https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=RamMay 2026-04-10T04:19:11Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2705:_Spacetime_Soccer&diff=300125 2022-12-01T03:29:54Z

<p>RamMay: The first edit to the page, saying basic things about the comic.</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2705<br /> | date = November 30, 2022<br /> | title = Spacetime Soccer<br /> | image = spacetime_soccer_2x.png<br /> | imagesize = 740x280px<br /> | noexpand = true<br /> | titletext = Spacetime Soccer, known outside the United States as '4D Football' is a now-defunct sport. Infamous for referee decisions hinging on inconsistent definitions of simultaneity, it is also known for the disappearance of many top players during... [more]<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a FOUR-DIMENSIONAL GOALIE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> This comic proposes Spacetime Soccer, an impossible sport. Not only would it be impossible for human players to travel through more than three special dimensions, it would also be very difficult to keep track of score and rules such as offsides. This comic was likely published in relation to the 2022 World Cup.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}</div>

RamMay https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2690:_Cool_S&diff=297701 2022-10-27T14:33:41Z

<p>RamMay: This statement is more accurate.</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 2690<br /> | date = October 26, 2022<br /> | title = Cool S<br /> | image = cool_s_2x.png<br /> | imagesize = 325x327px<br /> | noexpand = true<br /> | titletext = Although I hear they were caught cheating off of Rosalind, who sat at a desk in front of them.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> {{incomplete|Created by a COOL MIDDLE SCHOOL RESEARCHER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> The '{{w|Cool S}}' is a stylized drawing of the letter &quot;S&quot;. It is a popular doodle among teenagers and pre-teens as it can be quickly hashed out using six vertical lines which are then connected with an appropriate pattern of diagonal lines.<br /> <br /> Randall first draws the steps to make the Cool S. Then he draws a chain of repeats of this pattern, excluding the end caps, making something that looks like a twisted rope. Finally he separates the two strands and adds cross bars, creating something that turns out to have a visual similarity to the discovered helical structure of {{w|DNA}}. However, although the final diagram is a double helix, the chirality, or &quot;handedness&quot;, is backwards: an actual DNA molecule winds in the opposite direction (clockwise, if you're looking at it end-on). (The tutorial at [http://realerthinks.com/correctly-draw-dna/ How to (correctly) draw DNA] describes this in more detail.) <br /> <br /> He posits that the helical shape of DNA was originally discovered when somebody decided to doodle this extended S pattern. <br /> <br /> Understanding the shape of the DNA molecule was an important step towards understanding how it duplicates itself and serves as a template for RNA. In real life, {{w|Francis Crick}} and {{w|James Watson}} were awarded a Nobel Prize for this discovery.<br /> <br /> The title text is a reference to {{w|Rosalind Franklin}}, who made a material contribution to the discovery of DNA but was [https://web.archive.org/web/20160927113256/http://www.biomath.nyu.edu/index/course/hw_articles/nature4.pdf controversially not included in the Nobel Prize]. Many are quick to assume she was excluded due to sexism, but in reality it was because she had been dead for five years (Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously). Franklin's boss at the time of the discovery, Maurice Wilkins, was also named on the prize. Wilkins had shared some of Franklin's data with Watson, who then shared what he saw with Crick. None of the three men ever told Franklin that Watson and Crick had based their model on her data.<br /> <br /> This account is reminiscent of how August Kekule said he identified the ring structure of the benzene molecule. He claimed to have had a dream in which the atoms were moving around, with the last grabbing onto the first like the classic image of a snake grabbing its tail, forming a ring of six lines.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br /> <br /> :[10 drawings evolving from simple dashes, to a &quot;cool S&quot; symbol, to a representation of DNA.]<br /> <br /> :[Caption below the panel]:<br /> :The structure of DNA was originally discovered by a group of especially cool middle school researchers.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Biology]]<br /> [[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>

RamMay