explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2791: Bookshelf Sorting

2023-06-20T11:26:41Z

Popup: It is in fact sheets rather than pages that are being sorted.

{{comic
| number = 2791
| date = June 19, 2023
| title = Bookshelf Sorting
| image = bookshelf_sorting_2x.png
| imagesize = 425x255px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Of course, I sort all my bookshelves the normal way, alphabetically (by first sentence).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOOKSHELF SORTED THE NORMAL WAY. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Some people sort their bookshelves by color, which is pleasing to the eyes but unhelpful when [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYxmPHLU9oA trying to find a specific book]. This may annoy those that [[Randall]] calls Book People. These are likely people who loves books, and may like them to be primarily sorted by author's last name (for fiction) or {{w|Dewey Decimal Classification|subject}} (if non-fiction), but certainly a meaningful sequence.

But Randall has tested a different method for sorting that makes these book people even more angry. He has sorted the pages by number! This means he has had to separate each book into its individual pages and then organize them into groups by page number. (Note that unless he slices each sheet in half, this mechanism will collate ''sheets'' rather than ''pages''.)

All the front covers are on the left side, being effectively the sheet that contains pages 1 and 2, then all the pages 3 and 4, the pages 5 and 6, etcetera, with the back covers mixed in depending on the length of the (now-dismembered) book. Sorting by color has no practical use (beyond possibly that of making an aesthetic appearance), but this distribution of books, makes them useless in all situations and makes for an erratic display potentially susceptible to disordering knocks and drafts.

There are a lot of different-sized front covers on the left side of the shelf (meaning they start with low numbers on the left). Progressing rightward, there are then repeating patterns of taller and shorter loose-leaf pages, having gathered together each a page of the same number from a different book, tracking the proportions of each cover.
After a while, the first back cover is sorted in, as the shortest book's page-count runs out, and then additional runs of pages (less those of each 'finished' book) and end-covers as necessary. At the end, there are only the last pages of the longest book left, now all uniformly in size, and its rear cover. These are either books left without any un-numbered {{w|Book design#Front matter|front matter}} (also the corresponding back matter) or the sorting and collating goes by absolute page count, not by the numbers printed on pages.

The covers matches in reverse so the longest book has the first cover and thus also the last. the second longest books cover is number two and second last etc. If this should be used to give an indication the longest books page 1 would be first and the shortest books page 1 would be last. So it the shortest book has for instance 200 pages, then its back cover would be the last of those with number 200 so the the longest books page 201 would come right after that books back cover.

The caption claims that this is a way of sorting that "book people" hate, even more so than sorting by color of the cover/spine. It is not clear if the spine part is thrown away or just not visible, maybe being sorted towards the wall. This would make it a sort of antithesis to color sorting, not only is it not sorted by color, but the spines that usually define the color sorting are either to the back or fully removed. It might be the intent to have "the absolute opposite" of color sorting and follow this idea ad absurdum.

In the title text Randall begins by saying that he of course sorts his bookshelf alphabetically, like book people, but then he states that he sorts books by first '''sentence''' instead of the book author or book title. This is just as impractical, for most purposes of finding, as sorting by color as people then cannot find a book they haven't read (and remembered the first sentence). But at least it doesn't destroy the books and can also be accomplished by a quick glance inside each book (which bibliophiles should certainly enjoy, if it does not distract them from the task at hand) rather than having to pay much attention to exactly how you shuffle and collate many loose-leafs. You can use something like a simple {{w|merge sort}} to arrange the shelf from scratch, or do a {{w|binary search algorithm|binary search}} to find where to insert individual new books.

==Transcript==
:[A bookshelf hanging on a wall is shown. It is covered almost from left to right but not with ordinary books. To the left there are 11 covers next to each other without any paper between them. They have different heights and shades of gray. After the last of these there follows many leaves of paper of differing heights similarly to that of the covers. The top of the papers thus form a wave shape with more than twenty peaks before they reach another cover. After that there follows similar patterns with paper in different height and then a cover in between more papers. But there is a much shorter distance between the first and second cover than before the first cover, after the initial 11 covers. The next two covers are close to the first, then there is a longer stretch of paper to the fourth, much less to the fifth, and then the next three covers comes very close. There is again quite long distance to the ninth and tenth cover, and here the number of different heights for the paper are clearly less than the previous paper stretches. Finally before the last and 11th cover all the paper, not much of it though, are of the same height, and just a bit lower than the final cover. The 11 covers at the start matches the 11 covers later and they comes in reverse order throughout the paper stretches as they are sorted to begin with, so the first and last cover matches, as does number 2 and the second last etc. There is a caption beneath the panel:]
:Book people hate seeing books sorted by colors, but it turns out they get ''way'' more angry if you sort the pages by number.

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:548: Kindle

2021-07-05T14:10:57Z

Popup:

I changed the explanation so that it refers to the device actually being the fictional, encyclopedic ''Guide'', not the novel. For one thing, the novel describes the ''Guide'' as essentially an e-book (despite being published in 1979). Mainly, having the novel on hand while traveling would not be of much use in the ways described, while access to the fictional encyclopedia would match the description exactly, just as it is used in the fictional franchise. [[User:Jerodast|- jerodast]] ([[User talk:Jerodast|talk]]) 23:53, 3 December 2012 (UTC) Where is the transcript? [[Special:Contributions/121.54.48.38|121.54.48.38]] 04:09, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

this was before. Wikipedia offline for android. {{unsigned ip|108.168.13.84}}

There's no transcript. Someone fix please? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.45|108.162.216.45]] 04:50, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

The transcript is done. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:45, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Alternative explanation: Cueball hid his copy of the Guide in a Kindle shell.
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.44|108.162.245.44]] 13:20, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

(Five years later) - The 3G network that the Whispernet relies on is being decommissioned in 2022. I wonder if Randall will show up drunk at Bezos or Jassys lawn... ([https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/nbj7aa/kindle_3g_data_decommissioning_in_2022/ cite]) [[User:Popup|Popup]] ([[User talk:Popup|talk]]) 14:10, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2431: Leap Year 2021

2021-03-02T07:22:05Z

Popup: Sweden actually tried this...

It's amazing how quickly some of us got to edit this. I hope I didn't cause too much edit-conflict confusion just by my changing the date value. Honestly just checked, before turning in, to find two (so far) other edits follow so quickly after... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.152|141.101.98.152]] 02:03, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

Sorry,I did not see anything when I started
:I wouldn't expect you to (the first Categories adder, yes?), until you perhaps tried to save. But that's what being shown edit-conflicts is important for. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 03:02, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

If someone actually did this, how many years would it take for the calendar to line back up again where it started? 365? [[User:Captain Video|Captain Video]] ([[User talk:Captain Video|talk]]) 02:20, 2 March 2021 (UTC)
: 365 years plus (around) 33% more because every fourth year (except every hundredth, except except every 400th) is already ''expected'' to have a 29th, so you'd not be able to shift the year that year and have to do those days after the first 365 mostly-shifted consecutive years - with the necessary overflow days ''still'' being only to be done for 3/4(ish) of the next 91ish years, leaving maybe 23 more years to be shifted. But 24 years would only allow 18 shifts, so 6 more years than that ''probably'' would use 5 years. And one year may be absorbed already, or left over. So 365+91+23+6. Ish. Because it'd depend exactly which year you start as to which non-expandable years occur within the strict (0.75)+(0.25*0.75)+(0.25*0.25*0.75)+... series. But that's the likely area of the answer, off the top of my head. Around 485 years, give or take. Unless I've made a big error! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 03:02, 2 March 2021 (UTC)
::A quick evaluation of the geometric progression (a/1-r = 365/(1-1/4)) gives an answer of 486.666... This means it would take at least 487 years to come past full circle (488 on a leap year) if not for the pesky 400-year rule. Given where the date lies, there can be either one or two per cycle; thus, we find a minimum of 488 years and a maximum of 490. If we started this current year, on a non-leap year with no round 400 in the next 87 years, it would take the minimum amount, 488 years, to cycle through 489 revolutions of the Earth around the Sun. Happy Leap Year, my friends! [[User:BlackHat|BlackHat]] ([[User talk:BlackHat|talk]]) 03:52, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

Can someone make a [[:Category:Calendar]] that is a subcategory of [[:Category:Time]]? I feel like there are several comics that could fit, e.g. [[994: Advent Calendar]], [[1140: Calendar of Meaningful Dates]], [[1930: Calendar Facts]], [[1073: Weekend]], [[1061: EST]], etc. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.210|162.158.255.210]] 02:39, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

Sweden tried something like this in the early 18th century. When switching from Julian to Gregorian calendar, some bright spark decided to do it gradually, by removing all leap days between 1700 and 1740. The leap day of 1700 was skipped (It was a leap day in the Julian calendar, but not the Gregorian), but due to war and other things they 'forgot' to annul the leap days of 1704 and 1708. In 1712 it was decided to revert to Gregorian calendar, by adding a double leap day, resulting in the only known occurrence of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-standard_dates#February_30 February 30]. From 1700 to 1712 Sweden was out of sync with both the Gregorian and Julian calendars, resulting in quite a lot of confusion. For example, Carl Linnaeus birthday can be given as May 12, 13 or 23, depending on what calendar is used. [[User:Popup|Popup]] ([[User talk:Popup|talk]]) 07:22, 2 March 2021 (UTC)

1864: City Nicknames

2017-07-17T14:49:28Z

Popup:

{{comic
| number = 1864
| date = July 17, 2017
| title = City Nicknames
| image = city_nicknames.png
| titletext = This place has so many demonyms. Northlanders. Fair Folk. Honey Barons. Lake Dwellers. Treasurers. Swamp Watchers. Dream Farmers. Wellfolk. Rockeaters. Forgotten Royals. Remote Clients. Barrow-Clerks. The People of Land and Sky.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|stub}}

Cities often have official or unofficial nicknames. For instance, [[wikipedia:St._Louis|St. Louis, Missouri]], is known as "Gateway to the West" among several other nicknames. The nicknames typically invoke some historical or geographic feature of the city, but can sometime be opaque to those not familiar with the city. [https://www.into-asia.com/bangkok/introduction/fullname.php The full, formal name of Bangkok] includes a long list of superlatives translating as "The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn."

[[Black Hat]] appears to believe they are near [[wikipedia:New York City|New York City]], despite the skyline being clearly recognizable as St. Louis due to the [[wikipedia:Gateway Arch|Gateway Arch]]. However, the nickname he gives is neither a common New York nickname (such as "[[wikipedia: List of nicknames of New York City|The Big Apple]]") nor a St. Louis nickname. [[Megan]] tries to correct him, but it becomes clear that Black Hat is making up nicknames. Many of his suggestions are puns for real nicknames of other places.

The title text contains made up [[wikipedia:Demonym|demonyms]] in the same pattern. A demonym is a word for the people who live in a particular place. They are typically derived from the name of the place (e.g. "St. Louisan" for people from St. Louis), but some regions have an [[wikipedia:Demonym#Informal|informal demonym]] that can be used colloquially by those familiar with the place to refer to its residents.

===Nicknames and Demonyms===

{| class=wikitable
! City nickname in comic
! Reference
! Explanation

|-
| The Hot Tamale
| {{w|Hot Tamales}}
|

|-
| The Winged City
| The Windy City
| Chicago. Possibly also [http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/incheon-international-airport/ Incheon International Airport (ICA/RKSI), South Korea]

|-
| The Gold Trombone
|
|

|-
| Castleopolis
| {{w|Cassopolis}}
| {{w|Polis}} (from the Greek πόλις for city) is commonly used as a suffix for city names, like {{w|Minneapolis}} or {{w|Alexandroupolis}}; {{w|Metropolis}} can either be a type of city, or one of the real or fictional cities bearing the name. Appended to the base word "Castle", this would be the "Castle city".

|-
| The Kissing Kingdom
|
|

|-
| Sandland
|
|

|-
| The High Place
|
|

|-
| Ol' Ironhook
| {{w|Old Ironsides}}
| A nickname for the USS Constitution (docked in Charlestown, MA). Possibly a conflation of Old Kinderhook (a nickname for US President Martin Van Buren) with Old Ironsides (a nickname for English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell).
|-
| The Thousand Spires || The City of a Hundred Spires || Prague
|-
| The Graveyard of Kings || The Graveyard of Champions || Court 2 at Wimbledon, where former champions are often defeated (the playing environment is very different from Centre Court and Court One, which are larger and where games involving highly-ranked players are preferentially located). The comic was released one day after the 2017 Wimbledon Championships were finished.
|-
| Bloomtown || [[wikipedia: Boomtown|Boomtown]] || Generic term for a town undergoing rapid growth. Used in the 2002 TV series of the same name as a nickname for Los Angeles. Might also be referring to [[wikipedia:Bloom County|Bloom County]], a comic by [[wikipedia:Berkeley Breathed|Berkeley Breathed]]
|-
| Lantern City USA || {{w|Tree City USA}} || A designation supporting municipalities that showcase urban forestry, in connection with Arbor Day.
|-
| The City of Many Daughters || ||
|-
| Big Mauve || ||
|-
| The Glass Cradle || ||
|-
| The Road Source ||{{w|Rome}} || From the saying that {{w|All Roads Lead to Rome}} ||
|-
| London Prime || London || In mathematics, the [[wikipedia: Prime (symbol)|prime symbol]] is used to indicate something that is derived from or related to something else. For example, x′ (read "x-prime") is usually used to denote the first derivative of the variable x. London Prime would therefore denote a city that is similar to or derived from the original city of London in the United Kingdom. Cf. various cities named {{w|New London}} in the United States and elsewhere.
|-
| Hamtown || {{w|Hamburg}} || A burg is another name for a city or town, sometimes more specifically a fortified town.
|-
| The Salad Bowl || || A theory of cultural integration in the US, one that stands in contrast to the older 'Melting Pot' theory.
|-
| God's Boudoir || ||
|-
| The Glittering Swamp || ||
|-
| The Steel Forest || The Concrete Jungle || The Concrete Jungle is a name often given to New York's Manhattan area
|-
| The Mobius Strip || || The Strip is a shortened and commonly used name for the Las Vegas Strip, the main area of hotels and casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. A Mobius strip is a one-sided piece of paper created by rotating the short edge of the strip 180 degrees and attaching it to the other short edge. The Vegas strip has more or less only one side as well.
|-
| The Land of Trains and Fog || || In the webcomic [[wikipedia:Homestuck | Homestuck]] a deadly game takes place on planets named in the format "The Land of X and Y" e.g. "The Land of Light and Rain".
|-
| The Meeting Place || ||
|-
| The Dark Star || || Dark Star is a 1974 science fiction comedy film.
|-
| The Walled Garden || {{w|Walled garden (technology)}} || A walled garden is a virtual environment where the user can only view content that is published or permitted by the proprietor, e.g. AOL or Facebook. This could also be a reference to walled cities, e.g. from the Middle Ages, or the {{w|Kowloon Walled City}} in the modern era.
|-
| Skin City || [[wikipedia:Sin City (description)|Sin City]] || Generic term for a city well known for gambling, drugs, or other vices. Also Las Vegas.
|-
| The Horse Rotary || ||
|-
| Turkeytown || Turkeytown || A town in Lincoln County, Kentucky
|-
| The Naked Towers || ||
|-
| The Meta-City || Metacity || A term for a heterogenous, sprawling urban center with multiple dense centers, such as Tokyo or New York City. Metacity was also the window manager in the Linux GNOME 2 desktop.
|-
| The Urban Orb || || The screenname of a Let's Player on Youtube and Twitch.
|-
| The City of Angles || City of Angels || Los Angeles. Also, the titular City of Angles in the web novel [http://stefangagne.com/cityofangles/ City of Angles].
|-
| The Big Wheel || ||
|-
| Bird City USA || || A program started by the Audubon Society.
|-
| The City of Seven Crowns || City of Seven Hills || Rome
|-
| Hilltopia ||The Hilltop || May be reference to The Hilltop in AMC's The Walking Dead
|-
| Bug City || || A nickname for the bug-infested Chicago in the roleplaying game Shadowrun. Also, a sourcebook for the game.
|-
| The Bottomless Cup || ||
|-
| Lorde's Fen || Lord's Fen || [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorde Lorde] is a musical artist from Herne Bay, New Zealand - an area near Waitemata Harbour. A [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fen Fen] is a type of wetland, which could loosely connect to Herne Bay.
|-
| The Last Town || || The third book in the Wayward Pines series.
|-
| The Empty Set || || The concert hall in the video game Transistor.
|-
| Ghost Harbor || || The name for a brewing company in North Carolina.
|}

{| class=wikitable
! Demonym in comic
! Reference
! Explanation
|-
| Northlanders || Highlanders || Maybe a reference to the people of the {{w|Scottish Highlands}}, with a similar demonym. The "High" in "Highlands" is a reference to the mountainous landscape, not the geographical position.
|-
| Fair Folk || || The elves in ''The Lord of the Rings'' are referred to as the 'fair folk'. The fair folk is also more generally used as a name for fairies in folklore.
|-
| Honey Barons || ||
|-
| Lake Dwellers || ||
|-
| Treasurers || ||
|-
| Swamp Watchers || ||
|-
| Dream Farmers || ||
|-
| Wellfolk || ||
|-
| Rockeaters || [[Wikipedia:List_of_The_Neverending_Story_characters#Pyornkrachzark_and_the_other_messengers| Rockbiter]] || In the Never Ending Story, Pyornkrachzark, more commonly known as "Rock Biter" is a large creature made completely of stone, named due to their diet of rocks.
|-
| Forgotten Royals || ||
|-
| Remote Clients || [[wikipedia:Remote_computer|Remote computer client]] || In computing, a remote client is a program used to access a computer or service over the internet.
|-
| Barrow-Clerks || [http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Barrow-wights Barrow-wights] || Creatures in "The Lord of the Rings" that resemble wraiths. The Hobbits come across them in the [http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Barrow-downs Barrow-downs].
|-
| The People of Land and Sky || [[wikipedia:Sea_Peoples|Sea Peoples]] ||
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Black Hat, Megan, and Ponytail are standing on a hill overlooking a city. The Gateway Arch is visible, as well as a number of skyscrapers in the skyline.]
:Black Hat: Ah, New York. The Hot Tamale.
:Megan: This is St. Louis. Also, that's not–
:Black Hat: The Winged City. The Gold Trombone. Castleopolis.
:Megan: It's none of those.

:[Close-up of Black Hat]
:Black Hat: The Kissing Kingdom. Sandland. The High Place. Ol' Ironhook.
:Megan (off-panel): Still wrong.
:Black Hat: The Thousand Spires. The Graveyard of Kings. Bloomtown. Lantern City USA.
:Megan (off-panel): Please stop.

:[Black Hat, Megan, and Ponytail are walking]
:Black Hat: The City of Many Daughters. Big Mauve. The Glass Cradle. The Road Source. London Prime. Hamtown. The Salad Bowl. God's Boudoir. The Glittering Swamp. The Steel Forest. The Mobius Strip. The Land of Trains and Fog. The Meeting Place. The Dark Star. The Walled Garden. Skin City. The Horse Rotary. Turkeytown. The Naked Towers. The Meta-City. The Urban Orb. The City of Angles. The Big Wheel. Bird City USA. The City of Seven Crowns. Hilltopia. Bug City. The Bottomless Cup. [Text size getting smaller] Lorde's Fen. The Last Town. The Empty Set. Ghost Harbor.
:Megan: How long does this last?
:Ponytail: No city has ever let him stay long enough to find out.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]

1611: Baking Soda and Vinegar

2015-12-02T13:04:34Z

Popup: Pompei -> Naples (Pompei is just a tourist trap - naples is a million+ population city)

{{comic
| number = 1611
| date = December 2, 2015
| title = Baking Soda and Vinegar
| image = baking_soda_and_vinegar.png
| titletext = Sure, it may not meet science fair standards, but I want credit for getting my baking soda and vinegar mountain added to the Decade Volcanoes list.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|First go at an explanation, but from a transatlantic perspective...}}
In popular fiction (and maybe in part in fact) the "Baking Soda And Vinegar" volcano is often a staple image of the science nerd at the science fair, unless all the science nerds are doing ''real'' imaginative science and the student(s) with the volcano exhibit are dragging out the old hackneyed stereotype. It may also be age-dependent, this being something that is relatively advanced science for the lower grades but rather a childish experiment in the hands of older students.

As the adult is probably about to point out, the 'volcano' exhibit doesn't (usually) actually demonstrate anything about volcanic activity, it is just simple chemistry - such as you usually conduct in a simple test-tube - dressed up to look more impressive, often with dye or other additives to make the 'lava' look realistic for the model, but unrelated to the geology it supposedly represents.

''This'' volcano, however, seems to go beyond simple chemistry. The model replicates many of the dangers (aside from the pure lava) of a volcano, and appears to have been given scaled-down vehicles trying (and failing) to escape the dangers of the resultant mud-flows (a.k.a. {{w|lahar|lahars}} in professional terminology) being modelled.

Even more, this is not an isolated 'model volcano' but a vinegar-powered representation of a geological 'hot spot', such as with the islands of Hawaii, in which the spot moves with respect to the Earth's crust (or vice-versa) and generates a new volcano some way off. Despite this model being supported on a table, it appears that the 'project' extends some way beyond that and has somehow contrived further eruptions away from the table, the room and probably even the building.

The 'project' seems to be turning into a very thorough model of a much larger geological process and destined to produce a ''very real'' volcanic winter. Where a magma-powered volcano could produce vast clouds of dust, preventing the sun's energy from warming the Earth, in this case it's the airborne salt (probably sodium acetate) from the chemical reaction that appears to be in danger of causing crop failure. There's no mention of the corresponding environmental effects of the vast amounts of carbon dioxide (and/or aqueous carbonic acid) necessarily released in proportion to the ejected salt (presumably itself not left in solution).

It is especially troubling the child mentions her model volcano is an offshoot of a bakingsoda ''super''volcano. {{w|Supervolcano|Supervolcanoes}} are massive volcano's, far larger than even the Decade-list volcanoes, whose eruption would likely trigger species-level extinction events comparable to the dinosaur extinction. Humanity can only hope the child is exaggerating in her description, but the symptoms witnessed by the adult looking out the window suggest otherwise.
Randall has mentioned supervolcanoes before in [[1053|1053: Ten Thousand]] (title text) and [[1159|1159: Countdown]], making it a recurring interest of his.

=== Title Text ===
In the title text the student expects extra credit for getting her model volcano added to the {{w|Decade Volcanoes}} list, a list maintained by {{w|International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior}} of the worlds most dangerous volcanoes (currently 16). It is either an absurd notion or a very troubling achievement that a science fair project could achieve the threatlevel posed by the likes of {{w|Mount Vesuvius}} (which destroyed ancient Pompeii in Italy, and threatens modern-day Naples in the same manner), {{w|Mount Rainier}} (whose lahars could potentially destroy parts of Seattle) or {{w|Mauna Loa}} (which threatens all of Hawaii).

==Transcript==
===== Panel 1 =====
Girl: My science project is a baking soda and vinegar volcano!

===== Panel 2 =====
Ponytail: Why do people make these? It isn't really even a science project. It doesn't teach anything about -
''Volcano makes ''FOOM!''

===== Panel 3 =====
Girl: See how the baking soda and vinegar mix with mud and ice to form deadly flowing lahars?

===== Panel 4 =====
Girl: You can see the tiny cars trying to flee. Whoops! Too Slow

===== Panel 5 =====
Ponytail: Um. This is a bit Grim.
Girl: (interrupts Ponytail) Learning!

===== Panel 6 =====
Background sound effect: <Rumble>

===== Panel 7 =====
Girl: And now we're learning that this volcano is an offshoot of a vinegar hotspot rising from deep within the earth. ''annnd...''

===== Panel 8 =====
Background sound effect: <BOOOOM> (in white-on-black)

===== Panel 9 =====
Girl (off panel): The baking soda supervolcano erupts, injecting clouds of salt into the stratosphere.

Megan (looking out the window): Why is it getting dark outside?

Girl (off panel): Learning is fun!

===== Panel 10 =====
Girl: Sunlight dims. The earth cools. Summer frosts form. Crops die. We check the markets. Grain prices are rising.

Megan (off panel): I want to stop learning now.

Girl: soon, we all will.

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

Talk:1591: Bell's Theorem

2015-10-19T06:36:09Z

Popup:

I'm sure some people here have this memorised, but light travels just under 30 centimetres in a nanosecond. For our Metric-ally challenged friends, that's about one foot – so 5 metres takes around 16.67 nanoseconds. I leave the comic explanation to smarter people than me. [[User:Paddles|Paddles]] ([[User talk:Paddles|talk]]) 13:02, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
:I have seen Admiral Grace Hopper demonstrate this with approximately foot-long lengths of wire representing "light-nanoseconds". It's accurate to one part in 50 (although not as accurate as the one-part-in-1000 "30 centimeters" measurement). [[User:PsyMar|PsyMar]] ([[User talk:PsyMar|talk]]) 20:33, 16 October 2015 (UTC)
:: The problem with that nifty rule-of-thumb is that it is technically correct, but practically useless. The 30cm/ns is for light ''in a vacuum''. For an electrical signal in a wire (or light in a fibre, for that matter) the effective speed is roughly 20cm/ns.

The comic only shows that the two characters are 5m apart at chest level. What if there was a miniature wormhole or distortion in time in a separate area, making this seemingly "FTL" communication scientifically possible? {{User:17jiangz1/signature|14:19, 16 October 2015}}

For an explanation of Bell's theorem in the words of the man himself, and targeted at an educated lay audience, this is essential reading:
https://cds.cern.ch/record/142461/files/198009299.pdf [[Special:Contributions/162.158.35.36|162.158.35.36]] 16:22, 16 October 2015 (UTC) : Tim B posting as Anon

Wow, the explanation needs some explaining. Can the first part about quantum mechanics be simplified, moved, or have something clearer put in front of it? I don't feel up to the task, but the section is not very helpful. -[[User:DanB|DanB]] ([[User talk:DanB|talk]]) 17:32, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

In the widely separated electrons section, isn't it necessary that the two electrons measured be from the same source? If so, the explanation could use that small edit, but I'm not sure I'm remembering right. [[User:Miamiclay|Miamiclay]] ([[User talk:Miamiclay|talk]]) 05:35, 17 October 2015 (UTC)
:Yes.

I think this whole explanation is suffering from "Bell's second theorem".

Can anyone cite an experiment or proof that *altering* the state of one half of an entangled electron pair *after* they have been separated to a significant distance has any effect upon the other half? So far as I have learned, the two electrons in question are driven to opposite states by close proximity: When separated, they maintain cyclical synchrony until the state of one electron is measured. Environmentally induced state changes have not been shown to propagate between entangled particles after they are separated; They simply retain oppositional synchrony until disentangled by observation (or other interference). Any information derived was imparted at the point of entanglement, or during transit, or by measurement. Introducing new information (state change) to one half of an entangled pair after separation interrupts the synchronous effect, disrupting the entanglement. This is not useful from a communications standpoint.

Nothing in quantum mechanics actually violates classical mechanics; Rather, quantum mechanics acknowledges that our ability to measure a near-infinite (but still finite) set of variables is limited by the effect of our own observation & by our inability to quantify all relevant variables prior to comparison. Thus "quantum uncertainty" & wave function collapse are merely an admission that any data set is necessarily incomplete, while reserving the possibility of predicting deterministic outcomes by reasoned observation of the limited data available.

At least, that's what the cat told me. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.47|108.162.221.47]] 06:54, 17 October 2015 (UTC)
: That is exactly what Bell's theorem states and what the experiments behind it showed. It is a bit technical, but the best layman description I have seen was on Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/science/2010/01/a-tale-of-two-qubits-how-quantum-computers-work/
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.92.91|162.158.92.91]] 09:41, 17 October 2015 (UTC)

The first rule of the No Communication Theory is that you don't talk about the No Communication Theory. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.162|108.162.250.162]] 22:44, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

1581: Birthday

2015-09-23T13:04:25Z

Popup:

{{comic
| number = 1581
| date = September 23, 2015
| title = Birthday
| image = birthday.png
| titletext = I guess I need to apologize to my parents, friends, and the staff at Chuck E. Cheese's for all the times I called the cops on them.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Xkcd]] will turn 10 years old in September 30, 2015. In this comic [[Randall Munroe|Randall]] honors his webcomic by singing to it the classic "{{w|Happy Birthday to You}}" song. The text refers to a ruling by a California's federal judge (George King) stating that {{w|Warner/Chappell Music}}, a music production company, does not hold the copyrights for the song [http://www.law360.com/cases/51c4a8e9bbec94458c000001]. Such a ruling was given after the conflict that rose when Warner Music filed a lawsuit against singer Rupa Marya and filmmaker Robert Siegel to pay royalties for the use of the song in their productions. The counterargument was that the copyright applied to a particular arrangement of the music, and not to the song in general.

The title text is a joke that refers to Randall calling the police against {{w|Chuck E. Cheese's}} and his own parents when they used the song "Happy Birthday" (as it is very common in entertainment restaurants, such as Chuck E. Cheese's) and did not pay royalties.

==Transcript==

xkcd turns 10 years old this month.
In light of last night's court ruling in
''Rupa Marya v. Warner/Chappell Music Inc.'',
I would just like to say:

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday, dear xkcd
Happy birthday to you

{{comic discussion}}

1555: Exoplanet Names 2

2015-07-27T07:11:16Z

Popup: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1555
| date = July 24, 2015
| title = Exoplanet Names 2
| image = exoplanet_names_2.png
| titletext = I'm going to drive this Netherlands joke so far into the ground they'll have to build levees around it to keep the sea out.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Complete table entries, check all table text (some black entries have changed), add wiki links, add explanations, red text to match comic?, detail on NASA announcement}}

This comic is a continuation of [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], and was published the day after NASA announced the discovery of a number of planets, including an Earth-like planet, Kepler-452b. [[Black Hat]] proposes naming it {{w|Pluto}}, to commemorate the flyby of the {{w|dwarf planet}} of that name by NASA's {{w|New Horizons}} earlier the same month. He admits an alternative reason for the name, which is to add confusion to the debate about the status of Pluto (whether it should be considered a planet, a dwarf planet, or something else); by naming Kepler-452b (indisputably a planet) "Pluto", this means that the answer to the question "is Pluto a planet?" will always be "yes" regardless of the status of the Pluto in our Solar System, which is not a helpful answer. - Although, according to the [http://http://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau0603/ IAU official definition] a 'planet' has to orbit (our) sun, so it won't help. Similar agglomerations of matter orbiting other stars are technically recognised by the IAU only as exoplanets and not as planets.

The {{w|International Astronomical Union}} (IAU) is the organization which is responsible for naming celestial bodies (planets, stars, etc).`

The title text is referring to the planet name entry ''Netherlands VI'' for the star ''EPIC201912552''. Randall thus continues his references to the dutch people taking over the world and then the universe after the earths oceans has been drained and transported to Mars. This happens in two consecutive [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/what_if%3F What if?]'s, [http://www.what-if.xkcd.com/53/ Drain the Oceans] and [http://www.what-if.xkcd.com/54/ Drain the Oceans: Part II], and was referenced again the week before this comic in [[1551: Pluto]]. Due to a drain in the Earth's ocean the Netherlands do not have to worry about getting flooded anymore and since they now do not have to use all their resources preventing floods they use these to conquer the world (including Antarctica becoming South Netherlands), then they take on Mars (which becomes New Netherlands), and then a section of Pluto (again calling it New Netherlands). There is also a possible reference to [[1519: Venus]], but that comic has no direct relation to the conquests of the Dutch people like in the other three references. It should be mentioned, that {{w|New Netherland}} was actually a Dutch colony with {{w|New York City}}, formally known as {{w|New Amsterdam}}, as its capital. So the name "New Netherlands" is "historically correct", while "Netherlands VI" isn't.

In the title text Randall mentioned that he will continue with ''this Netherlands joke'' driving it so far into the ground, (i.e. way beyond the point where it stops being funny), that they (the Dutch people) will have to build {{w|Levee|levees}} (or dykes) around it to keep the sea out - thus making it funny again... By forcing the Dutchmen to build new levees for this reason, the whole issue with their conquest of the world will be over before it happens.

===Table===
This table explains each entry in the comic table.
The "Status" column refers to the comic [[1253: Exoplanet Names]], and indicates if the entry was already in that version (Old), if it is an addition since then (New) or if the entry has been updated (Update).

{| class="wikitable"
! Star !! Planet !! Status !! Suggested Name !! Explanation
|-
| rowspan=7 | {{w|Gliese 667}} || {{w|Gliese 667 Cb|b}} || Old || Space Planet || A very unimaginative name; every planet is in space.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cc|c}} || Old || PILF || Pun of {{w|MILF pornography|MILF}}, i.e. ''Planet I'd Like to Fuck''. Planet c is a relatively hot planet, within the habitable zone.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cd|d}} || Old || A Star || "A {{w|Star}}" is obviously a bad name for a planet. A* (pronounced "A star") is already used in in astronomy, for example the Milky Way's black hole core is {{w|Sagittarius A*}}. "A star" is also the name for the character {{w|asterisk}} and the name of the popular {{w|A* search algorithm}} in computer science.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Ce|e}} || Old || e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;-- || [[Mrs. Roberts]] is probably trying to use {{w|SQL injection}} like in [[327|Exploits of a Mom]], in which her son [[Robert'); DROP TABLE students;--]] caused the school a lot of trouble when his name was put in. The idea here is that the {{w|IAU}} would enter the name into their system and promptly lose all of their data pertaining to planets. Note that Planet e is located in the habitable zone of the star system.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cf|f}} || Old || Blogosphere || rowspan = 2 | Weird ''{{w|blog}}''-related terms are a recurring theme in xkcd. See, for instance, [[181|comic 181]].
|-
|{{w|Gliese 667 Cg|g}} || Old || Blogodrome
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_667c_h/ h] || Old || Earth || Planet candidate h is about the mass of the Earth, and described as "tantalizing": [http://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/abs/2013/08/aa21331-13/aa21331-13.html A dynamically-packed planetary system around GJ with three super-Earths in its habitable zone]. See also ([[1231: Habitable Zone]]). Like several other names below, naming a second planet Earth would be highly confusing.
|-
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Tau Ceti}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_b/ b] || Old || Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B || This refers to the game {{w|Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri}}.
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_c/ c] || Old || Giant Dog Planet || {{w|VY Canis Majoris}} is one of the largest known stars at our galaxy and belongs to the constellation {{w|Canis Major}}, Latin for "greater dog". The constellation further contains {{w|Sirius}}, the brightest star in the night sky, also called "Dog Star".
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/tau_cet_d/ d] || Old || Tiny Dog Planet || cf. {{w|Canis Minor}}, Latin for "lesser dog", another constellation.
|-
|{{w|Tau Ceti e|e}} || Old || Phil Plainet || A reference to {{w|Phil Plait}}, a.k.a. The Bad Astronomer.
|-
|{{w|Tau Ceti f|f}} || Old || Unicode Snowman || The Unicode character [http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2603/index.htm ☃] may be a reference to the planet's estimated surface temperature of -40 °C (-40 °F). However, this name would be pronounced differently (being a symbol, not a word or name) in different languages. Planets in our solar system are assigned to {{w|Astronomical symbols|astronomical symbols}} like ♁ for Earth or ♂ for Mars.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 832}} || {{w|Gliese 832 b|b}} || Old || Asshole Jupiter || This massive planet orbits a {{w|red dwarf}} star at the longest known period of 3416 days at this category. Many exoplanets are described as "Hot Jupiters" because they are high-temperature gas giants; if one were to read "hot" as a description of attractiveness rather than temperature, one might generate names like this one.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 832 c|c}} || New || Waterworld starring Kevin Costner || [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114898/ Waterworld] is a 1995 film starring Kevin Costner about Earth almost completely covered in water. The surname was previously spelled incorrectly with a 'K'.
|-
| rowspan=6 | {{w|Gliese 581}} || {{w|Gliese 581 b|b}} || Old || Waist-deep Cats || {{w|Waist Deep}} is an action film from 2006, and the {{w|Lolcat}} meme does not need explaining. The name may also simply be a reference to being "waist-deep" in (i.e. surrounded by many) cats.
|-
| {{w|Gliese|c}} || Old || Planet #14 || About 200th discovered exoplanet (in 2007); reported to be the first potentially Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of its star, though that is in doubt now. The joke might be that like "Space Planet", "Planet #14" is a generic and unoriginal name. Also note that this is the 15th entry in the original table so the numbering is {{w|Zero-based numbering|zero-based}}.
An interesting (?) coincidence is that the 14th and 15th {{w|Definition of planet#Minor planets|Minor planets}} (then called asteroids) were discovered in 1851; see see {{w|List of minor planets: 1–1000}}. If they were to be counted among the planets of the {{w|Solar System}}, as was sometimes done then, the 14th known planetary body would be {{w| 7 Iris|Iris}} (discovered in 1847, a year before {{w|Neptune}}).
|-
|{{w|Gliese 581 d|d}} || Old || Ballderaan || A {{w|wikt:balls|crude pun}} on the planet {{w|Alderaan}} from the ''{{w|Star Wars}}'' universe.
|-
|{{w|Gliese 581 e|e}} || Old || Eternia Prime || {{w|Eternia}} is a fictional planet, venue of the ''{{w|Masters of the Universe}}'' animated series and toy collection.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 581 f|f}} || Old || Taupe Mars || {{w|Kim Stanley Robinson}}'s award-winning {{w|Mars trilogy}} (''Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars'' after various stages of {{w|terraformation}}). {{w|Taupe}} is a brownish-grey colour.
|-
|{{w|Gliese|g}} || Old || Jelly-Filled Planet || Possibly a reference to the conjecture that this tidally locked planet has an isolated habitable zone under the substellar point, akin to the pocket of jelly in a jelly doughnut.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Epsilon Eridani}} || {{w|Epsilon Eridani b|b}} || Old || Skydot || [http://skydot.lanl.gov SkyDOT] is the Sky Database for Objects in Time-Domain run by {{w|LANL}} for the {{w|U.S. Dept. of Energy}} and includes data for [http://skydot.lanl.gov/nsvs/star.php?num=14831575&mask=32004 Epsilon Eridani] that can be used to constrain the orbital parameters of ε Eri b. It may also refer to how objects in space may appear as bland, bright dots in the night sky.
|-
| {{w|Epsilon Eridani c#Planet c|c}} || Old || Laser Noises || A {{w|Laser}} does not produce {{w|Noise (electronics)|noise}} in the signal sense; it only works at a well defined frequency. In science fiction films, however, laser weapon discharges are usually accompanied by sound. Sun-like Epsilon Eridani became a popular setting for science fiction after its publicity as a target of the {{w|Project Ozma}} experiment.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 176}} || {{w|Gliese 176 b|b}} || Old || Pandora || The mythological name {{w|Pandora}} fulfills most of IAU's guidelines and has been popular for planets in science fiction; most recently and famously is {{w|Pandora (Avatar)|the venue}} of James Cameron's ''{{w|Avatar (film)|Avatar}}'' (although actually it is not a planet but just a moon of a gas giant in Alpha Centauri A). It is also a hellish planet from {{w|Frank Herbert}}'s {{w|Frank Herbert bibliography#WorShip novels|WorShip}} series of novels, a jungle planet in Brothers Strugatsky's {{w|Noon Universe}} and the planet used in {{w|Borderlands (video game)|Borderlands Games}}.
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_176_c/ c] || Old || Pantera || A near homophone of Pandora, possibly named for the {{w|Pantera|heavy metal band}}, which was named for the {{w|De Tomaso Pantera|Italian sports car}}, which was named for the panther.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-61}} || {{w|Kepler-61b|b}} || Old || GoldenPalace.com || A gambling website, known for {{w|GoldenPalace.com|paying to have their name in unusual places}} (like forehead tattoos, species names...).
|-
| {{w|Groombridge 34|Groombridge 34A}} || b || New || Hot Mess || This is a reference to the phrase [http://arresteddevelopment.wikia.com/wiki/Hot_mess Hot mess] from the popular television show Arrested Development.
|-
| Kepler-442 || {{w|Kepler-442b|b}} || New || Seas of Toothpaste ||
|-
| Gliese-442 || b || New || This one weird planet || Most likely a reference to {{w|clickbait}} articles found on the internet.
|-
| rowspan=3 | EPIC-201367065 || b || New || Sulawesi || {{w|Sulawesi|An island }} in the Indonesian archipelago.
|-
| c || New || Huge Soccer Ball ||
|-
| d || New || Geodude || [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Geodude_%28Pok%C3%A9mon%29 Geodude] is a Pokemon characterised by its ball-like shape. It resembles a clump of rocks.
|-
| rowspan=5 | Kepler-296 || b || New || Kerbal Space Planet || {{w|Kerbal Space Program}} is a game where model rockets are launched on a scale version of the Earth. It has been referenced in xkcd a number of times (in the title text of [[1106: ADD]], in [[1244: Six Words]], as a part of [[1350: Lorenz]] and in [[1356: Orbital Mechanics]]). Note, though, that the actual planet corresponding to the Earth in the game is called "Kerbin".
|-
| c || New || A$aplanet || Most probably a pun on the rap group {{w|A$AP Mob}} and their most prominent member {{w|A$AP Rocky}}. May also be a pun on {{w|Kesha}}, also written as Ke$ha. In that case the c of the planet's designation would belong to the name.
|-
| d || New || {{w|Jurassic World}} || Jurassic world is the most recent movie in the Jurassic park series.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-296e|e}} || New || This Land || Reference to Wash's dialogue in the pilot episode of {{w|Firefly (TV Series)|Firefly}}. Or perhaps the folk song "This Land is Your Land", written and made famous by Woody Guthrie.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-296f|f}} || New || Springfield || The name of {{w|Springfield (The Simpsons)|the town}} in which animated sitcom {{w|The Simpsons}} is set; possibly a reference to the running joke that the state in which Springfield is located has never been named.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|HR 7722}} || {{w|HR 7722 b|b}} || New || Betelgeuse || rowspan=2 | {{w|Betelgeuse}} is a star in the constellation Orion. It is commonly (at least by speakers of English) pronounced as "beetlejuice". {{w|Beetlejuice}}, however is a film directed by {{w|Tim Burton}} from 1988. Similarly to Dune/Arrakis (see Gliese 180) and the two Uranuses (see Kepler-283), naming two planets with names that are generally regarded to be identical would cause severe confusion in astronomical discussions.
|-
| {{w|HR 7722 c|c}} || New || Beetlejuice
|-
| EPIC201912552 || b || New || Netherlands VI || The title text references this entry. See the explanation of the title text above the table entry.
|-
| rowspan=3 | Gliese 3293 || b || New || Antispit || In the comic [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/ Homestuck] there is a planet named [http://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/Prospit Prospit]
|-
| c || New || Google Earth || {{w|Google Earth}} is a service, similar to Google Maps, which projects satellite data on a 3D globe that can be zoomed in on. Other features, such as models of buildings, can also appear.
|-
| d || New || Planet of the Apes (Disambiguation) || The way a Wikipedia article would be titled, for example, to distinguish from the {{w|Planet of the Apes (novel)|the original novel}}, {{w|Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|the first film}}, {{w|Planet of the Apes (2001 film)|the Tim Burton remake}} and {{w|Rise of the Planet of the Apes|the reboot series}}. In each adaptation, a group of astronauts lands on what is believed to be a "Planet of the Apes", which turns out to be a post-apocalyptic Earth. A Wikipedia page for this planet would itself conflict with an existing disambiguation page, possibly requiring a second-level disambiguation page to be created.
|-
| rowspan=2 | Kepler-283 || b || New || ˈjʊərənəs || rowspan = 2 | Two alternative pronunciations (written in {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}) for the planet name Uranus; the first one translates as "YU-ri-nus" ("urine-us"), while the second translates as "yu-RAIN-us" ("your anus"). The first pronunciation (being the same as how the {{w|Uranus (mythology)|Greek god}} is pronounced in English) is preferred by astronomers, but both are commonly heard. Similarly to Dune/Arrakis (see Gliese 180) and Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice (see HR 7722), naming two planets with names that are generally regarded to be identical would cause severe confusion in astronomical discussions.
|-
| c || New || jʊˈreɪnəs
|-
! colspan=5 | (right column)
|-
| rowspan=4 | {{w|Upsilon Andromedae}} || b || New || Fourthmeal || {{w|Taco Bell}} has an ad campaign adding a meal after dinner. Possibly also a reference to {{w|Hobbit}}s and [http://askmiddlearth.tumblr.com/post/41765286488/the-seven-daily-hobbit-meals seven daily meals].
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae c|c}} || Old || Stampy || The name of the elephant from the {{w|Simpsons}} episode {{w|Bart Gets an Elephant}}.
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae d|d}} || Old || Moonchild || The name Bastian gives the Childlike Empress in {{w|The Neverending Story}}.
|-
|{{w|Upsilon Andromedae e|e}} || Old || Ham Sphere || [http://www.hamsphere.com HamSphere] is a {{w|Amateur radio|Ham Radio}} simulator program. Ham radio uses designated radio frequencies for non-commercial exchange of messages and more. A pun of Hemisphere.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|. Eridani|HD 20794}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_b/ b] || Old || Cosmic Sands || style="font-family:'Comic Sans MS', 'Comic Sans'" | A {{w|pun}} on the name of the font {{w|Comic Sans}}. (See also: [[590|590: Papyrus]].)
|-
| [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_c/ c] || Old || Legoland || {{w|Legoland}} is a chain of {{w|theme park}}s owned by the {{w|Lego Group}}. Potentially a reference to the movie {{w|The World's End (film)|The World's End}}, in which the protagonist Gary King tells the alien invaders to "get in your rocket and fuck off back to Legoland".
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/hd_20794_d/ d] || Old || Planet with Arms || A reference to the [http://www.thecolorsofmysoul.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/The-Hitchhikers-Guide-to-the-Galaxy.jpg early covers] of {{w|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}?
|-
| {{w|HD 85512}} || {{w|HD 85512 b|b}} || Old || Lax Morality || Possibly a parody of science fiction in which certain planets are suggested to be uniformly lax in morals (i.e. full of sex, drugs, etc.). See http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Planetville and related.
|-
| rowspan=6 | {{w|HD 40307}} || {{w|HD 40307 b|b}} || Old || Good Planet || Similar to the above, except with good planets. May also be yet another non-descriptive name, like "Space Planet" and "Planet #14".
|-
|{{w|HD|c}} || Old || Problemland || See above. Also may be a reference to Iceland/Greenland naming scheme[http://anitasnotebook.com/travelstories/how-iceland-and-greenland-ended-up-with-such-messed-up-names/], where Problemland may actually be a better place to visit than "Good Planet."
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 d|d}} || Old || Slickle || This is a reference to "[http://zdarsky.tumblr.com/post/2837139960 The Petals Fall Twice]", which was made as a humorous example of bad fan-fiction. The word itself is a portmanteau of "slowly", "licked", and "tickled".
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 e|e}} || Old || Spare Parts || This suggests that the planet is "worthless" or "junk". This is false, of course. May be a reference to the fact it is a planet with nothing much different from the other planets.
|-
|{{w|HD 40307 f|f}} || Old || New Jersey VI || Refers to the state of {{w|New Jersey}}; may be an insult to either.
|-
|{{w|HD|g}} || Old || How Do I Join the IAU || This implies that the user "got lost" on the IAU website and thought that the "planet name suggestion" input was for general queries.
|-
| rowspan=3 | {{w|Gliese 163}} || [http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_b/ b] || Old || Neil Tyson's Mustache || {{w|Neil deGrasse Tyson}} is a famous American astrophysicist and science communicator who does maintain a distinguished mustache.
|-
|{{w|Gliese|c}} || Old || help@gmail.com || Similar to "How Do I Join the IAU", this implies that the user confused the "planet suggestion" text box for a new email they are trying to send
|-
|[http://exoplanet.eu/catalog/gj_163_d/ d] || Old || Hair-Covered Planet || Refers to the well-known {{w|Hairy ball theorem}} of topology.
|-
| {{w|Pi Mensae}} || {{w|Pi Mensae b|b}} || Old || Moon Holder || {{w|Jupiter}} has more than 60 discovered moons, and still counting... A planet ten times more massive ''must'' also be a Moon Holder.
|-
| {{w|HD 189733}} || {{w|HD 189733 b|b}} || Old || Permadeath || A well-characterized "{{w|Hot Jupiter}}" at a temperature range of 973 ± 33 K to 1,212 ± 11 K. The name refers to the feature of {{w|Permanent death}} common in many RPGs and roguelikes.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-22}} || {{w|Kepler-22 b|b}} || Old || Blue Ivy || Blue Ivy Carter is the daughter of musicians {{w|Beyoncé}} and {{w|Jay-Z}}.
|-
| KOI-2474 || b || New || Store-Brand Earth || A {{w|Store brand}} is a line of products branded by a retailer. They have a reputation for being lower quality than other brands, and are often marketed similarly to other brands. This is implying that this is a cheaper version of Earth.
|-
| Kepler-437 || b || Update || Unicorn Thresher || As far as we can tell, Kepler-437b is in the vicinity of the constellation Monoceros, aka the Unicorn. (This was labeled Kepler-3255b in the previous chart)
|-
| KOI-2418 || b || Old || Spherical Discworld || {{w|The Discworld}} is the fictional setting for British author {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s {{w|Discworld}} series of humorous fantasy novels; it consists of a large disc supported by four elephants themselves standing on top of a turtle flying through space. The joke being that the planet could not be spherical and disc-shaped at the same time.
|-
| Kepler-438 || b || Update || Emergency Backup Earth || This candidate planet has an {{w|Earth Similarity Index}} of 0.89, making it one of the most habitable {{w|Kepler object of interest}}. The name suggests that it could be used as a backup in case something happened to our current planet. This entry was labelled as Kepler-1686b in the previous table.
|-
| Kepler-3010 || b || Old || Feeeoooooooop || Possibly the onomatopoeia for something getting sucked into a black hole.
|-
| Kepler-442 || b || Old || Liz || ...Just a regular name (for a person, not a planet). Maybe a reference to the Magic School Bus.
|-
| rowspan=3 | 82 Eridani || b || New || Horsemeat Surface|| A reference to the {{w|2013 meat adulteration scandal}}, where horsemeat was found in burgers alleging to contain beef. This planet's name suggests that the surface of the entire planet would also contain improperly declared horsemeat.
|-
| c || New || The Moon || This name would cause confusion with the Earth's moon, which in English is called The Moon. It is also a poor name choice as 82 Eridani c is not a moon, but a planet.
|-
| d || New || Constant Saxophones ||
|-
| HD 102365 || b || New || Little Big Planet || This refers to the videogame {{w|LittleBigPlanet}}.
|-
| rowspan=2 | Gliese 180 || b || New || Dune || rowspan=2 | Both references to Frank Herbert's {{w|Dune (novel)|Dune}} book series. The planet Arrakis (informally referred to as 'Dune') is the central planet in the mythology, where the mind-enhancing substance 'spice' comes from. Use of spice enables, among others, supercomputing-like mental computation as well as hyperspace navigation. Having two neighbouring planets with names that are historically used to refer to a single planet would sow further confusion in the already extensive catalog of planet names. This is similarly to Betelgeuse/Beetlejuice (see HR 7722) and the two Uranuses (see Kepler-283).
|-
| c || New || Arrakis
|-
| Fomalhaut || b || New || Swarm of Bees ||
|-
| rowspan=5 | {{w|Kepler-62}} || {{w|Kepler-62b|b}} || New || Sporty || rowspan=5 | A reference to [[1554: Spice Girls]], where Megan was unable to list the members of the pop group. In this case the names are correct. {{w|Kepler-62f}} is a [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-62e.html super-Earth-size planet]. {{w|Kepler-62e}} is a possible [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-62e.html water world].
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62c|c}} || New || Baby
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62d|d}} || New || Scary
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62e|e}} || New || Ginger
|-
| {{w|Kepler-62f|f}} || New || Posh
|-
| rowspan=3 | HD 69830 || b || New || Planet.xxx || {{w|.xxx}} is a controversial top level domain (like to .com and .net) that is intended to distinguish porn sites from other types of website.
|-
| c || New || Novella || A {{w|novella}} is a form of prose with length between a {{w|short story}} and a {{w|novel}}. Common examples of novellas are romance literature centering around intense lustful encounters in cheap paperback books, though also 'serious' literature may be in novella form.
|-
| d || New || Sexoplanet || Like the other two planets orbiting this star, the "69" in the stars designation has lead to a sex joke: All planets in this comic are "exo-planets", planets not orbiting our sun. Adding a single "s" in front results in immature humor.
|-
| rowspan=2 | {{w|Gliese 682}} || {{w|Gliese 682 b|b}} || New || Verdant Hellscape || A contradictory name. "[[wikt:verdant|Verdant]]" usually signifies to be lush with green plantlife, while "[[wikt:hellscape|hellscape]]" describes a desolate landscape destroyed by heat and cataclysm.
|-
| {{w|Gliese 682 c|c}} || New || Unsubscribe || On YouTube, "subscribers" (people who get updates on a person's channel) are highly valued, and to "unsubscribe" from anyone is deemed to be offensive. "Unsubscribe" is also the command one sends to {{w|Electronic mailing list}}s to stop receiving said mailing list. In this sense it may imply a desire to no longer be bothered with these silly discussions around planet-names. Like "help@gmail.com" and "How do I join the IAU", "unsubscribe" is a frequently seen accidental message on the Internet in contexts where it is not going to work as a command.
|-
| {{w|Kepler-452}} || {{w|Kepler-452b|b}} || New || Pluto || This is the planet Black Hat is referring to at the top of the table.
|}

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is pointing with a stick at a slide with an image of a planet with features (continents, water atmosphere). All over the planet is written 12 questions marks. The planet is labeled.]
:Planet: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
:Label: Kepler-452b
:Black Hat: NASA has announced the discovery of a (super-)Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a sun-like star.
:Black Hat: I suggest we name this planet "Pluto", both to celebrate the great work by the ''New Horizons'' team, and to make the stupid "Is Pluto a planet" debate a little more confusing

:[Below Black Hat is a frame with a caption above a table which shows a list of planet names.]
:While we wait to hear from the IAU,
:here's a revised and updated list of
:planet name suggestions (see xkcd.com/1253)
:New or updated entries in red

:[The table is in two separate columns, but there is only headings over the left, so the right column is a direct continuation of the left. In the table it is mentioned when the right column begins. There is a small arrow pointing from the word "Planet" down to the second column of the table. The headings in the comic are not inside the table as they are here below:]

:{| class="wikitable"
! Star !! Planet !! Suggested Name
|-
| rowspan=7 |Gliese 667||b||Space Planet
|-
|c||PILF
|-
|d||A Star
|-
|e||e'); DROP TABLE PLANETS;--
|-
|f||Blogosphere
|-
|g||Blogodrome
|-
|h||Earth
|-
| rowspan=5 |Tau Ceti||b||Sid Meier's Tau Ceti B
|-
|c||Giant Dog Planet
|-
|d||Tiny Dog Planet
|-
|e||Phil Plainet
|-
|f||Unicode Snowman
|-
| rowspan=2|Gliese 832||b||Asshole Jupiter
|-
|c||Waterworld starring Kevin Costner
|-
| rowspan= 6|Gliese 581||b||Waist-deep Cats
|-
|c||Planet #14
|-
|d||Ballderaan
|-
|e||Eternia Prime
|-
|f||Taupe Mars
|-
|g||Jelly-Filled Planet
|-
| rowspan= 2|Epsilon Eridani||b||Skydot
|-
|c||Laser Noises
|-
| rowspan= 2|Gliese 176||b||Pandora
|-
|c||Pantera
|-
|Kepler-61||b||GoldenPalace.com
|-
|Groombridge 34A||b||Hot Mess
|-
|Kepler-442||b||Seas of Toothpaste
|-
|Gliese-442||b||This one weird planet
|-
| rowspan= 3|EPIC-201367065||b||Sulawesi
|-
|c||Huge Soccer Ball
|-
|d||Geodude
|-
| rowspan= 5|Kepler-296||b||Kerbal Space Planet
|-
|c||A$aplanet
|-
|d||Jurassic World
|-
|e||This Land
|-
|f||Springfield
|-
| rowspan= 2|HR 7722||b||Betelgeuse
|-
|c||Beetlejuice
|-
|EPIC201912552||b||Netherlands VI
|-
| rowspan= 3|Gliese 3293||b||Antispit
|-
|c||Google Earth
|-
|d||Planet of the Apes (Disambiguation)
|-
| rowspan= 2|Kepler-283||b||ˈjʊərənəs
|-
|c||jʊˈreɪnəs
|-
! colspan=3 | [Below is the right column.]
|-
| rowspan= 4|Upsilon Andromedae||b||Fourthmeal
|-
|c||Stampy
|-
|d||Moonchild
|-
|e||Ham Sphere
|-
| rowspan= 3|HD 20794||b||Cosmic Sands
|-
|c||Legoland
|-
|d||Planet with Arms
|-
|HD 85512||b||Lax Morality
|-
| rowspan= 6|HD 40307||b||Good Planet
|-
|c||Problemland
|-
|d||Slickle
|-
|e||Spare Parts
|-
|f||New Jersey VI
|-
|g||How Do I Join the IAU
|-
| rowspan= 3|Gliese 163||b||Neil Tyson's Mustache
|-
|c||help@gmail.com
|-
|d||Hair-Covered Planet
|-
|Pi Mensae||b||Moon Holder
|-
|HD 189733||b||Permadeath
|-
|Kepler-22||b||Blue Ivy
|-
|KOI-2474||b||Store-Brand Earth
|-
|Kepler-437||b||Unicorn Thresher
|-
|KOI-2418||b||Spherical Discworld
|-
|Kepler-438||b||Emergency Backup Earth
|-
|Kepler-3010||b||Feeeoooooooop
|-
|Kepler-442||b||Liz
|-
|rowspan = 3|82 Eridani ||b ||Horsemeat Surface 
|-
|c ||The Moon 
|-
|d ||Constant Saxophones 
|-
|HD 102365 ||b ||Little Big Planet 
|-
|rowspan = 2|Gliese 180 ||b ||Dune 
|-
|c ||Arrakis 
|-
|Fomalhaut ||b ||Swarm of Bees 
|-
|rowspan = 5|Kepler-62 ||b ||Sporty 
|-
|c ||Baby 
|-
|d ||Scary 
|-
|e ||Ginger 
|-
|f ||Posh 
|-
|rowspan = 3|HD 69830 ||b ||Planet.xxx 
|-
|c ||Novella 
|-
|d ||Sexoplanet 
|-
|rowspan = 2|Gliese 682 ||b ||Verdant Hellscape 
|-
|c ||Unsubscribe 
|-
|Kepler-452 ||b ||Pluto 
|}

==Trivia==
*The IPA character for stress is a vertical line ˈ. Randall uses a slanted line similar to acute accent ´ or prime ′.
*There were three errors in the [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/f/fd/20150725002854!exoplanet_names_2.png original version] of this comic. These were corrected later the same day.
**The three errors were:
*#Waterworld starring Kevin '''Kostner''' (Kostner instead of Costner)
*#Upsilon '''Andromidae''' (Andromidae instead of Andromedae)
*#'''Formalhaut''' (Formalhaut instead of Fomalhaut)

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Exoplanets]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Firefly]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]

Talk:1474: Screws

2015-01-16T09:19:35Z

Popup:

This page is now on the first page of google for "uranium screw". [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 05:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't think that patent is the right one, it seems to describe a uranium decontamination procedure, not a screw made of uranium like in the comic. [[User:LeoDeQuirm|LeoDeQuirm]] ([[User talk:LeoDeQuirm|talk]]) 05:46, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure the "uranium screw" is just a reference to the fact that the head of the screw appears to have split in two ("fissioned"), as opposed to a normal flat head screw that still has the edges connected. [[User:Sam887|Sam887]] ([[User talk:Sam887|talk]]) 05:50, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Just a shot in the dark here, but a company that sells uranium ore and radiological equipment happens to also sell screws for one of its Geigers that look just like the screw cross-section in the comic. [http://www.uraniumrocks.com/products/replacement-circuit-board-mount-screws-for-victoreen-cdv-700-short] [[User:Conqu2|Conqu2]] ([[User talk:Conqu2|talk]]) 06:01, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I was wondering if the "uranium screw" was referring to the Demon Core -- two hemispherical domes that Louis Slotin was holding apart with a screwdriver. Then I remembered the Demon Core was plutonium, not uranium. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.119|173.245.48.119]] 06:49, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

I think the be was going for apple's pentalobe screw with the 5 ponted star

I don't think the uranium screws are named for their use in stuff to do with uranium, as I have both seen and used screws that look like that before. It's basically a flat head screw whose divot extends all the way across the face of the screw. I agree more with the previous commentor who notes that the screw looks like it has fissioned. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.182|108.162.237.182]] 06:34, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

An actual rivet is neither a screw nor a bolt; it's a fastener that is placed and then has one end plastically deformed -- traditionally by a rivet gun, but more often in smaller sizes by some sort of press or clamp. (Pop rivets are hollow, and are deformed by pulling a cone-sheaped wedge into the open end of the hollow core.) There's no way to remove one except to destroy it (drill it out or cut one end off). The item pictured could also be the head of a carriage bolt, but that's no help if you can't get at the other end of the bolt. Randall is slightly pessemistic, though: there *are* some "security" screws and bolts that use a slightly-elliptical domed head that's hard to tell from a rivet; they can be unscrewed, but only with a matching slightly-elliptical socket. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.70|199.27.133.70]] 06:35, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

All of which can be removed by a sonic screwdriver. Totally a real thing.

Could the "cursed -1" be a Nethack reference? I don't know if Dungeons and Dragons has the "blessed/uncursed/cursed" status, but in Nethack cursed items with negative enchantments (denoted "cursed -whatever") are a pretty common occurrence. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.25|199.27.133.25]] 07:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

In Nethack, Cursed objects cannot be removed. Seems appropriate. At first I thought it was a pozidrive screw head. Posts on the fission screw head: where have you seen screws whose divot does *not* extend across the head?

[[User:Kreuiter|Kreuiter]] ([[User talk:Kreuiter|talk]]) 08:03, 16 January 2015 (UTC)from wikipedia: Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793) commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror

I don't think it is specifically a reference to Nethack as a lot of ol games (both video and tabletop) use the mechanic of non removable cursed objects. It is common enough in my opinion that we could argue about until we are blue in the face and get nowhere.

--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 08:28, 16 January 2015 (UTC)
uranium screw may be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin#Criticality_accident Louis Slotin], who died when he was using a screw driver to seperate two halves of a plutonium sphere as part of a science demonstration, and triggered a large burst of radiation when his hand slipped.

I'm thinking it might benefit the article to include a place in the wikitable for the correct term for each drive socket. Of course their are not correct terms for each of them. Not to mention rivets and Phillip's heads don't even have drive sockets. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 09:04, 16 January 2015 (UTC)BLuDgeons

If you suggest cursed-1 is because if misuse - I in first place thought of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv] as the cursed one - because Philipps and Pozidriv are slightly incompatible and causes damage. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.18|108.162.254.18]] 09:09, 16 January 2015 (UTC)

Is it really true that Phillips head are 'commonly used in construction'? At least in Europe they were replaced by Pozidriv in the 1990's and these days by Torx.

1342: Ancient Stars

2014-03-14T09:19:50Z

Popup: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1342
| date = March 14, 2014
| title = Ancient Stars
| image = ancient_stars.png
| titletext = 'The light from those millions of stars you see is probably many thousands of years old' is a rare example of laypeople substantially OVERestimating astronomical numbers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Title-text could use some extra explanation.}}
Cueball is making a common observation; many of the visible stars in the sky are so distant that it takes thousands years for light from that star to reach Earth. Unfortunately, the brightest star, Sirius, also happens to be one of the nearest at a mere 8.6 light-years (in other words, the light that is currently arriving from Sirius was emitted some time around August 2005). The previous US president, George W. Bush, was in office from 2000 to 2008; as Megan notes, this isn't terribly impressive.

The title-text references the fact that most normal people have a hard time imagining the large scale of astronomical numbers (for example, the distance between astronomical bodies or the size of a sun); they typically imagine them as many orders of magnitude smaller than they actually are. In this case, however, they instead overestimate both the number of stars and their distance by quite a bit. (It's frequently cited that about 5'000 - 10'000 stars are visible by the naked eye. - e.g. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude wikipedia] claims that there are 9'096 stars of apparent magnitude greater than 6.5, and to see those you need pretty good eyes and a very dark night.)

==Transcript==
:[Cueball pointing up into the night sky.]
:Cueball: Just think - the light from that star was emitted thousands of years ago. It could be long gone.
:Megan: That's Sirius. It's eight light-years away.
:Cueball: Oh.
:Cueball: Just think - the light from that star was emitted in the previous presidential administration.
:Megan: Mmm, doesn't pack quite the punch.

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

1342: Ancient Stars

2014-03-14T09:16:15Z

Popup: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1342
| date = March 14, 2014
| title = Ancient Stars
| image = ancient_stars.png
| titletext = 'The light from those millions of stars you see is probably many thousands of years old' is a rare example of laypeople substantially OVERestimating astronomical numbers.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Title-text could use some extra explanation.}}
Cueball is making a common observation; many of the visible stars in the sky are so distant that it takes thousands years for light from that star to reach Earth. Unfortunately, the brightest star, Sirius, also happens to be one of the nearest at a mere 8.6 light-years (in other words, the light that is currently arriving from Sirius was emitted some time around August 2005). The previous US president, George W. Bush, was in office from 2000 to 2008; as Megan notes, this isn't terribly impressive.

The title-text references the fact that most normal people have a hard time imagining the large scale of astronomical numbers (for example, the distance between astronomical bodies or the size of a sun); they typically imagine them as many orders of magnitude smaller than they actually are. In this case, however, they instead overestimate both the number of stars and their distance by quite a bit. (It's frequently cited that about 5'000 - 10'000 stars are visible by the naked eye.)

==Transcript==
:[Cueball pointing up into the night sky.]
:Cueball: Just think - the light from that star was emitted thousands of years ago. It could be long gone.
:Megan: That's Sirius. It's eight light-years away.
:Cueball: Oh.
:Cueball: Just think - the light from that star was emitted in the previous presidential administration.
:Megan: Mmm, doesn't pack quite the punch.

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

Talk:1017: Backward in Time

2013-06-28T09:27:56Z

Popup:

That spreadsheet is going to need updating in the future. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 20:30, 6 November 2012 (UTC)

If you're running Excel, the formula is =SUM(EXP(20.3444*(B8^3)+3)-EXP(3)) [[User:BlueRoll18|BlueRoll18]] ([[User talk:BlueRoll18|talk]]) 10:43, 14 June 2013 (UTC)

I find it more aesthetically pleasing to have the time running forwards; starting with the big bang and ending in the present day. Which reminds me strongly of the introduction to the Big Bang Theory series. [[User:Popup|Popup]] ([[User talk:Popup|talk]]) 09:27, 28 June 2013 (UTC)