as bad soldering, installing the wrong component, mechanical damage through excessive force, or even electric shock from an exposed live voltage. Or the text could be referring to even non-electronics projects, in which case the wrist band would really be pointless.

==Transcript==
:[It's pitch black. Only Cueball and Megan's dialogue can be seen.]

:Megan: Hang on, I can't see—did you put on a condom?
:Cueball: It's okay. I've got a wrist thing on.

:Megan: A what? Let me see that.
:''fumble''
:Megan: This is an anti-static strap.

:Cueball: You mean it doesn't...
:Megan: No. Why would you even THINK that?
:Cueball: I guess I was mixed up.

:Cueball: Wait, so when I was replacing that RAM last week...
:Megan: Yeah, I THOUGHT that was weird.
:Cueball: Oh, but it explains why the geek squad fired me.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Sex]]

145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics

2015-01-28T22:36:48Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ This chunk of text goes from outright unencyclopedic, to confusing, to just unhelpful. I'm all for a concise paragraph on the topic of this comic, but it'll have to be written from scratch. None of this is worth keeping.

{{comic
| number = 145
| date = August 18, 2006
| title = Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics
| image = dinosaur_comics.png
| titletext = Guys: while I was writing this, I accidentally swallowed a table-size slab of drywall. I know! Wacky.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Dinosaur Comics}} is a webcomic by {{w|Ryan North}}. The artwork never changes, save a few rare exceptions, and only the dialogue is different. [[Randall]] traced the comic's usual artwork, though the drawing of the house about to be squashed in panel 4 is a more rudimentary rendition.

For those who haven't read it, this is a [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1387 typical strip], and [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2079 here's] a strip dealing with the same subject as this comic (but posted five years after it). See also [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2420 this particular example] where the title text actually refer to Randall and xkcd.

Randall makes several shots at recurring themes in Dinosaur Comics. T-Rex, the green dinosaur, is bold and enthusiastic, discussing various topics, a favorite of which appears to be linguistics. This time, he is talking about {{w|Singular_they| they}} being used as a {{w|Grammatical_person|third person}} singular {{w|Gender-specific_and_gender-neutral_pronouns|gender-free pronoun}} and how it should be more widely used, even though its acceptance varies. Dromiceiomimus, the white dinosaur in the third panel, usually responds calmly to T-Rex's discussions. Utahraptor, the orange dinosaur, typically contradicts T-Rex, but Randall subverts this pattern and has him agree. The comic suggests that the perpetual disagreement stems from a 'rift' in the author's mind, which would be healed if only he lived in a world where there were a land bridge between Asia and North America.

Like [[xkcd]], Dinosaur Comics has title texts. Ryan's title texts tend to be bizarre non-sequiturs, and the title text in this parody fits this pattern.

In the last panel, the narrator starts with "In a world…", a phrase made famous by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_LaFontaine Don LanFontaine] in movie trailers. The suggestion that "everyone is bicurious" may be a reference to Arthur C. Clarke's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Earth Imperial Earth].

Characters from ''Dinosaur Comics'' later appeared in [[1350: Lorenz]] (see under [[1350:_Lorenz#Dinosaur|Dinosaur]]) and in [[1452: Jurassic World]].

This comic is a part of the Parody Week, just joking about other webcomics.
*[[141: Parody Week: Achewood]]
*[[142: Parody Week: Megatokyo]]
*[[143: Parody Week: TFD and Natalie Dee]]
*[[144: Parody Week: A Softer World]]
*[[145: Parody Week: Dinosaur Comics]]

==Transcript==
:T-Rex: THINGS I AM UPPITY ABOUT: "They" as a third-person singular gender-free pronoun.
:T-Rex: I'm all for it!
:Dromiceiomimus: But isn't that terrible grammar?
:T-Rex: Only by recent convention! It's been in use that way for centuries, and its use is widely accepted! ALSO: this lets us avoid ridiculous constructs like "he/she", "s/he", "xe" or "hirs"!
:Utahraptor: T-Rex, I... agree.
:T-Rex: What?
:Utahraptor: That sounds good to me!
:Utahraptor: Normally I'd jump in with an objection, but I think your point makes sense.
:T-Rex: Could it be that the rift in our author's mind has finally healed? Is he no longer locked in perpetual war with the self-doubt that lurks in his subc-
:Narrator: '''IN A WORLD WHERE THERE IS STILL A LAND BRIDGE BETWEEN ASIA AND NORTH AMERICA FOR SOME REASON:'''
:T-Rex: -onscious?
:Narrator: '''ALSO HOW ABOUT IN THIS WORLD EVERYONE IS BICURIOUS'''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Parody Week]]
[[Category:Dinosaurs]]
[[Category:Language]]

1245: 10-Day Forecast

2015-01-27T23:21:03Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ This is a stretch. There is such a thing as overinterpreting.

{{comic
| number = 1245
| date = July 31, 2013
| title = 10-Day Forecast
| image = 10 day forecast.png
| titletext = Oh, definitely not; they don't have Amazon Prime.
}}

==Explanation==
The 10-day forecast is a prediction of the weather extending 10 days into the future (with varying degrees of accuracy). However, when [[Cueball]] checks the forecast for his local area, it apparently predicts progressively extreme lightning storms, a plague of insects, what appears to be {{w|Rapture|The Rapture}}, and the appearance of the anti-Christ. Upon the anti-Christ (or perhaps Woden or Mothra) appearing, the forecast breaks up into static and nothingness with the day stuck on Tuesday, meaning that the world has ended.

When asked about this, [[Megan]] casually explains that Cueball put a minus (-) sign in front of his ZIP code. A {{w|Zone Improvement Plan|ZIP code}} is a numeric postal code used in the United States, but many more countries use similar systems. As ZIP codes are tied to a geographic location, it is also often used to specify a local region for the purposes of weather reports.

Many computer systems that let the user write in a number many only work with certain numbers (such as positive numbers). Numbers the system is not designed to work with (such as negative numbers) may lead to errors or unpredictable behavior. When this happens with the number of a video game level, it can result in data of another type being loaded, creating a level with a corrupted or physically-impossible landscape; this is sometimes known as a "[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MinusWorld Minus World]".

Megan assumes that the negative zip code represents an actual geographical location, or a real-life Minus World, and that the weather forecaster is indeed showing an accurate forecast for the (corrupted) area. She also implies that several such Minus World locations exist.

In the title text, Megan agrees with Cueball's desire not to move to that ZIP code area, the punchline being that her reason is not to avoid the apocalypse, but to retain access to Amazon Prime, which shows that her priorities are amusingly warped. The service Amazon Prime is provided by {{w|Amazon.com|Amazon}}, where the user pays a flat annual fee and in exchange he/she gets access a number of "enhanced" Amazon services, including free two-day shipping, free access to a library of streaming videos, and the ability to borrow books.

==Transcript==
:Megan: Is it going to rain this weekend? I have a thing.
:[Cueball sits behind a computer desk.]
:Cueball: Lemme check.
:*type type*
:Cueball: ...uhh. What?

:'''Your 10-day forecast:'''
:Today [Sunny] Today
:Tomorrow [Cloudy] Tomorrow
:Friday [Thunderstorms]
:Saturday [Extreme thunderstorms]
:Sunday [Swarm of insects]
:Monday [Images of distorted, floating people]
:Tuesday [A human with two horns silhouetted against a bleak red background]
:Tuesday [Grey static]
:Tuesday [Black screen]
:Tuesday [Black screen]

:Megan: ...Oh! You typed a minus sign in the ZIP code. The negative ZIP codes are all like that.
:Cueball: Let's ''never'' move there.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:707: Joshing

2015-01-27T23:15:46Z

NealCruco:

And what is "Joshing"? {{unsigned ip|‎77.254.185.80}}

"Joshing" is the present participle of the verb "to josh" -- which in colloquial American English means to joke or to tease. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.209|108.162.219.209]] 05:26, 27 November 2013 (UTC)

Is there any special meaning in the numbers 49 and 31 here? --[[User:YMS|YMS]] ([[User talk:YMS|talk]]) 20:10, 18 September 2014 (UTC)
:I really don't think so. Not every single thing in xkcd is a reference. I bet Randall just pulled those numbers out of thin air. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 23:15, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

707: Joshing

2015-01-27T23:14:34Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Added punctuation.

{{comic
| number =707
| date =February 26, 2010
| title =Joshing
| image =joshing.png
| titletext =You'd be moved up from 49 of ~7 billion to 31 of ~7 billion.
}}

==Explanation==
"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you" is a flippant response to a question that's been around at least since the movie ''{{w|Top Gun}},'' and has entered regular use in the English speaking world, even among people who don't know its origin.

The [[Cueball]] uses the line here, but the joke is that he actually ''is'' planning to kill the the other one, and if he answered the question he'd have to kill him even sooner.

According to the title text, he'd go from #49 on his hit list (which apparently includes the entire world population) to #31.

The title 'Joshing' refers to the colloquial American verb 'to josh', meaning to joke with.

==Transcript==
:Cueball: So, is the new project going forward?
:Friend: I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you!

:[The men laugh cautiously.]

:[The men resume conversation.]
:Friend: I mean, kill you even sooner.

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

453: Upcoming Hurricanes

2015-01-26T19:21:28Z

NealCruco: /* Explanation */ Fixed a typo; improved a link.

{{comic
| number = 453
| date = July 23, 2008
| title = Upcoming Hurricanes
| image = upcoming_hurricanes.png
| titletext = I'd like to see more damage assessments for hurricanes hitting New York and flooding Manhattan -- something like the 1938 Long Island Express, but aimed a bit more to the west. It's just a matter of time.
}}

==Explanation==
It must have been {{w|Atlantic hurricane season|hurricane season}} in the United States!

This comic gives some ideas on upcoming {{w|Tropical cyclone|hurricane}} paths on an unlabelled map that shows the region roughly between central {{w|Canada}} and northern {{w|Brazil}}. Red dotted lines indicates possible hurricane paths.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Hurricane Name
! Details
|-
| Hurricane Where-The-Hell-Is-Bermuda
| Enters from the east side of the map, wanders around the {{w|Atlantic Ocean}} in a scribble that seems to take the shape of an {{w|Ampersand}}. Then it goes north for a while, and then peters out without entering the {{w|Bermuda Triangle}}. The Bermuda Triangle is a location in the Atlantic Ocean loosely framed by the three corners {{w|Bermuda}}, {{w|Miami}} and {{w|Puerto Rico}}. The myth is that (too) many ships and planes get lost once they enter inside the area of this triangle and disappear without a trace. In this case the hurricane gets lost before entering and can't even find the triangle.
|-
| Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy
| Comes from somewhere to the north-west, goes through {{w|Illinois}}, and then back to the north-west. This hurricane, while actually impossible, comes from Canada to strike {{w|Chicago}}, Illinois, before heading back to Canada. As hurricanes never hits Illinois this particular hurricane "think" they have too easy a time in this particular state. Interestingly enough, (though it did not affect the Chicago area or correspond with the path displayed in the comic), roughly one year later a {{w|Derecho|Super derecho}}, a storm resembling a hurricane or tropical storm in movement and form, {{w|May 2009 Southern Midwest derecho|struck}} central and South Illinois, in addition to much of {{w|Missouri}} and {{w|Kansas}}.
|-
| Hurricane Freud
| Refers to {{w|Sigmund Freud}}, who believed that accidental sexual expression was a reflection of the unconscious mind's sexual desires. The hurricane's path forms a pair of testicles beside Florida. Florida, due to its shape and location, can be said to resemble a penis, and the hurricane's shape and position exemplify Freud's ideas.
|-
| Hurricane Screw-It-Let's-Just-Trash-Florida-Again
| Comes from the east, starts to curve to the north, and then turns sharply to head straight for Florida and zigzag through it four times before dying out. Sticking out from the rest of the US, Florida is prone to hurricanes from the East, South, and West. And with the state not being very high or wide, it is common for a hurricane to run over Florida, lose some strength, then rebuild strength over the hot waters in the Gulf of Mexico, only to do a U-turn and strike again. This is not exactly what happens with this particular hurricane, where it turns out into the Atlantic Ocean again each time. Just proving that its only wish was to strike Florida!
|-
| Hurricane Red and Hurricane Blue
| Blue is the only hurricane path drawn in blue. The two hurricanes are playing a game zipping in straight lines and right angles around {{w|Haiti}}, {{w|Jamaica}}, and {{w|Cuba}}. When ''Red'' successfully cuts off ''Blue'', the latter instantly dies, and then ''Red'' dies shortly thereafter. The game they play is the game of {{w|Tron_(video_game)#Light_Cycles|Light Cycles}} from the {{w|Tron_(video_game)|video game}} based on the movie {{w|Tron}}. ''Hurricane Blue'' lost because it crashed into the wall of light left by ''Hurricane Red's'' {{w|Light_Cycle#Light_cycles|light cycle}}.
|-
| Hurricane Cos(x)
| Forms a curve in the shape of a {{w|sinusoid}} above the bottom edge of the map. Its path resembles a {{w|sine}} wave. This kind of {{w|trigonometric functions}} can, however, both be expressed as sin(x) or cos(x), the latter being a {{w|cosine wave}}. They look exactly the same when there is no clearly defined coordinate system as in this case - see [[#Trivia|trivia]] below.
|}

The title text refers to the {{w|1938 New England hurricane}} (also known as the Long Island Express), that caused $4.7 billion in damage. Had it been further west it could have caused more damage as the right side of a hurricane is stronger and more destructive than the left side as the winds on the right side push water inland. [[Randall]] asks for more damage assessments for such a hurricane that would be able to flood {{w|Manhattan}} in {{w|New York}}. Only four years after this cartoon was published, making it almost prophetic, {{w|Hurricane Sandy}} did strike the {{w|New York metropolitan area|New York–New Jersey area}} as a {{w|post-tropical cyclone}} storm. Hurricane Sandy causing an estimated $74 billion in damage.

The 1938 hurricane is also [[980:_Money/Transcript#Disasters|referenced]] in [[980: Money]] where it is calculated that it would have caused $78 billion had it happened in 2011. However, if that hurricane had taken the same turn as Sandy did, the cost today could have been a staggering $237 billion.

==Transcript==
:[An unlabelled map shows the region roughly between central Canada and northern Brazil. Dotted lines indicating hurricane paths cover the map, all red except Hurricane Blue which is blue. Each line is labelled - here follows the labels as they appear from the top and down:]
:Hurricane Where-the-Hell-Is-Bermuda
:Hurricane Illinois-Has-It-Too-Easy
:Hurricane Freud
:Hurricane Screw-It-Let's-Just-Trash-Florida-Again
:Hurricane Red
:Hurricane Blue
:Hurricane cos(x)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Penis]]