explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

1255: Columbus

2025-11-29T18:37:13Z

Not without text: /* Trivia */ added date of update

{{comic
| number = 1255
| date = August 23, 2013
| title = Columbus
| image = columbus.png
| titletext = And thus was smallpox introduced into the previously Undying Lands.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic starts with [[White Hat]] telling the two children shown on the first panel that Christopher Columbus knew the world was round, but that others believed it to be flat. However, this is a false narrative known as the {{w|Myth of the Flat Earth}}. Educated people in Columbus's time knew the world was round, and knew the approximate radius of the Earth. Columbus claimed that the distance to sail west from Canary Islands to Japan to be about 3,700 km, drastically lower than others believed, but {{w|Christopher Columbus#Geographical considerations|he was wrong about this}}. If another continent and the "{{w|West Indies}}" had not been fortuitously in the right place, Columbus and his crew probably would have died at sea.

As White Hat begins his explanation, Megan objects, though not explaining why. White Hat continues, so Megan interrupts, saying that Columbus went in a straight line as the world curved away, ending up in {{w|Valinor}} and the {{w|Undying Lands}}. Megan's story is an allusion to ''{{w|The Silmarillion}}'', by {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}, set in the same world as ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'' and ''{{w|The Hobbit}}''. The claim that Columbus sailed on a tangent to the surface alludes to how the elves' ships leave the curved sea surface and sail in a straight line to reach Valinor on the same route that they sailed when the world was still flat. The mentions of a silmaril and the morning star are a reference to {{w|Eärendil|Eärendil the Mariner}}, the only mortal sailor to reach the Undying Lands, with one of the {{w|Silmaril}}s (though Eärendil's journey occurred at the end of the First Age and the world was only changed into a sphere near the end of the Second Age). Megan humorously conflates these myths, suggesting that they are all equally false. Columbus in fact wasn't the first to claim the world was round; the ancient Greeks had discovered it long before. It was, however, disputed by some Christian scholars {{w|Spherical_Earth#Late_Antiquity|in late antiquity}} due to disagreements over its congruence with biblical canon. In Megan's telling, Columbus ends up as the morning star, which is actually the planet {{w|Venus}} (the same fate as Eärendil's in Tolkien's mythology).

The joke is that when White Hat tells her to stop making up the story, Megan pointedly replies "You first", indicating that she originally complained about White Hat's retelling of the Columbus story because his account didn't really happen, and so he was also "making things up". Megan's fantasy tale was then delivered to make a point.

The title text refers to the {{w|Smallpox#History|transfer of smallpox}} to the Americas by Europeans, which caused the deaths of untold millions of Native Americans. The introduction of smallpox to the Undying Lands would indeed make their name ironic. However, the Undying Lands are named after immortal {{w|Valar}}, {{w|Maiar}}, and {{w|elf (Middle-Earth)|Elves}} living there, not because they confer immortality. A more proper name would be the Lands of the Undying, and Valar, Maiar, and Elves are not susceptible to diseases in Tolkien's mythos in any case.

Similar discussions between White Hat and Megan can be found in [[1605: DNA]] and [[1731: Wrong]], in the latter Megan even finishes with a similar *sigh* as she started with here.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat talks to two children sitting in front of him on the floor to the right. A boy with hair like Hairy with his arms round his knees and behind him Jill with two hair buns, sitting cross-legged on her knees. Megan interrupts him from off-panel right.]
:White Hat: Everyone said the world was flat, but Columbus knew it was round.
:Megan (off-panel): *Sigh* no, no, no.

:[Megan walks in holding a hand palm up. White Hat partly lifts his arm closest to her. The children between them turn their heads towards her. The boy leans back on one hand.]
:White Hat: So he took his ships and sailed west—
:Megan: —in a line tangent to the surface. The sea fell away, and he landed in ''Valinor.''

:[White Hat has taken his arm down, Megan holds her arms out to each side. The children still look at her, now also Jill leans back on one arm.]
:Megan: A Silmaril on his brow, he wanders the heavens as the morning star, still believing he reached India.
:White Hat: Stop making stuff up.
:Megan: You first.

==Trivia==
The original version of the comic was posted without the speech-line from White Hat in the second panel. This made it look like Megan had voiced ''all'' the 'information' given in that segment, rather than White Hat's initially more orthodox (though also incorrect) version being interrupted and his statement being hijacked. It was updated in July 2014, sometime between [https://web.archive.org/web/20140704005510/https://xkcd.com/1255/ July 4] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20140731202849/https://xkcd.com/1255/ July 31].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

File:columbus.png

2025-11-27T04:24:41Z

Not without text: Not without text uploaded a new version of File:columbus.png

== Licensing ==
{{XKCD file}}

1255: Columbus

2025-11-27T04:22:31Z

Not without text: /* Transcript */ according to the actual comic, White Hat says it, not Megan

{{comic
| number = 1255
| date = August 23, 2013
| title = Columbus
| image = columbus.png
| titletext = And thus was smallpox introduced into the previously Undying Lands.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic starts with [[White Hat]] telling the two children shown on the first panel that Christopher Columbus knew the world was round, but that others believed it to be flat. However, this is a false narrative known as the {{w|Myth of the Flat Earth}}. Educated people in Columbus's time knew the world was round, and knew the approximate radius of the Earth. Columbus claimed that the distance to sail west from Canary Islands to Japan to be about 3,700 km, drastically lower than others believed, but {{w|Christopher Columbus#Geographical considerations|he was wrong about this}}. If another continent and the "{{w|West Indies}}" had not been fortuitously in the right place, Columbus and his crew probably would have died at sea.

As White Hat begins his explanation, Megan objects, though not explaining why. White Hat continues, so Megan interrupts, saying that Columbus went in a straight line as the world curved away, ending up in {{w|Valinor}} and the {{w|Undying Lands}}. Megan's story is an allusion to ''{{w|The Silmarillion}}'', by {{w|J. R. R. Tolkien}}, set in the same world as ''{{w|The Lord of the Rings}}'' and ''{{w|The Hobbit}}''. The claim that Columbus sailed on a tangent to the surface alludes to how the elves' ships leave the curved sea surface and sail in a straight line to reach Valinor on the same route that they sailed when the world was still flat. The mentions of a silmaril and the morning star are a reference to {{w|Eärendil|Eärendil the Mariner}}, the only mortal sailor to reach the Undying Lands, with one of the {{w|Silmaril}}s (though Eärendil's journey occurred at the end of the First Age and the world was only changed into a sphere near the end of the Second Age). Megan humorously conflates these myths, suggesting that they are all equally false. Columbus in fact wasn't the first to claim the world was round; the ancient Greeks had discovered it long before. It was, however, disputed by some Christian scholars {{w|Spherical_Earth#Late_Antiquity|in late antiquity}} due to disagreements over its congruence with biblical canon. In Megan's telling, Columbus ends up as the morning star, which is actually the planet {{w|Venus}} (the same fate as Eärendil's in Tolkien's mythology).

The joke is that when White Hat tells her to stop making up the story, Megan pointedly replies "You first", indicating that she originally complained about White Hat's retelling of the Columbus story because his account didn't really happen, and so he was also "making things up". Megan's fantasy tale was then delivered to make a point.

The title text refers to the {{w|Smallpox#History|transfer of smallpox}} to the Americas by Europeans, which caused the deaths of untold millions of Native Americans. The introduction of smallpox to the Undying Lands would indeed make their name ironic. However, the Undying Lands are named after immortal {{w|Valar}}, {{w|Maiar}}, and {{w|elf (Middle-Earth)|Elves}} living there, not because they confer immortality. A more proper name would be the Lands of the Undying, and Valar, Maiar, and Elves are not susceptible to diseases in Tolkien's mythos in any case.

Similar discussions between White Hat and Megan can be found in [[1605: DNA]] and [[1731: Wrong]], in the latter Megan even finishes with a similar *sigh* as she started with here.

==Transcript==
:[White Hat talks to two children sitting in front of him on the floor to the right. A boy with hair like Hairy with his arms round his knees and behind him Jill with two hair buns, sitting cross-legged on her knees. Megan interrupts him from off-panel right.]
:White Hat: Everyone said the world was flat, but Columbus knew it was round.
:Megan (off-panel): *Sigh* no, no, no.

:[Megan walks in holding a hand palm up. White Hat partly lifts his arm closest to her. The children between them turn their heads towards her. The boy leans back on one hand.]
:White Hat: So he took his ships and sailed west—
:Megan: —in a line tangent to the surface. The sea fell away, and he landed in ''Valinor.''

:[White Hat has taken his arm down, Megan holds her arms out to each side. The children still look at her, now also Jill leans back on one arm.]
:Megan: A Silmaril on his brow, he wanders the heavens as the morning star, still believing he reached India.
:White Hat: Stop making stuff up.
:Megan: You first.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Jill]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]] 
[[Category:LOTR]]

2422: Vaccine Ordering

2025-10-20T16:14:50Z

Not without text: simpler example given

{{comic
| number = 2422
| date = February 8, 2021
| title = Vaccine Ordering
| image = vaccine_ordering-new.png
| titletext = You know what they say: mRNA-1273 before tozinameran, you'll have to slay a banshee in a catamaran.
}}

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

Two COVID-19 vaccines have been approved in the United States (one from {{w|Moderna}}, the other from a joint venture between {{w|Pfizer}} and {{w|BioNTech}}). Each of these vaccines require 2 doses, taken 3-4 weeks apart.

Megan is reading an article on her phone to Cueball. A report from the {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC}} says that it's possible to get effective immunity against {{w|COVID-19}} when mixing {{w|RNA vaccine|mRNA vaccine doses}} from Pfizer and Moderna, but that this practice should not be the norm. The report in question can be viewed [https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/clinical-considerations.html here]; it stresses that mixing the vaccines is acceptable only in exceptional circumstances, such as "when the first-dose vaccine product cannot be determined."

Cueball wonders whether the order in which you receive the vaccines matters. Megan then attempts to create {{w|Mnemonic|mnemonic devices}} to help them remember which mix-and-match strategy is best for the mRNA vaccines (e.g., "Beer before wine and you'll feel fine; wine before beer and you'll feel queer"). She "concludes" that receiving the Pfizer vaccine after the Moderna one will be just as effective as having two doses of either, but that having the Moderna vaccine after Pfizer's will lead to the patient becoming the ruler of an ancient city. Megan might mean that the patient will be literally transported back in time, as she and Cueball (and [[Black Hat]]) were in [[2321: Low-Background Metal]]. The apparent {{w|truthiness}} of these mnemonics might be attributed to the {{w|rhyme-as-reason_effect|rhyme-as-reason effect}}, a cognitive bias that is often misleading - very much so in this case. Megan succeeds by rhyming "Pfizer" and "wiser," but struggles with finding a rhyme for "Moderna," settling for {{w|Smyrna}}, an ancient city located in what is now {{w|Izmir}}, Turkey. Two equally ridiculous rhymes could be “Pfizer before Moderna leads to broken {{w|Sternum|sterna}} (plural of sternum)” or “Pfizer before Moderna, you’ll be attacked by sharks of genus {{w|Sphyrna}} (a hammerhead shark)”. In a nonrhotic accent, however, you could rhyme it much more sensibly with "burner", "turner", or "learner".

A {{w|side effect}} of a drug is an effect incidental to the intended purpose of the drug. Side effects can be positive or negative, though in vaccine trials the greater concern is usually about negative side effects. Becoming ruler of an ancient city that is now only a historical ruin would certainly be an unexpected side effect.{{Citation needed}}

The title text continues the theme of difficult rhymes, using the full names of both the Moderna vaccine drug ({{w|Moderna COVID-19 vaccine|mRNA-1273}}, rhymed with ''{{w|banshee}}'') and the Pfizer one ({{w|Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine|tozinameran}}, rhymed with ''{{w|catamaran}}'').

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are talking. Megan is looking down and reading a news story on her phone.]
:Megan: The CDC says it's okay to mix and match the mRNA vaccines for doses 1 and 2, but only in "exceptional situations".
:Cueball: I wonder which order works better, if either.

:[A slimmer panel. Megan has her finger raised and her phone to her side]
:Megan: Well you know what they say.
:Megan: Moderna before Pfizer, you'll be none the wiser.

:[A regular panel, Megan and Cueball still standing next to each other.]
:Megan: Pfizer before Moderna then you'll... rule ancient Smyrna.
:Cueball: Weird side effect.
:Megan: A lot of hard-to-rhyme drugs have those.

==Trivia==
*This comic image was originally published with no {{w|Spatial anti-aliasing|anti-aliasing}}. All of its pixels were either fully black or fully white, with no shades of gray, giving the smooth lines a jagged appearance. This was fixed later in the day.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2422: Vaccine Ordering

2025-10-20T16:09:17Z

Not without text:

{{comic
| number = 2422
| date = February 8, 2021
| title = Vaccine Ordering
| image = vaccine_ordering-new.png
| titletext = You know what they say: mRNA-1273 before tozinameran, you'll have to slay a banshee in a catamaran.
}}

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

Two COVID-19 vaccines have been approved in the United States (one from {{w|Moderna}}, the other from a joint venture between {{w|Pfizer}} and {{w|BioNTech}}). Each of these vaccines require 2 doses, taken 3-4 weeks apart.

Megan is reading an article on her phone to Cueball. A report from the {{w|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC}} says that it's possible to get effective immunity against {{w|COVID-19}} when mixing {{w|RNA vaccine|mRNA vaccine doses}} from Pfizer and Moderna, but that this practice should not be the norm. The report in question can be viewed [https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/info-by-product/clinical-considerations.html here]; it stresses that mixing the vaccines is acceptable only in exceptional circumstances, such as "when the first-dose vaccine product cannot be determined."

Cueball wonders whether the order in which you receive the vaccines matters. Megan then attempts to create {{w|Mnemonic|mnemonic devices}} to help them remember which mix-and-match strategy is best for the mRNA vaccines (e.g., "Beer before wine and you'll feel fine; wine before beer and you'll feel queer"). She "concludes" that receiving the Pfizer vaccine after the Moderna one will be just as effective as having two doses of either, but that having the Moderna vaccine after Pfizer's will lead to the patient becoming the ruler of an ancient city. Megan might mean that the patient will be literally transported back in time, as she and Cueball (and [[Black Hat]]) were in [[2321: Low-Background Metal]]. The apparent {{w|truthiness}} of these mnemonics might be attributed to the {{w|rhyme-as-reason_effect|rhyme-as-reason effect}}, a cognitive bias that is often misleading - very much so in this case. Megan succeeds by rhyming "Pfizer" and "wiser," but struggles with finding a rhyme for "Moderna," settling for {{w|Smyrna}}, an ancient city located in what is now {{w|Izmir}}, Turkey. Two equally ridiculous rhymes could be “Pfizer before Moderna, you’ll have a broken {{w|Xiphoid process|xiphisterna}} (plural of xiphisterum, or the xiphoid, a small triangular extension of the sternum)” or “Pfizer before Moderna, you’ll be attacked by sharks of genus {{w|Sphyrna}} (a hammerhead shark)”. (In a nonrhotic accent, however, you could rhyme it much more sensibly with "burner", "turner", or "learner".)

A {{w|side effect}} of a drug is an effect incidental to the intended purpose of the drug. Side effects can be positive or negative, though in vaccine trials the greater concern is usually about negative side effects. Becoming ruler of an ancient city that is now only a historical ruin would certainly be an unexpected side effect.{{Citation needed}}

The title text continues the theme of difficult rhymes, using the full names of both the Moderna vaccine drug ({{w|Moderna COVID-19 vaccine|mRNA-1273}}, rhymed with ''{{w|banshee}}'') and the Pfizer one ({{w|Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine|tozinameran}}, rhymed with ''{{w|catamaran}}'').

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are talking. Megan is looking down and reading a news story on her phone.]
:Megan: The CDC says it's okay to mix and match the mRNA vaccines for doses 1 and 2, but only in "exceptional situations".
:Cueball: I wonder which order works better, if either.

:[A slimmer panel. Megan has her finger raised and her phone to her side]
:Megan: Well you know what they say.
:Megan: Moderna before Pfizer, you'll be none the wiser.

:[A regular panel, Megan and Cueball still standing next to each other.]
:Megan: Pfizer before Moderna then you'll... rule ancient Smyrna.
:Cueball: Weird side effect.
:Megan: A lot of hard-to-rhyme drugs have those.

==Trivia==
*This comic image was originally published with no {{w|Spatial anti-aliasing|anti-aliasing}}. All of its pixels were either fully black or fully white, with no shades of gray, giving the smooth lines a jagged appearance. This was fixed later in the day.

{{comic discussion}}

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

Talk:3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object

2025-05-15T14:09:58Z

Not without text:

lol, i remember this explanation from a minutephysics video. however, the version of the problem i heard, which is actually paradoxical, is "what happens when an immovable object meets an '''irresistible''' force?" [[User:Not without text|Not without text]] ([[User talk:Not without text|talk]]) 00:03, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:That was also literally my first thought. [[169]], anyone? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:37, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
::How do connect this comic with [[169: Words that End in GRY]]? I see no connection! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:43, 4 May 2025 (UTC)
:::Communicating poorly and then acting smug. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 11:52, 5 May 2025 (UTC)
:The MinutePhysics video: [https://nebula.tv/videos/minute-physics-immovable-object-vs-unstoppable-force-which-wins/ on Nebula] or [https://youtu.be/9eKc5kgPVrA on YouTube] --[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 09:55, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

Come on, it's just an arrow made of W- bosons, right? [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 03:22, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

Is there no joke here? Is it just the solution? [[User:Broseph|Broseph]] ([[User talk:Broseph|talk]]) 06:52, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

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

In the first MMO games, collision was a big problem. A player could block a doorway, and nobody else could go through. It was even worse if the player had "follower" characters or pets.
One solution was to have characters automatically "push" stationary characters out of the way, but that caused other problems. Modern MMO's such as World of Warcraft simply allow characters to pass through each other, as depicted in this xkcd comic. Our eyes fool us into "seeing" that two characters somehow slid past each other. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.228.132|172.68.228.132]] 07:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:Our eyes, or the programmers? I don't have that much experience with MMO's but they probably do render it in specific way to make that effect. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:59, 4 May 2025 (UTC)
::It's been a few years since I played WoW, but at that time there wasn't anything hiding the fact that the characters were clipping through each other. although I'm not sure what the other poster was talking about being fooled "into 'seeing' that two characters somehow slid past each other" since to me it always looked like two characters passed right through each other.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.111|172.70.126.111]] 20:31, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

When the two things pass through each other, at the instant where they both occupy exactly the same space, is there one object or two? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.216.159|162.158.216.159]] 08:02, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:Given that force is not an object, one. Just like there was when they weren't colocated. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.220|172.69.43.220]] 08:29, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
::OK, but what about the 'unstoppable force carrying particles' in the title text? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.204|172.69.194.204]] 19:00, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:::I understand it as if a particle interacting with the object counts as 'stopping', in which case an unstoppable force-carrying particle wont have any effect. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.120.157|162.158.120.157]] 20:40, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:Two, if you're counting particles as "objects". At the level of particle interactions, two particles aren't merely distinguished by their spatial extent, but also by all their other "quantum numbers" -- charge, flavor, and others. You can absolutely have two particles, even two fermions, that have exactly the same wavefunction in space, but are distinguished by differing in other ways. (And in practice, something like this would be a fermion and a boson anyway.) [[User:Linkhyrule5|Linkhyrule5]] ([[User talk:Linkhyrule5|talk]]) 06:24, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

The force could simply go around the object. The object hasn't moved, and the force wasn't stopped. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 11:17, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:Redirecting would imply the force could be redirected, allowing us to trap it inside a closed loop, effectively stopping it. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.57.132|172.70.57.132]] 15:38, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

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

Gonna be honest, I think this is my least favorite comic of the last 500 or so. It's a solution already given by minutephysics, except with all the perspective about reference frames, and what people actually mean with these terms replaced by a caption with a superiority complex. I suppose it gets pretty hard 3000 comics in, but c'mon.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.83|172.68.35.83]] 19:18, 3 May 2025 (UTC)
:''--Comment by [[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 22:07, 3 May 2025 (UTC) deleted--''
:: Ok, as we're giving personal opinions, I can't let it stand. Some might not exactly be total belly-laughs, but I think they each still have something to them and I prefer a mix of tones (and a wider spatter of focuses and treatments) to them all being exactly the same aspect of 'high-humour'. Not that I'd care to rank them, anyway, but I'm nowhere near ready to go off and make disparaging comments as if this site was bitchaboutxkcd.com, or whatever.
:: I won't try to tell you what to think, yourself, though maybe you should just roll with it. If you really don't like a comic, there'll be another along in two or three days. That might be even 'worse', as well as 'better', but then you can be even more unchill about ''that''. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.82|141.101.98.82]] 22:45, 3 May 2025 (UTC)

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

I would say that, since a force is mass*acceleration, the force cannot yet be stated while passing through the immovable object, because the object have to accelerate to calculate the force. Therefore, the "force" is only potential or kinetic energy at this point.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.127.25|162.158.127.25]] 12:54, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

I would say that nothing happens. If you think of Pressure and immoveable object: An infinite force would acting on an immoveable (think infinite mass) object would lead to no movement at all.
Well, actually a black hole would be created, swallowing up the object and the force. Since the object's further behavior now cannot be seen from outside mass could be reduced anf the black hole could simply evaporate.
Result: Force and objects actual mass would simply be converted into energy, representing a bomb. [[Special:Contributions/104.23.187.224|104.23.187.224]] 16:42, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

Did someone pull out ChatGPT again for this explanation? The claim that the humor derives from the contrast between the casual meaning of "force" and its meaning in physics is ridiculous and patently false. A "force" in physics doesn't have a physical position to begin with and so it can't "pass through" anything. At this point I really feel like there should be some kind of policy on writing explanations using LLMs like ChatGPT because it almost never adds anything of value and it just complicates the explanation and makes the process of ''real'' people digging into the actual meaning and themes more difficult.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.223|172.71.102.223]] 18:45, 4 May 2025 (UTC)
:Looking at what it replaced, it was an improvement, if not described as well as I think it should be. I believe it means to talk of the flux from a point-originated field (e.g. the most common fields normally deplete by inverse-square rule, all the way to infinity, from the point(s) of origin, though nuclear forces are... different).
:Given the depiction of the "unstoppable force" as actually 'moving', it has to be looked at as some kind of propagating pulse of 'forceness', albeit one that does not interact with the object seen as in its path (which would therefore neither react to the 'force' nor attenuate its potential effects). But that might need to be said in similarly short fashion (if my interpretation is even agreed with). Good luck! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.52|172.70.162.52]] 20:47, 4 May 2025 (UTC)
:Agree! The physical explanation of force is plainly wrong in the explanation text. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.207|172.68.110.207]] 23:18, 4 May 2025 (UTC)

Could the objects be ''in front'' of each other instead of colliding? {{unsigned|Dardafus1|18:00, 5 May 2025}}
:Not both at the same time... [[Special:Contributions/172.69.224.82|172.69.224.82]] 19:49, 5 May 2025 (UTC)

I contemplated this years ago while watching a {{w|Newton's cradle}}, and I came to the conclusion that the irresistible force would transform into an immovable object, and the immovable object would transform into an irresistible force. But honestly, a variation of what he proposes also makes sense, that the immovable object would conduct the irresistible force and retransmit it out the other side. The {{w|Black box}} view of the interaction would be the same either way. [[User:SammyChips|SammyChips]] ([[User talk:SammyChips|talk]]) 20:07, 6 May 2025 (UTC)
:Except an '''irresistible''' force is different from an unstoppable one: if the force is irresistible, the force must have an effect on the object. I guess I could see how retransmitting the force would be a type of effect, but it's a bit of a stretch. [[User:Not without text|Not without text]] ([[User talk:Not without text|talk]]) 14:09, 15 May 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object

2025-05-03T00:05:09Z

Not without text: fixed my spelling

Talk:3084: Unstoppable Force and Immovable Object

2025-05-03T00:03:51Z

Not without text:

385: How it Works

2025-03-05T16:41:13Z

Not without text:

{{comic
| number = 385
| date = February 18, 2008
| title = How it Works
| image = how it works.png
| titletext = It's pi plus C, of course.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic reveals discriminative jargon against women when doing tasks such as mathematics. When a guy does something wrong, it's his own mistake. When a girl does something wrong, it is taken as a confirmation that girls are inferior.

The mathematics displayed is neither {{w|semantically}} nor {{w|syntactically}} correct. To begin with, there should (reasonably) be a ''dx'' after x2. Adding this, we have an {{w|indefinite integral}} on the left hand side.

The answer given in the title text, {{w|π}} + C, is just nonsensical: What we want is a {{w|Function (mathematics)|function}} whose {{w|derivative}} is x2. Now, x3/3 satisfies this condition. However, since adding a {{w|constant (mathematics)|constant}} to a function does not change its derivative, the full answer is (any function of the form) x3/3 {{w|Constant of integration|+ C}}, where C is any fixed number. The "plus a constant" part is very easy to forget, and might even be omitted by a (sloppy) professional mathematician. So if someone really gave the answer π, "you forgot to add a constant" would be a pretty funny remark, because in one way it's true, but on the other hand it wouldn't quite be the main thing to worry about. (It is especially inane as π itself ''is'' a constant.)

It would also be possible to fix the equation by adding [http://www.mathwords.com/b/bounds_of_integration.htm bounds of integration], so that {{w|π}} becomes the area below a section of the curve x2. That is called a definite integral, and there would be no "+ C". The bounds would have to be somewhat awkward though; if 0 was the lower bound, the cube root of 3π would have to be the upper.

A more complicated but not entirely unlikely guess is that the equation is meant to represent the {{w|Gaussian Integral}},  
-∞ ∫ +∞ ''e''-x2 ''dx'' = √π .
 
However, the person writing only vaguely remembers this identity, and even forgets about basics like adding ''dx'' and the bounds of integration. This would indeed support the view that the person sucks at math.
The correction/improvement attempted in the title text is just the average student's first guess when asked to reconsider an equation where the bounds of integration are missing. If the situation is actually about said integral, this is no proof of competence either.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and a friend stand at a blackboard. The friend is writing, in standard mathematical notation, that the integral of x squared equals pi. No differential or bounds are given for the integral.]
:Cueball: Wow, you suck at math.
:[The same scene, except the writer is Megan.]
:Cueball: Wow, girls suck at math.

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

3030: Lasering Incidents

2024-12-28T03:29:49Z

Not without text: /* Explanation */ Connection to xkcd 2481

{{comic
| number = 3030
| date = December 27, 2024
| title = Lasering Incidents
| image = lasering_incidents_2x.png
| imagesize = 444x479px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I still don't know how the police found my compound where I ran an illegal searchlight depot/covert blimp airfield/fireworks testing range.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT EQUIPPED WITH A LASER POINTER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about pointing lasers at aircraft, which is a [https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/lasers#:~:text=Pointing%20a%20laser%20at%20an,%2430%2C800%20for%20multiple%20laser%20incidents. federal crime]. (This had been previously mentioned in [[2481: 1991 and 2021]].) It points out that when a laser is pointed at an aircraft, the pilot or anyone else on board can see a glowing line in the color of the laser exactly pinpointing the location of the perpetrator. Therefore, no one guilty of this crime should really be surprised when they are caught and fined up to $11,000 USD. This is a response to the {{w|2024 United States drone sightings}}, during which many people in New Jersey collectively forgot what a plane is and started pointing laser pointers at them.

The title text parodies this kind of crime by describing a criminal activity which also points to itself, namely illegal fireworks testing, blimp airfield, and searchlight depot, all of which create large markers visible from the air.

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

:[In a single comic panel that has a black background, there is a glowing green laser beam that starts in the upper left of the panel and ends near the lower right. An arrow in the label is pointing to a point that has spikes of green light glowing out. The label is in green and written alongside the laser beam.]
:Someone is committing a federal crime right here→

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don’t know why people who shine lasers at aircraft are surprised when the police catch them, given that the crime consists of drawing a giant glowing arrow in the sky pointing at your location.

==Trivia==
The point of this comic has been previously addressed in [[Thing Explainer]].
:POINT A GREEN LIGHT AT SPACE
:You can use a green light pointer to point out stars to your friends. When you do this, it looks really cool, like you're holding a stick that's touching a spot on the sky.
:Be very careful never to point it at sky boats. It's against the law, and the police lock up many people every year for it. And if you try, you'll be easy to find, because of the bright green line pointing to you.
::-The Sky At Night

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2464: Muller's Ratchet

2024-11-27T02:35:40Z

Not without text: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2464
| date = May 17, 2021
| title = Muller's Ratchet
| image = mullers_ratchet.png
| titletext = Who knew you could learn so much about sexual reproduction from looking at pictures on the internet!
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, Randall reviews a passage explaining the internet with terms associated with evolution, comparing the constant resharing and changing of popular photos to evolutionary processes, namely {{w|Muller's ratchet}} and {{w|Genetic recombination|recombination}}.

An image of [[Hairbun]] showing a cat to [[Cueball]], who is apparently shocked, is used as an example of the subject phenomenon. This image is altered in various ways:
* A caption is added to the photo as a whole, possibly using an online "meme maker" tool. Many memes are made in this manner, such as the Office Space [https://imgflip.com/meme/That-Would-Be-Great "that would be great"] memes.
* Individual labels are placed on the participants (which include the cat). These labels may be literal, but often they are metaphorical. A common metaphorical example is the {{w|Distracted-boyfriend meme}}.
* This seems to be unmodified from the original, except being a bit fuzzy. This is likely a comment on how most people, due to being unfamiliar with image formats, will often pick settings when saving a picture that results in the image being compressed noticeably (usually via exporting as a JPG as opposed to a PNG).
* A caption is added at the top and bottom of the picture, again possibly by an online meme maker, and the photo cropped.
* A sword has been added to the picture, held in a comical position by a participant (the cat) who wouldn't usually have one.{{Citation needed}} These are typically just done as a joke. This image is also cropped and has its aspect ratio changed.
** A watermark is added to this image, having been added by "SwordApp" a fictional (as of this comic's publication) app used to add the sword
* Individual labels are placed on the participants here as well.
* Individual labels are placed on the main (human) participants only. This might be used to only apply metaphorical meanings to the people and not to the object being held (the cat).

Recombination is the combination of genetic material from chromosomes, shuffling genes during meiosis. In this case, it is being compared to shuffling and recombining aspects of an edited digital image.

Sometimes, genetic mutation can create better genes - like the sword being given to the cat in the image. Other changes remove or degrade from the genetic history, without apparent detriment, just because the circumstances do not currently confer any significant advantage to it. If the 'lost' ability is perhaps useful in dealing with an infrequent environmental stress then the loss of its utility might be felt a generation or two later.

With recombination, useful novel changes can be shuffled into the population without necessarily bringing in a less useful mutation, creating descendents with both the obvious advantages (a sword) and the previously more established resilience (the fuller frame).

The caption in this comic jokes that while the passage is explaining the spread of Internet content using evolution, such as with the words "meme" and "viral", Randall feels that Internet image memes (like the one shown in the comic) have become so ubiquitous that it now seems more intuitive to instead explain evolution using the metaphor of images on the Internet.

The degradation of digital images has previously been explored in [[1683: Digital Data]].

The title text has a double meaning, referring both to the ways these particular images on the Internet illustrate these evolutionary processes (which are driven by the mechanisms of biological reproduction, including sexual reproduction) and to {{tvtropes|TheInternetIsForPorn|the amount of erotic imagery illustrating the mechanics of sexual activity one might find on the Internet}}.

==Transcript==
:[A caption sits above a slightly greyed-out photo of Hairbun holding out a cat to Cueball, who has his hand over his face and is leaning away. Below are arrows leading to much smaller variations of the photo, all altered in some way.]
:[From left to right: Image with the sides cropped and black text bordered by white in the bottom center; image with black text in white box with black border above cat, on Hairbun, and on Cueball; image identical to the original but with softer edges; image cropped around all sides to exclude all negative space around frame, with white text bordered by black near the top and bottom center; image cropped to cut out half of Hairbun and Cueball's legs and featuring the cat holding a sword out at Cueball; image same as the original except with black text bordered by white on top of the cat, Hairbun, and Cueball; and image blurred out and at low resolution with black text in white oval on top of Hairbun and Cueball.]
:Caption above: When a photo goes around on social media, people create lots of new versions of it.

:[A larger depiction of an image altered to cut out some of Hairbun and Cueball's legs and the cat holding a sword to the left of a caption, with a faint, shadowed wordmark saying "Made with ''SwordApp'']
:Caption: Sometimes, one of the edited versions becomes more popular and supplants the original. But often, the new version isn't made from the best copy of the image. It may be pixelated, cropped, or watermarked.
:[The same image appears with a more transparent box around it showing the cropped-out areas and an arrow pointing into it saying "lost". To the left is a caption.]
:Caption: As long as those flaws are minor enough that they don't cancel out the big change, the new version can still win out. Each good change brings with it random background damage. The degradation only goes one way. Once an image is cropped, its descendants will be, too. This steady loss of information is called '''''Muller's Ratchet'''''.
:[The original photo and the edited replacement are side-by-side, with the original on the right and the replacement on the left. The area above the cat where the sword is shown in the replacement is circled with a dotted line in both images. In the original, the area inside is greyed out, and in the replacement, the entire image is greyed out except for that area.]
:[Arrows point from the emphasized parts of both images to a new photo below that combines the original image with the sword from the replacement. The dotted line is still present. A caption sits to the left.]
:Caption: But there's a solution. The old versions are still around, so if you have an image editor that lets you splice together parts of two images, you can make a new version with the best parts of both. This process is called '''''recombination...''''']
:[All previous panels are grouped in one large panel, with a caption below the entire frame]
:Caption: People use evolutionary metaphors to explain the spread of internet content, but at this point we have so much more experience with the internet that I feel like it often makes more sense the other way around.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Computers]]

1045: Constraints

2024-11-06T18:05:31Z

Not without text:

{{comic
| number = 1045
| date = April 20, 2012
| title = Constraints
| image = constraints.png
| titletext = [title-text similarly alphabetized]
}}

==Explanation==
An {{w|epigram}} is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. {{w|Constrained writing}} is an age-old literary phenomenon, where writers impose rules or patterns in their works. {{w|Haiku}} is a well known example of this.

{{w|Twitter}} is a short message social network and communication service. At the time this comic was published, all messages (known as tweets) on the service needed to be under 140 characters. Until August 2015 even private messages had that restriction. Twitter is frequently used by well-known comedians as a place to make interesting jokes and observations. It should be noted that the limit was increased to 280 characters in 2017, and the limit was removed for subscribed accounts in 2023.

All the words spoken by [[Megan]], from "Yeah" to "alphabetization", are in reverse alphabetical order. Here are the starting letters (with extra letter when more than one word in a row begins with the same letter):
:Y, Wr, Wo, U, T, R, P, N, M, L, F, Ex, Ep, Em, B, A.

It both answers [[Cueball]]'s question and exemplifies with an ingenious {{w|self-reference}}, while being short enough (133 characters) to be a valid tweet — hence the "whoa."

The title text, "title-text similarly alphabetized", is also backwards-alphabetized and self-referential. Starting letters:
:Ti, Te, S, A.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits in an office chair at his computer desk, motioning toward the screen with a hand as Megan stands behind him.]
:Cueball: I don't get why authors and comedians spend so much energy trying to be clever on Twitter. Couldn't they put that creativity into more books and scripts?
:Cueball: Is there something they ''like'' about the 140-character format?

:[Same picture but in a frame-less panel, except Cueball has taken his arm down.]
:Megan: Yeah. Writers working under tight restrictions produce novel material—like, for example, epigrams employing backward alphabetization.

:[A slim panel with only Cueball at his computer desk shown.]
:Cueball: ...Whoa.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Self-reference]]

Talk:86: Digital Rights Management

2024-11-01T23:27:53Z

Not without text:

And cue global warming...
[[User:Krev|Semicolon here]] ([[User talk:Krev|talk]]) 14:50, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

i might sound daft here, but is the wall of ice explained in any way? it feels like the humour here derives from it, and i'm not sure what to make of it. the explanation focusing on the details of the antipiracy laws and regulations feels a tad superfluous while i feel it doesn't really add anything that explains the joke. again, i'm a romanian, so my grasp of the english language (and the american culture) is below par, so this might be a silly question. feel free to remove my comment here if that's the case. {{unsigned ip|108.162.254.88}}
:The idea is that a glacier is impossible to stop if it starts moving simply because it is so massive. This can be compared to the demands of people for DRM-free content, which is equally unstoppable no matter how many politicians the DRM companies bribe. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.53|141.101.99.53]] 05:00, 9 March 2014 (UTC)
I agree; I think the "ice-wall" is a metaphor for the mass of the consumers. The companies are trying to go against the flow, and it's either bend or break. It's an ice-wall/glacier,, because there are few things in the world more powerful and unstoppable as a glacier. A glacier is also very slow, so it's also saying that although he might not be able to crush them immediately, he will eventually, and they'd better not forget it (no saying how far away he's starting from, either. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.118|108.162.218.118]] 01:50, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

First thing that came to my mind: ICE == Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics, e.g. in ''Burning Chrome'' (by William Gibson); see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusion_Countermeasures_Electronics]. IIRC, the book describes ICE as walls closing in on the protagonist's avatar in the virtual (cyber) world. --[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.231|199.27.128.231]] 09:36, 31 January 2015 (UTC)

This may be a stretch but I associated this with "Now is the winter of our discontent" from Richard III. Discontent can both be applied to the general dislike and therefore discontent on the users, but also discontent in terms on the dis, meaning negativity and content relating to the digital content. The wall of ice represents the approaching Winter which will continue until the end of the discontent. --[[User:Igwarrender|Igwarrender]] ([[User talk:Igwarrender|talk]]) 15:53, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

This could also be a joke that the ice wall isn't actually stoppable by him, or is it?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.218.83|108.162.218.83]]
:It probably is. He's black hat. [[User:Knit cap|Knit cap]] ([[User talk:Knit cap|talk]]) 12:36, 9 December 2020 (UTC)
Game of Thrones / ASoIaF ice wall, anyone? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.143|172.68.58.143]] 17:36, 10 August 2017 (UTC)

This just in: Major corporations behind global warming to stop threatening walls of ice! [[User:OhFFS|OhFFS]] ([[User talk:OhFFS|talk]]) 16:21, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

<del> Just pointing out that a vague silhouette of a larger Black Hat (and the glaciers as well) can be seen behind the "normal"-sized Black Hat. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.130.225|172.69.130.225]] 23:09, 13 June 2024 (UTC) </del>
: There is also a faint Cueball standing on the ground with what looks like to be a sword, around halfway under the clouds. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.80.149|172.70.80.149]] 23:58, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
:: If this is (as it appears to be) from his "drawn on physical paper, then scanned" era, then BH could be part of the recomposition of the original drawing, but it looks possible that the Cueball after-image might have been drawn on the sheet ''before'' this one (or this one, in a prior false-start, but more thoroughly erased) and only showing up due to {{tvtropes|WritingIndentationClue|that indentation trick}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.229|172.69.43.229]] 09:33, 14 June 2024 (UTC)

I think there should be a category for DRM-related comics. The comics that explicitly mention DRM are this comic (of course), [[129: Content Protection]], [[488: Steal This Comic]], [[511: Sleet]], [[527: Keynote]], [[546: Music DRM]], [[625: Collections]], and [[956: Sharing]]. If you include ones that don't explicitly mention it but probably still reference it, there are a couple more. [[User:Not without text|Not without text]] ([[User talk:Not without text|talk]]) 23:27, 1 November 2024 (UTC)