explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

123: Centrifugal Force

2026-01-10T01:18:46Z

TV4Fun: Add explanation of rotating systems

{{comic
| number = 123
| date = July 3, 2006
| title = Centrifugal Force
| image = centrifugal force.png
| titletext = You spin me right round baby, right round, in a manner depriving me of an inertial reference frame. Baby.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] has strapped {{w|James Bond}} to a centrifuge and claims that the {{w|Centrifugal force|centrifugal}} force will be lethal. Bond objects that there is no such thing, but just {{w|Centripetal force|centripetal}} force. The notion of centrifugal force is a common one, as we experience it whenever we turn. Teachers will initially teach Newtonian mechanics in an inertial frame, and in inertial frames, the centrifugal force is zero. Instead, a body that moves in a circle does so because of a centripetal force (acting towards the center of the rotation). This is a reasonable (and correct) view, but it is a subtle point that many students find hard to grasp, as it seems to contradict their personal experience of centrifugal forces. For the sake of exposition, teachers may claim that "There is no such thing as centrifugal force." This, however, is also a misconception, which is addressed in the explanation below:
;Observers' point of view (Black Hat, us, etc.)
:James Bond is moving in a circle, and is therefore accelerating. The force keeping him there is an inward force of contact against the centrifuge, a centripetal force. Via Newton's {{w|Newton's laws of motion#Newton's third law|third law}}, since the centrifuge is pushing Bond inward, Bond is pushing the centrifuge outward. The centrifuge's material is strong enough not to break under this force, however.
;James Bond's point of view
:In James Bond's frame of reference, Bond is at rest. He is kept there by two forces: the above-mentioned inward force of contact against the centrifuge, and an ''outward centrifugal force''. He feels both forces.

As mentioned in the explanation, as the centrifuge rotates faster, the forces needed to keep him in motion get larger, so the force he feels gets larger. This will eventually kill him. The conclusion will be the same regardless of which frame of reference is chosen.

Teachers of mechanics are well aware of this; however, in introductory expositions, these ideas are often not taught. In theoretical mechanics, one describes the positions and velocities of the particles in a model relative to a frame of reference. This means that a time is chosen to be time 0, and positions are chosen to be (0,0,0), (1,0,0), (0,1,0), and (0,0,1). With these chosen, the position and time of any particle in the system can be described. It is an axiom of Newtonian Mechanics that there exist "Inertial Frames." In an inertial frame, a particle will remain at rest or at a constant speed unless acted on by an external force, and Newton's second law takes a simple form: F = ma. The surface of the Earth approximates an inertial frame. In a non-inertial frame, such as one rotating with a giant centrifuge, or moving with an accelerating vehicle, a particle will accelerate, relative to the frame. Newton's second law, when formed in such a frame, is much more complicated, as it has terms for the linear acceleration of the frame, the angular acceleration of the frame, the centrifugal force, and the {{w|Coriolis force}}. These extra terms are sometimes called "fictitious forces," as they result from the choice of the frame of reference. The mathematics required to describe problems in a non-inertial frame is more sophisticated, and all problems may be solved using an inertial frame. Thus is reasonable that teachers at school level "{{w|lie to children}}" and teach the mechanics in inertial frames.

===Constructing Newton's Laws in a Rotating System===
The simplest way to see the appearance of a centrifugal force term in a rotating system is by expressing quantities in polar coordinates. If we take a single point mass moving in a 2-dimensional plane with respect to some arbitrarily chosen center point, its position is completely described by its distance from the center, ''r'', together with its angle relative to the ''x''-axis in our coordinate system, ''θ''. It is possible to derive the force on the object in polar coordinates by taking Newton's first and second laws
'''F''' = m d2'''r'''/d''t''2
and transforming the objects linear motion into polar coordinates. However, we can arrive at this objective far more quickly by using the {{w|Lagrangian mechanics|Lagrangian}}
''L'' = ''T'' - ''V''.
Where ''T'' is the object's kinetic energy and ''V'' is its potential energy. If we assume there are no external forces acting on the object, then the potential energy ''V'' is just a constant that we can set equal to 0. This gives us the Lagrangian
''L'' = ''T'' - ''V'' = ''T'' = ½''mv''2 = ½''m''[(''r'' d''θ''/d''t'')2 + (d''r''/d''t'')2] = ½m(''r''2''θ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>2 + ''r'''2)
where ''θ'' is expressed in radians, we are using ''θ''<nowiki>'</nowiki> to express the angular velocity, and ''r''' to express the radial velocity. We can then apply Lagrange's equations
∂''L''/∂''q''''i'' - d/d''t'' ∂''L''/∂''q''''i''' = 0
where each ''q''''i'' is one of our coordinates, ''r'' and ''θ'' in our case, and each ''q''''i''' is the associated time derivative ''r''<nowiki>'</nowiki> and ''θ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>. Applying this with ''r'' gives us
∂''L''/∂''r'' - d/d''t'' ∂''L''/∂''r''<nowiki>'</nowiki> = ''mrθ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>2 - d/d''t''(''mr''<nowiki>'</nowiki>) = ''mrθ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>2 - ''mr''<nowiki>''</nowiki> = 0
⇒ ''mr''<nowiki>''</nowiki> = m d2''r''/d''t''2 = ''mrθ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>2
Comparing this to the expression of Newton's laws from earlier, we see that this is saying precisely that in this reference frame, there is a centrifugal force that is proportional to ''rθ''<nowiki>'</nowiki>2.

James Bond was almost killed by a centrifuge in {{w|Moonraker (film)|Moonraker}}. The final statement by Black Hat is that said by {{w|Auric Goldfinger}} in {{w|Goldfinger (film)|Goldfinger}} in response to James Bond's question "Do you expect me to talk?"

The title text is inspired by {{w|Dead or Alive (band)|Dead or Alive's}} famous song from 1985, "{{w|You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)|You Spin Me Round}}."

Randall feels very strongly that the centrifugal force is a real thing. He links to this comic in the first footnote of his ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article {{what if|92|One-Second Day}} and the 6th footnote of {{what if|157|Earth-Moon Fire Pole}}, stating that it is a real thing, and that he will go so far as to strap arguers to a centrifuge that he or someone he knows apparently owns. He also cites it in [[852: Local g]]

As can also be seen in the [https://twitter.com/bohacekp/status/531500491180875776/photo/1 footnote on page 132] in his ''[[What If? (book)|What If?]]'' book, he will even fight you about it. From the book: 
"Furthermore, if you're on the equator, you're being flung outward by a centrifugal force1."
 "1Yes, centrifugal. I will fight you."
 (The article itself is about what happens if you lose all your DNA, so it has not much to do with this "real" force... The sentence is just stating that the actual weight loss from losing all your DNA is similar to the weight loss you would experience by moving from the poles to the equator due to this force.)

Black Hat is featured as a Bond villain once again in [[2747: Presents for Biologists]].

==Transcript==
:[James Bond, drawn as Cueball, is strapped to a giant wheel suspended from the ceiling. Black Hat is standing next to two levers.]
:Black hat: How do you like my centrifuge, Mister Bond? When I throw this lever, you will feel centrifugal force crush every bone in your body.
:[Same scene, but a closer shot.]
:Bond: You mean centripetal force. There's no such thing as centrifugal force.
:Black hat: A laughable claim, Mister Bond, perpetuated by overzealous teachers of science. Simply construct Newton's laws in a rotating system and you will see a centrifugal force term appear as plain as day.
:[Closer shot, only Bond's head is visible.]
:Bond: Come now, do you really expect me to do coordinate substitution in my head while strapped to a centrifuge?
:Black hat: No, Mister Bond. I expect you to die.

==Trivia==
* This used to be one of the [[Footer comics|footer comics]] featured in the bottom segment of [https://xkcd.com xkcd.com].
* This comic used to be [https://web.archive.org/web/20211215063004/https://store.xkcd.com/products/signed-prints available as a signed print] in the xkcd store before it was [[Store|shut down]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Footer comics]] 
[[Category:Comics with xkcd store products]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

3181: Jumping Frog Radius

2025-12-16T17:52:00Z

TV4Fun:

{{comic
| number = 3181
| date = December 15, 2025
| title = Jumping Frog Radius
| image = jumping_frog_radius_2x.png
| imagesize = 339x243px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Earth's r_jf is approximately 1.5 light-days, leading to general relativity's successful prediction that all the frogs in the Solar System should be found collected on the surface of the Earth.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an CHAMPION PLANET-JUMPING FROG. I have added a bit about the drawing. It is important I think that the planet with the frog has exactly the rjf radius. This means the frog cannot escape but just barely. Is there a physics relation behind the fact that the jumps height seems to be very close to the radius of the planet, i.e. rjf? Also Can someone calculate the size and mass of the largest object from which a champion frog can achieve escape velocity? Are there some named asteroids that are of sow low a mass that it would be possible for frog to jump of? (Of course there are some small enough... but do any of them have real names, like the one named after Randall)? Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
The {{w|Schwarzschild radius}} is essentially the size of a {{w|black hole}} -- the maximum distance from the center where gravity is so strong that light can't escape.

It is part of a solution to {{w|Einstein's field equations}}. It is usually calculated as the following:
:''r'' = (2*''G*M'') / ''c''2,
where ''G'' is the {{w|gravitational constant}}, ''M'' is the mass of the object, and ''c'' is the {{w|speed of light}}.

If ''M'' were the mass of the {{w|Earth}}, it would give the Schwarzschild radius for the Earth, which is about 9 mm. (If all of Earth's mass were compressed into a sphere of a bit less than 2 cm in diameter, it would become a black hole.)

The comic suggests a more useful radius: the ''Jumping Frog radius'' ''rjf'', which is the size of a "planet" such that its gravity keeps a champion {{w|Frog jumping contest|jumping frog}} from being able to achieve {{w|escape velocity}}. Thus [[Randall]] has instead of ''c'', the 299,792,458 m/s speed of light, used a much smaller value of 4.5 m/s, to represent the maximum speed of a jumping frog. It is possible that Randall got that value from [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5661154_Explosive_Jumping_Extreme_Morphological_and_Physiological_Specializations_of_Australian_Rocket_Frogs_Litoria_nasuta this paper], which on page 179 puts an upper limit on the maximum velocity of adult {{w|Striped_rocket_frog|Australian rocket frogs}} at 4.52 m/s.

The drawing to the right of the formula shows a planet with exactly the radius ''rjf''. Thus the frog can jump really high compared to the planet's size (in this case about as high as the planet's radius), before it unavoidably falls back down, since the small planet is just large enough to prevent the frog escaping.

The title text points out that the ''rjf'' of the Earth is about 1.5 light days, which is about 7 times the distance to {{w|Pluto}} (compare to the 9 mm Schwarzschild radius). Since Earth's radius is much smaller than this, no frogs will be able to escape, so all frogs that stray into Earth's gravitational well would collect here on Earth. As far as we know, all the frogs in the Solar System are on Earth{{Citation needed}}, so the data apparently matches the theory. However, the reasoning is incorrect, as many other astronomical bodies in our solar system also have ''rjf'' greater than their physical radius. If a frog were to be on any of those other bodies, it wouldn't be able to jump away to fall to Earth. A flawed argument neither supports nor refutes the conclusion, although it is true as far as we know that all frogs in the solar system do live on Earth.

==Transcript==
:[The panel shows a large formula to the left and a small drawing to the right. The formula's right side is drawn above and below the division line:]
:''rjf'' = 2''GM'' / (4.5 m/s)2

:[The drawing to the left shows a very small planet with the radius indicated with a labeled dotted arrow pointing from the center straight up. A frog is shown jumping on the surface. This is indicated with a parabolic dotted line going from a frog sitting on the surface near the top of the planet, up to the frog shown soaring through the air with its limbs stretched out about as high above the surface as the planet's radius. At this point the frog is making a sound. Then the dotted line goes down to about a quarter of the way around the planet where the frog lands making a noise.]
:Arrow label: ''rjf''
:Frog: Ribbit
:Landing: Plop

:[Caption below the panel:]
:More practically useful than the Schwarzschild radius, the '''''Jumping Frog Radius''''' is the radius at which an object's gravitational pull is so strong that even a champion jumping frog can't escape.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Animals]]

3170: Service Outage

2025-11-20T02:47:37Z

TV4Fun: Did someone use a chatbot to write this?

{{comic
| number = 3170
| date = November 19, 2025
| title = Service Outage
| image = service_outage_2x.png
| imagesize = 376x364px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Now, if it were the *Canon* wiki, it's possible to imagine someone with a productivity-related reason for consulting it, but no one's job requires them to read that much about Admiral Daala.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
In this comic, Cueball is comparing the effects that service outages for different websites can have on people's productivity. When the service (like Google) is essential to his work, his productivity will clearly go down. However, his productivity increases if the service (the Star Wars Legends wiki) is non-essential, implying that he frequently gets distracted by them.

The title-text continues the Star Wars Legends Wiki joke, mentioning the canon and non-canon wikis. A writer or editor for a forthcoming Star Wars product may have a work-related reason to review a wiki containing Star Wars canon. Star Wars Legends, on the other hand, have been considered non-canon since 2014.

This comic was posted the day after there was an outage at {{w|Cloudflare}}, a major {{w|Content Delivery Network}}, and a few weeks after there were outages at {{w|Microsoft Azure}} and {{w|Amazon Web Services}}, which provide {{w|cloud computing}} services. These aren't sites that most non-technical users are directly familiar with, but they provide infrastructure for many popular web sites, so their outages have wide-ranging impact.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:2464: Muller's Ratchet

2025-04-01T13:38:49Z

TV4Fun: /* Can we get this book? */ new section

I do this frequently: Seeking out the best quality of two media I've seen put together, in an effort to improve the quality of the resultant combined media.

I had no idea, all this time I'd been creating recombinant PNG.
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 20:58, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

This is the first time I've encountered recombination, but I've seen the many versions of images scattered across the internet for sure --[[User:Char Latte49|Wielder of the Staple Gun]] ([[User talk:Char Latte49|talk]]) 21:33, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

On a number of occasions I've had to edit images given to me to submit to a resource. The original photographer ''insists'' on having a 'burnt-on' timestamp directly on the image (he's always done that, and won't accept metadata does the job); meanwhile, the resource's policies are heavily against such 'decoration' and moderators often reject such. When I can't easily clone a 'coverage' area from within the same image - and feather its edges to blend in - I sometimes find another original (but slightly different viewpoint) submitted image that has a sufficiently unsullied 'patch' to let it pass muster. That's a slightly meta-example, I suppose. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.161|141.101.99.161]] 23:17, 17 May 2021 (UTC)

Sexual reproduction pictures on teh Interwebz mkay, but I lament a certain underrepresentation of amoeba pr0n. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.134|141.101.105.134]] 08:33, 18 May 2021 (UTC)

im guessing this time traveller ^^ just came back from 2008. dont go to 2020. ever. just dont. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.59|162.158.79.59]] 14:36, 18 May 2021 (UTC)Bumpf

That's a squirrel?? Look at its tail - squirrels have thick fluffy tails, not that skinny one. And if it is a squirrel, it's by far the largest I've ever seen - unless Hairbun and Cueball are children. I was 100% certain when I saw it that it was a cat. [[User:MeZimm|MeZimm]] ([[User talk:MeZimm|talk]]) 14:53, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
:: And we do know how Randall draws squirrels: [[1503]], [[1578]], [[776]], and [[1156]] all contain examples. I vote that this be changed. --mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.21|172.69.42.21]] 14:58, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
:: I'm not sure that's a cat, the muzzle looks wrong to me. Some other feline, maybe. A 4-legged furry mammal with a tail, almost definitely. Could we ask Randall for clarification? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.132|172.69.22.132]] 19:45, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
:::Looks like a rat to me. Maybe a possum or something? It has a pointed muzzle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.160|162.158.75.160]] 20:56, 18 May 2021 (UTC)
:::Definitely an opossum or other such larger marsupial. Its muzzle is too pointed to be a cat. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.144|162.158.75.144]] 02:08, 20 May 2021 (UTC)
::::It looks like a large city rat to me-have you seen the proportions those rodents can get to?!?https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/giant-rat-found-in-london-gas-engineer-finds-rodent-bigger-than-a-small-child-a6925591.html [[User:42.book.addict|42.book.addict]] ([[User talk:42.book.addict|talk]]) 21:02, 2 February 2024 (UTC)
:::: It looks like a squirrel to me; I was shocked to see it being described as a cat. It doesn't have pointed ears! The tail is also in a classic squirrel position, and while it's admittedly thin for a squirrel, that may be a stylistic choice - it's still three times the thickness of the humans' arms. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.33.196|162.158.33.196]] 15:27, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

== Can we get this book? ==

I would pay real money for a book where Randall explains evolutionary biology in internet terms. --[[User:TV4Fun|TV4Fun]] ([[User talk:TV4Fun|talk]]) 13:38, 1 April 2025 (UTC)

3067: SawStart

2025-03-25T03:23:03Z

TV4Fun:

{{comic
| number = 3067
| date = March 24, 2025
| title = SawStart
| image = sawstart.png
| imagesize = 290x313px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Unfortunately, SawStart is one-use-only. Once started, the blade cannot be stopped, and must be replaced with a fresh blade while the running one is carefully disposed of.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SawBOT - - Language is too informal and convoluted.}}
{{w|SawStop}} is an American {{w|table saw}} manufacturer whose product is designed to increase safety. Table saws can be highly dangerous if not used properly, because they feature a rapidly spinning {{w|circular saw}} protruding from the surface. If any part of someone's body comes into contact with the blade while it's spinning, it can cause severe injury or death. SawStop products feature an automatic brake, designed to detect when flesh comes into contact with the blade. According to manufacturer claims, the brake (an aluminum block) will stop the blade within 5 milliseconds of detecting contact, followed by the blade retracting into the table. This is intended to prevent major injuries in the event of contact.

Black Hat here takes the notion of a product designed to increase safety, and changes the design to do the opposite, making it much more dangerous. Like the SawStop design, his product ostensibly detects contact with skin and reacts within milliseconds, but rather than stopping the blade, his product uses an explosive charge to ''start'' a stationary blade. It's unknown whether the blade would be faster than normal, and actually make it more dangerous (ordinary speeds of a table saw are more than capable of destroying living tissue), but setting off an explosive charge while in contact with such a blade is probably not a particularly good idea.{{Citation needed}} It is not wise, in general, to touch even a normal stopped blade (without being absolutely certain that the power cannot be turned on, or even just through the stationary sharpness), but in this case it specifically is designed to make one that theoretically could be touched run up to significantly damaging speeds the moment it is. There is no benefit to such a system, and it exists solely to be malicious (which is likely why it's "less popular").

The title text refers to the fact that the braking feature on the SawStop is single use. Because of the very fast response time, both the braking cartridge and the saw blade will be badly damaged in the process, and both will need to be replaced (this being considered preferable to the kinds of permanent injuries that can result from a spinning blade). The SawStart is also single use, but in its case, it somehow makes the blade impossible to stop, violating the second law of thermodynamics and probably several other laws.{{Citation needed}} Hence, the SawStart blade must also be replaced, but this apparently has to be done while the blade is spinning. To attempt to remove a spinning blade is incredibly dangerous, and this simply adds to the unnecessary harm this product could do.

A similar thing was done in [[2876: Range Safety]], but that time was with a rocket.

==Transcript==
:[A table with a table saw stands behind Black Hat who gestures to the table while facing Megan and Cueball. There is a label on the side of the table, a logo of a circular saw blade, with the first part of a word inside the blade:]
:SawStart
:Black Hat: When the saw detects contact with skin, an explosive charge starts the blade spinning at full speed within a few milliseconds.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:SawStop's less-popular competitor

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

3055: Giants

2025-02-25T01:32:29Z

TV4Fun: They are much bigger than terriers

{{comic
| number = 3055
| date = February 24, 2025
| title = Giants
| image = giants_2x.png
| imagesize = 341x423px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I can't get over the suspicion that all those viral pictures are photoshopped and 'Flemish' belongs in the lower right circle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MAMMAL GIANT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Class !! Explanation
|-
| {{w|Red giant|Red Giant}} || Space || A type of star
|-
| {{w|Blue giant|Blue Giant}} || Space || A type of star
|-
| Iron Giant || Space, Not Real || Title character from a {{w|The Iron Giant|1999 animated film}} and the {{w|The Iron Man (novel)|1968 children's book}} it was based on (written by English poet and author {{w|Ted Hughes}} and published outside the US as ''The Iron Man: A Children's Story in Five Nights'') : a robot from outer space.
|-
| {{w|Frost Giant (disambiguation)|Frost Giant}} || Not Real || Beings from Norse mythology (inspiring their perhaps more popularly known Marvel comic/film versions)
|-
| Jolly Green Giant || Not Real || A mascot for a {{w|Green Giant|brand of canned vegetables}}.
|-
| {{w|Cardiff Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary, Not Real || An 1869 hoax
|-
| {{w|Atacama Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary || A prehistoric {{w|geoglyph}}
|-
| {{w|Paratethys#Salt Giants|Salt Giant}} || Geologic/Planetary || A huge salt deposit below the Mediterranean sea
|-
| {{w|Gas giant|Gas Giant}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary || A gaseous planet like Jupiter or Saturn
|-
| {{w|Ice giant|Ice Giant}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary || An icy planet like Uranus or Neptune
|-
| {{w|Man in the Moon|The Man In The Moon}} || Space, Geologic/Planetary, Not Real || A face visible in the near side of the moon, sometimes shown as a character in children's nursery rhymes
|-
| {{w|Flemish Giant rabbit|Flemish Giant (title text)}} || Real, but Randall suspects it belongs in Not Real || The largest breed of domestic rabbit (about the same size as a Cocker Spaniel)

|}

This is one of many xkcd comics that include or reference Venn diagrams.

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Venn diagrams]]

1034: Share Buttons

2025-02-08T03:40:30Z

TV4Fun: I cast Summon Wiki Magic

{{comic
| number = 1034
| date = March 26, 2012
| title = Share Buttons
| image = share_buttons.png
| titletext = The only post to achieve perfect balance between the four was a hilarious joke about Mark Zuckerberg getting caught using a pseudonym to sneak past the TSA.
}}

{{incomplete|This article needs to be rewritten to be more timely. Things like Google+, Twitter, and the "large and loud atheist community on Reddit" should not be referenced in the present tense. Share buttons like this are also not seen very often anymore, particularly with these share counters. This should be rewritten to provide some historical context for these buttons, as it may be confusing to younger readers.}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a commentary on what sort of articles work best on different {{w|social networking services}}. From left to right the share buttons are: {{w|Facebook}}, {{w|Twitter}}, {{w|Reddit}}, and {{w|Google plus|Google+}}.

*Twitterers are often stereotyped as constantly trying to be funny; hence, the article on stand-up comedy is shared most on Twitter.

*{{w|Conspiracy theory}} articles play well on Reddit, especially if they are against the {{w|Christian Right}} and for {{w|Wikipedia}}, as there is a large and loud atheist community on Reddit.

*"Boycott Facebook" articles are ironically popular on Facebook. Google+, being semantically akin to Facebook, also had a significant anti-Facebook community. One of the punchlines is that Google+ was struggling and not used much, before being finally closed down in 2019.

*The last article gets almost no shares at all — not many want to admit they are reading an article about a {{w|RealDoll}}, a type of sex doll. (Also mentioned in [[Game AIs]] and [[Flying Cars]].) A custom ROM is an aftermarket distribution of the {{w|Android (operating system)|Android}} operating system and are often targeted toward enthusiasts. This community exists primarily on Google+ (as Google is the main developer of Android), and was one of the few active communities on that social network. As Android is an operating system primarily aimed at {{w|smartphones}} and {{w|tablet computers}}, installing it on a RealDoll, whilst possible due to Android's {{w|open source}} nature, would be a very niche activity, and the low number of shares indicates that it only interests a small portion of the already-small (relative to other social networks) Google+ community.

The title text humorously combines appealing subjects for all four networks:

*''a hilarious joke'' – Twitter, same as above.
*''about {{w|Mark Zuckerberg}}'' – founder of Facebook.
*''using a {{w|pseudonym}}'' – referencing a [http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9218649/Google_works_to_soothe_users_over_real_name_controversyremember controversy] about real names on Google+.
*''to sneak past the {{w|Transportation Security Administration|TSA}}'' – Reddit, a conspiracy theory as above.

==Transcript==
:[A series of article titles with four share buttons underneath each: Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Google+]

:Breaking Into Stand-up Comedy
:FB: 3, Twitter: 1,781, Reddit: 2, G+: 0

:How the Christian Right Threatens Wikipedia
:FB: 1, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 2,241, G+: 3

:Boycott Facebook Today!
:FB: 248k, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 0, G+: 74

:DIY: Installing a Custom ROM on a Realdoll
:FB: 0, Twitter: 0, Reddit: 0, G+: 2

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Social networking]]
[[Category:Wikipedia]]
[[Category:Google Plus]]
[[Category:Robots]]
[[Category:Sex]]

1010: Etymology-Man

2025-01-12T21:54:45Z

TV4Fun: Add incomplete tag

{{comic
| number = 1010
| date = January 30, 2012
| title = Etymology-Man
| image = etymology_man.png
| titletext = I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish Aquaman were here instead--HE'D be able to help.
}}

{{incomplete|This needs better discussion of the actual explanation Etymology-Man is giving and particularly historical events like the {{w|1755 Lisbon earthquake|1755 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami}}.}}

==Explanation==
This became the first comic in a two comic series about the [[:Category:Etymology-Man|Etymology-Man]]. The second followed two comics later in [[1012: Wrong Superhero]].

This comic is a take on the traditional appearance of a super hero when a disaster strikes. In this case, Etymology-Man arrives, who apparently has the power of {{w|Etymology}} — the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. As Etymology-Man is explaining the history of the words "{{w|tsunami}}" and "tidal wave", at one point referencing the {{w|2004 Indian Ocean tsunami}} and {{w|2011 Tōhoku tsunami}}, the water starts rising around them. As the waters continue to rise, he continues to only explain the words, rather than attempting to save them as a superhero should. This, intentionally or unintentionally, is a dig at academics who prefer to talk about issues when taking action is more appropriate.

Also, the title text is a play on how useless {{w|Aquaman}} is (perceived to be) compared to other superheroes, as his powers — breathing underwater, speed swimming, and communicating with sea life — are very difficult for writers to make relevant, since most stories do not take place underwater.{{Citation needed}} Indeed, in the case of a flood, Aquaman and his aquatic allies would be able to assist with evacuations. (Some depictions of Aquaman do not have control of water itself. Though when equipped with his mystical trident, or magical prosthetic "water hand", could probably also perform useful hydrokinesis to avert significant damage.)

The irony of the situation comes from the fact that Etymology-Man seemingly has the power of flight and could in fact save Cueball and Ponytail if he was not so busy talking about the origin of the word "tidal wave".

Inexplicable is the fact that Cueball and Ponytail both know exactly who this "superhero" is, and ergo presumably realize that what he is telling them is useless, but they don't even attempt to get to safety. There are few possible explanations for this: perhaps they are simply accepting their fate instead of trying to escape, or even that learning cool word facts takes precendence over saving their own lives, or they have been distracted by Etymology-Man's lecture and were caught by surprise by the fast tidal wave.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Ponytail are facing each other, with wavy lines around them to indicate they are experiencing the shaking of an earthquake.]
:Cueball: Earthquake!
:Ponytail: We should get to a higher ground - There could be a tidal wave.

:[A frame-less panel with Cueball and Ponytail, with Cueball taking a pedantic pose and raising a finger.]
:Cueball: You mean a tsunami. "Tidal wave" means a wave caused by tides.

:[A crash is heard, followed by Etymology-Man flying in while wearing a cape.]
:Etymology-man: You know, that doesn't add up.
:Cueball and Ponytail: Etymology-man!

:[Etymology-man takes a pedantic pose.]
:Etymology-man: What ''does'' "tidal wave" mean? There are waves caused by tides, but they're "tidal bores", and they're not cataclysmic.
:It can refer to the daily tide cycle, but that's obviously not what people mean when they say "a tidal wave hit".
:It's been obvious for centuries that these waves come from quakes. So why "tidal"?

:[Panel zooms in on Etymology-man.]
:Etymology-man: Remember that until 2004, there weren't any clear photos or videos of tsunamis. Some modern writers even described them rearing up and breaking like surfing waves [sic]
:Of course, in 2004 and 2011, it was made clear to everyone that a tsunami is more like a rapid, turbulent, inrushing tide - exactly what historical accounts describe.

:[Water begins to rush in. Etymology-man keeps his pedantic pose.]
:Etymology-man: Maybe those writing about Lisbon in 1755 used "tidal wave" not out of scientific confusion, but because it described the wave's form — a description lost in our rush to expunge "tidal wave" from English.

:[The water is now waist-deep. Etymology-man continues to drone on, but the others start to panic.]
:Etymology-man: "Tsunami" is now the standard, and I'm not trying to change that. But let's be a tad less giddy about correcting "tidal wave" - especially when "tsunami" just means "harbor wave", which is hardly...

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Etymology-Man]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Earthquakes]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Pedantic]]

3011: Europa Clipper

2024-11-13T14:09:12Z

TV4Fun: Fix punctuation around tag

{{comic
| number = 3011
| date = November 13, 2024
| title = Europa Clipper
| image = europa_clipper_2x.png
| imagesize = 333x356px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They had BETTER make this a sample return mission.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Croissant Sample Spoon - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Europa_Clipper|Europa Clipper}} space probe was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 14 October 2024. It is expected to arrive at Jupiter and begin exploration of Jupiter's moons, particularly {{w|Europa_(moon)|Europa}}, in 2030.

Europa is an icy moon. Water ice covers its surface. Beneath its surface, there is expected to be liquid water, which may contain living microbes. The surface ice, in the comic, is likened to the caramel crust on the dessert {{w|Crème_brûlée|crème_brûlée}}; the dessert was invented in France, which is, of course, part of Europe. To eat the dessert, the crust is broken with a spoon. The joke is that, to sample the liquid ocean expected on Europa, its crust (water ice) must be broken, and the satellite is equipped with a spoon for that purpose. No such spoon is present on the actual spacecraft.{{Citation needed}}

The title text expands on the main joke by stating that the spacecraft "had BETTER" return samples of the dessert/water ocean to Earth. Desirable as this might be (for non-gustatory reasons, as the taste of Europa's water ocean would likely be a surprise, to write no more, to a person expecting the flavor of custard), it is impractical. It is not mentioned whether the cartoonist expects the sample to be served with {{w|Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Explorer|juice}}.
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A satellite has two rectangular solar panels, a circular dish of the front, and a massive spoon on the bottom, twice the length of its solar panels]

:[Below the panel:]
:Good news: NASA's '''''Europa Clipper''''' is en route to Europa and has successfully deployed its crème brûlée spoon.

{{comic discussion}}

3011: Europa Clipper

2024-11-13T14:07:44Z

TV4Fun: Running gag

{{comic
| number = 3011
| date = November 13, 2024
| title = Europa Clipper
| image = europa_clipper_2x.png
| imagesize = 333x356px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They had BETTER make this a sample return mission.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Croissant Sample Spoon - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The {{w|Europa_Clipper|Europa Clipper}} space probe was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 14 October 2024. It is expected to arrive at Jupiter and begin exploration of Jupiter's moons, particularly {{w|Europa_(moon)|Europa}}, in 2030.

Europa is an icy moon. Water ice covers its surface. Beneath its surface, there is expected to be liquid water, which may contain living microbes. The surface ice, in the comic, is likened to the caramel crust on the dessert {{w|Crème_brûlée|crème_brûlée}}; the dessert was invented in France, which is, of course, part of Europe. To eat the dessert, the crust is broken with a spoon. The joke is that, to sample the liquid ocean expected on Europa, its crust (water ice) must be broken, and the satellite is equipped with a spoon for that purpose. No such spoon is present on the actual spacecraft{{Citation needed}}.

The title text expands on the main joke by stating that the spacecraft "had BETTER" return samples of the dessert/water ocean to Earth. Desirable as this might be (for non-gustatory reasons, as the taste of Europa's water ocean would likely be a surprise, to write no more, to a person expecting the flavor of custard), it is impractical. It is not mentioned whether the cartoonist expects the sample to be served with {{w|Jupiter_Icy_Moons_Explorer|juice}}.
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[A satellite has two rectangular solar panels, a circular dish of the front, and a massive spoon on the bottom, twice the length of its solar panels]

:[Below the panel:]
:Good news: NASA's '''''Europa Clipper''''' is en route to Europa and has successfully deployed its crème brûlée spoon.

{{comic discussion}}

2995: University Commas

2024-10-08T20:05:32Z

TV4Fun: Add additional explanation to Stanford comma

{{comic
| number = 2995
| date = October 7, 2024
| title = University Commas
| image = university_commas_2x.png
| imagesize = 580x273px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The distinctive 'UCLA comma' and 'Michigan comma' are a long string of commas at the start and end of the sentence respectively.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a STANFORD SEMICOLON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The use of commas in the English language is {{w|Comma#Uses in English|famously disputed}}, most relevantly among publishers and academics. This comic imagines that all possible (and some improbable) comma positions in an example sentence are associated with different universities. This applies to commas which should ''always'' be present in a list, optional commas elsewhere in the sentence (which have nothing to do with a list, such as after the word "please") and blatantly erroneous commas (which should ''never'' be present in a sentence, e.g. immediately prior to the {{w|full stop}}/period).

The Oxford comma (a.k.a. {{w|Serial comma}} or, despite how this comic represents it, the ''actual'' Harvard comma) is a comma between the penultimate item in a list and its conjunction (typically ''and'' or ''or''), to echo all the commas (at least one) that act as {{w|Comma#List separator and the serial (Oxford) comma|placeholders for the conjunction}} in-between all prior members of the list. For instance, you might write "red, white, and blue" (with the Oxford comma) or "red, white and blue" (without it). Some style guides, such as ''{{w|The Oxford Style Manual}}'' published by {{w|Oxford University Press}}, (unsurprisingly) recommend using it, while other similarly authoritative guides recommend against it. Though even those with either recommendation may suggest its (non-)use in situations where this avoids an ambiguity arising from the normally recommended choice.

One {{w|Serial comma#Ambiguity|common example}} showing the need for an Oxford comma is "To my parents, Ayn Rand''',''' and God". Without the comma (as in: "To my parents, Ayn Rand and God"), it may read that the author's parents are Ayn Rand and God. If such confusion is to be avoided, reordering the list is a common way to avoid ambiguity, for example, "To Ayn Rand, God and my parents" is one such reordering. However, the use of an Oxford comma in this version might imply the deification of Ayn Rand.

Conversely, if the sentence was instead to be "To my mother, Ayn Rand, and God", with such a comma, there arises the possibility of an assertion that one's mother is Ayn Rand, whereas "To my mother, Ayn Rand and God" does not let one fall into that trap.

In the most common interpretation the example sentence reads (with proper punctuation and bracketed Oxford comma): "Please buy apples, mac and cheese, milk[,] and bread."

"Mac and cheese" is a common short name for {{w|macaroni and cheese}} in the US and Canada. When we join just two items together, e.g. to name a compound food such as "peanut butter and jelly", "fish and chips" or "steak and eggs", we don't put a comma before "and". It is in the use of such compounded items, as a singular list item, where some confusion can arise. Alternate forms ("fish'n'chips", "PB&J") can put emphasis upon the low-level linking of the components, the outer list can be rewritten (e.g. with semicolon separation) or the reader can be left to logically assume where such a commonly encountered pairing is not part of the wider list. A difference in conjunction can also help to clarify, as in "A good choice of breakfast is ham and eggs, sausage and eggs or sausage and beans, but not ham and beans", which is ''unlikely'' to be accidentally misunderstood (including as options such as "sausage + (eggs or additional sausage) + beans" or "sausage + ('non-ham' beans) + further beans").

However, most of the commas are possible punctuation marks in a specific pragmatic reading of the sentence:

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|-
! Comma name !! Notation !! Explanation
|-
| Harvard comma || Please, buy apples, mac and cheese, milk[,] and bread. || Emphatic plea, marked by a sub-clause separator. (Note that "Harvard comma" is already a common synonym for the Oxford comma, in its context.)
{{w|Harvard University}} is one of eight {{w|Ivy League}} universities in the United States.
|-
| Yale comma || Please buy, apples, mac and cheese, milk[,] and bread. || A merchant's plea to their customer, marked by a sub-clause separator. This makes the sentence a sentence fragment but this is not uncommon in speech. The implication may be that the list of items are those for sale or that there is a promotion around those items specifically.
{{w|Yale University}} is one of eight Ivy League universities in the United States.
|-
| Stanford comma || Please buy apples, mac and cheese, milk[,] and bread. || Mandatory separator in a list. Without this comma, "apples" could be interpreted as an adjective to "mac and cheese".
{{w|Stanford University}} is one of the prominent universities in the United States. It is located in Silicon Valley, a short distance from the headquarters of {{w|Apple Inc.}} The Stanford comma between "apples" and "mac" is probably necessary there to distinguish discussions of the food products from discussion of the computer products.
|-
| Columbia comma || Please buy apples, mac, and cheese, milk[,] and bread. || A plea to buy apples, cheese, milk and bread, directed at a person called Mac, whose name is stylized as "mac".
{{w|Columbia University}} is one of eight Ivy League universities in the United States.
|-
| Cambridge comma || (Please buy apples, mac, and, cheese being unavailable, milk[,] and bread.) || Valid with a qualifying sub-clause; invalid in the example sentence. Also requires "mac" to be an item of its own, not a part of "mac and cheese".
The {{w|University of Cambridge}} is one of the two eponymous {{w|Oxbridge}} universities in the United Kingdom. Not to be confused with {{w|Cambridge, Massachusetts#Higher education|other establishments}} in (or originally in) Cambridge, Massachusetts.
|-
| Cornell comma || Please buy apples, mac and cheese, milk[,] and bread. || Mandatory separator in a list.
{{w|Cornell University}} is one of eight Ivy League universities in the United States.
|-
| Oxford comma || Please buy apples, mac and cheese, milk, and bread. || {{w|Oxford comma}} is a comma often used in lists with more than 2 elements to separate the last two elements in case of ambiguity. In this case, it is unlikely that there would be confusion as to how to interpret the list with or without this comma.
The {{w|University of Oxford}} is the other eponymous Oxbridge university in the United Kingdom.
|-
| Princeton comma || (Please buy apples, mac and cheese, milk[,] and, bread being out of stock, oats.) || Valid with a qualifying sub-clause; invalid in the example sentence.
{{w|Princeton University}} is one of eight Ivy League universities in the United States.
|-
| MIT comma || (Please, buy, apples, mac, and, cheese, milk, and, bread,.) || Possible reference to [https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11597901/why-are-trailing-commas-allowed-in-a-list trailing commas sometimes used in programming], which would be associated with a university highly specialized in technology. If each of these words were identifiers, then including all commas would be a valid way to express a list in some languages (though using a period to indicate the end of a list is uncommon).
The {{w|Massachusetts Institute of Technology}} is one of the prominent universities in the United States.
|-
| UCLA/Michigan comma(s) || (,,,…,,,Please, buy, apples, mac, and, cheese, milk, and, bread,.,,,…,,,) || '''Title text proposal''', each establishment being perhaps responsible for both or either sets of commas. Can perhaps relate to rather specific quotation or quote-separation contexts not in common use.
The {{w|University of California, Los Angeles}} and the {{w|University of Michigan}} are two more well known universities in the United States.
|}

Depending upon who you talk to, the two establishments referenced by the title text may not be considered quite as prominent or outstanding as the Ivy League universities, or others mentioned here, hence their relegation to title text punchline. But (actual Ivy Leaguers) {{w|Brown University}}, {{w|Dartmouth College}} and the {{w|University of Pennsylvania}} were not referenced at all, for one reason or another; for example, the very idea of a "Brown comma" might more readily resonate with the concept of the {{w|Brown note}}.

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

:[A sentence is written in greyed-out text, with the commas in black and each labeled with an arrow.]
:Please''',''' buy''',''' apples''',''' mac''',''' and''',''' cheese''',''' milk''',''' and''',''' bread''','''.

:[The labels are as follows, in order from left to right:]
:Harvard comma
:Yale comma
:Stanford comma
:Columbia comma
:Cambridge comma
:Cornell comma
:Oxford comma
:Princeton comma
:MIT comma

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The Oxford one is the most famous, but many major universities have their own comma.

==Trivia==
[[Randall]] appears to be a fairly regular user of the Serial/Oxford Comma himself, with the most recent example being in the title text of [[2985: Craters]]. This is clearly out of habit or preference, as it is not required for clarification purposes. Yet it seems he also appreciates the conflicting viewpoints inherent to such a style opinion. He later completely avoided the use of list-commas in a (three-part) list within the comic text of the successive [[2986: Every Scientific Field]], possibly for rhetorical reasons.

This very wiki currently reminds anyone editing a page that their contributions "may be edited, altered, or removed", which is also not a syntactical necessity beyond adherence to the Oxford styling. Later, in the same paragraph of text, it also uses structure of "…, or … or …", but for different grammatical reasons that are unrelated to serial/list commas.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:1034: Share Buttons

2024-10-04T18:55:52Z

TV4Fun: Add post header

What, Wikipedia users and Facebook users don't overlap? I beg to differ. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:01, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Where do you read that they don't overlap? If you mean the Reddit thing; to me it seems that it says that Reddit users like Wikipedia, and that Reddit users don't overlap with Facebook users. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:41, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
I think the joke is also that nobody actually uses Google Plus. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.117}}

Isn't there a joke on the FB boycott about... Well, boycotting it to get a buncha likes? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.52|141.101.99.52]] 11:03, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

This comic also highlights that all social networks are very similar in terms of provided functionality. Indeed, when someone asked me what is the difference between facebook and twitter i had a very hard time explaining the "fundamental differences" between the two platforms. The truth is that people who use those social networks are actually shaping them according to their interests and their sterotyped beliefs. This point is brilliantly conveyed in this comic stripe [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.121|141.101.105.121]] 07:31, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Why is the "Custom ROM" limited to the Android OS? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.9|162.158.89.9]] 07:59, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

== Update for historical context ==
This article needs to be rewritten to be more timely, referencing things like Google+, Twitter, and the "large and loud atheist community on Reddit" in the past tense. Share buttons like this are also not seen very often anymore, particularly with share counters like this. This should be rewritten to provide some historical context for these buttons, as it may be confusing to younger readers. [[User:TV4Fun|TV4Fun]] ([[User talk:TV4Fun|talk]]) 18:53, 4 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:1034: Share Buttons

2024-10-04T18:53:35Z

TV4Fun: Add signature

What, Wikipedia users and Facebook users don't overlap? I beg to differ. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:01, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Where do you read that they don't overlap? If you mean the Reddit thing; to me it seems that it says that Reddit users like Wikipedia, and that Reddit users don't overlap with Facebook users. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:41, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
I think the joke is also that nobody actually uses Google Plus. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.117}}

Isn't there a joke on the FB boycott about... Well, boycotting it to get a buncha likes? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.52|141.101.99.52]] 11:03, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

This comic also highlights that all social networks are very similar in terms of provided functionality. Indeed, when someone asked me what is the difference between facebook and twitter i had a very hard time explaining the "fundamental differences" between the two platforms. The truth is that people who use those social networks are actually shaping them according to their interests and their sterotyped beliefs. This point is brilliantly conveyed in this comic stripe [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.121|141.101.105.121]] 07:31, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Why is the "Custom ROM" limited to the Android OS? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.9|162.158.89.9]] 07:59, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

This article needs to be rewritten to be more timely, referencing things like Google+, Twitter, and the "large and loud atheist community on Reddit" in the past tense. Share buttons like this are also not seen very often anymore, particularly with share counters like this. This should be rewritten to provide some historical context for these buttons, as it may be confusing to younger readers. [[User:TV4Fun|TV4Fun]] ([[User talk:TV4Fun|talk]]) 18:53, 4 October 2024 (UTC)

Talk:1034: Share Buttons

2024-10-04T18:53:01Z

TV4Fun: Need to update article for historical context

What, Wikipedia users and Facebook users don't overlap? I beg to differ. '''[[User:Davidy22|{{Color|purple|David}}y²²]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 09:01, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
:Where do you read that they don't overlap? If you mean the Reddit thing; to me it seems that it says that Reddit users like Wikipedia, and that Reddit users don't overlap with Facebook users. –[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 23:41, 9 March 2013 (UTC)
I think the joke is also that nobody actually uses Google Plus. {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.117}}

Isn't there a joke on the FB boycott about... Well, boycotting it to get a buncha likes? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.52|141.101.99.52]] 11:03, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

This comic also highlights that all social networks are very similar in terms of provided functionality. Indeed, when someone asked me what is the difference between facebook and twitter i had a very hard time explaining the "fundamental differences" between the two platforms. The truth is that people who use those social networks are actually shaping them according to their interests and their sterotyped beliefs. This point is brilliantly conveyed in this comic stripe [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.121|141.101.105.121]] 07:31, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Why is the "Custom ROM" limited to the Android OS? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.9|162.158.89.9]] 07:59, 7 December 2016 (UTC)

This article needs to be rewritten to be more timely, referencing things like Google+, Twitter, and the "large and loud atheist community on Reddit" in the past tense. Share buttons like this are also not seen very often anymore, particularly with share counters like this. This should be rewritten to provide some historical context for these buttons, as it may be confusing to younger readers.

2944: Magnet Fishing

2024-06-11T03:35:48Z

TV4Fun: Combine two separate magnet fishing explanations

{{comic
| number = 2944
| date = June 10, 2024
| title = Magnet Fishing
| image = magnet_fishing_2x.png
| imagesize = 522x356px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The ten-way tie was judged a ten-way tie, so no one won the grand prize, a rare fishing monopole.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NONWORKING MAGNETIC FORCE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Magnet fishing}} is the act of using a magnet to find ferrometallic objects in a body of water. It can be used to recover specific lost items, or simply to see what interesting or valuable items can be found. This is reminiscent of magnetic fishing games (such as [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13166/lets-go-fishin "Let's Go Fishing"] and [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/172530/go-fishing "Go Fishing"]) where players use fishing rods with small magnets on the ends to "catch" fish.

A World Magnet Fishing Championship was apparently only held once, because of the contestants' magnets getting stuck together. This resulted in the fishing lines becoming tangled together, or "tied", for a pun on the competition being declared "tied".

The title text states that the competition's prize would have been a "fishing monopole" which could refer to a {{w|fishing rod}}, also called a fishing pole, with only a single rod rather than multiple. Most fishing rods only have a single pole so this would not be considered rare. It could also refer to a magnet fishing rod where the magnet is a {{w|magnetic monopole}} rather than a {{w|magnetic dipole}} like all known magnets. This would certainly be rare since no magnetic monopoles have been found and thus would be a valuable prize for a competition. The currently known laws of physics require that if magnetic monopoles exist, electric charge must be quantized. Electric charge ''is'' quantized which is consistent with (but does not prove) magnetic monopoles existing. It also looks like a tautology, though the first "ten-way tie" depicts how the ten lines are 'knotted' together, and the second indicates the equality of the final score. This suggests that nobody 'fished' anything ''other'' than "all the other nine magnets", prior to the inevitable conclusion.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[10 characters are stood on a bridge over a river or another body of water. They have all cast fishing magnets over the edge and are holding their ropes. However, their magnets have all stuck together due to being too close and none have reached the water below. All 10 characters appear confused or inconvenienced. The characters from left to right are: Hairbun, Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, another Cueball, White Hat, another Megan, Hairy, another Ponytail, and another Hairy.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The first, and last, World Magnet Fishing Championship

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-20T03:54:05Z

TV4Fun: Request for citations

{{comic
| number = 2922
| date = April 19, 2024
| title = Pub Trivia
| image = pub_trivia_2x.png
| imagesize = 422x666px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Bonus question: Where is London located? (a) The British Isles (b) Great Britain and Northern Ireland (c) The UK (d) Europe (or 'the EU') (e) Greater London
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A BOT ASKING BAD TRIVIA QUESTIONS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Many pubs have {{w|pub trivia|trivia nights}}, where patrons form teams and compete to answer questions about a range of topics. The typical goal for trivia games is that they be challenging, yet possible, and so the questions whose answers are too difficult or too easy generally make for a poor game. In addition, it's usually preferable that questions are clearly worded with a single, objective answer, so as to avoid disputes about which answers are correct.

Cueball has apparently been hired by one bar to infiltrate ''other'' bars' quiz nights and ask particularly bad questions. The implication is that this will make the games unpleasant, in the hopes that people will leave, and possibly go to the bar that hired Cueball.

Cueball uses a variety of strategies to write bad questions, including questions that are trivial (where the answer is painfully obvious), unanswerable (either because there is no answer, or because the answer is unknown), ambiguously worded or arguable.

Many of his questions could be altered slightly to make them more reasonable for such a game, but that would defeat Cueball's purpose.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Question !! Problem with the Question !! Explanation !! More Reasonable Alternative(s)
|-
|1. Which member of {{w|BTS}} has a birthday this year?||Multiple correct answers||All people have birthdays every year{{Citation needed}} (other than pedantic exceptions due to calendar issues or someone dying before their birthday, none of which apply in this case). Therefore, all seven members of BTS have birthdays this year.||Which member of BTS has a birthday today/this week/this month? Which member of BTS turns [a specific age] this year?
|-
|2. How many sides does a {{w|platonic solid}} have?||Multiple answers, ambiguous language||There are five {{w|Platonic solids}}, with 4, 6, 8, 12 or 20 faces (colloquially called sides) in {{w|Euclid|Euclidean}} {{w|Euclidean geometry|3-space}}. The solids have, respectively, 6, 12, 8, 30 and 30 edges (also occasionally called sides colloquially). A more devious quizmaster might actually include this as a trick question with the correct answer being 'zero', since strictly speaking solids do not have 'sides', but that doesn't appear to be the case here.||How many Platonic solids are there? What is the highest number of faces on a Platonic solid? How many faces does a [specific platonic solid] have? How many faces (or edges, or vertices) do ''all'' the platonic solids have (i.e., added together)?
|-
|3. What is the smallest lake in the world?||Arguable||While the largest lakes are relatively straightforward to categorize, smaller bodies of water range in size down to individual puddles. There is no clear, definitional line at which a body goes from being a lake to a pond, for example. In addition, the size of small lakes will fluctuate due to variability in precipitation, and other weather effects, and some lakes only exist for brief periods (intermittent lakes). Hence, which small bodies of water are "lakes" and which is the smallest can't be clearly answered, without specifying a whole list of parameters and standards.||What lake has the largest surface area in the world? What is the world's deepest lake? What lake is recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's smallest? (Benxi Lake in China).
|-
|4. Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks, {{w|Jaws (movie)|Jaws (1975)}} or {{w|Lincoln (movie)|Lincoln (2012)}}?||Trivial||Jaws is a famous movie about a killer shark, and features at least five fatal shark attacks. Lincoln is a movie about the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, containing zero shark attacks.{{Citation needed}} Anyone with even a passing familiarity with American popular culture should be able to get this one right, and someone with no knowledge could likely guess the answer from the titles alone.||How many fatal shark attacks occur in "Jaws"? How many times is the shark seen on screen? Which film won more {{w|Academy Awards}}?
|-
|5. How many planets were there originally?||Ambiguous||The question doesn't specify a time frame or culture, and also doesn't specify that it's referring to our solar system (in the observable universe, there are almost certainly trillions of planets, as there are trillions of stars and almost every one of them has a planet orbiting it). Additionally, it asks how many "were there", as opposed to how many planets were known (the number which are known and defined as such is far smaller than the number of planets in the universe). The word "originally" could imply the origin of the solar system, or the origin of the universe, in which case the answer would be 'zero' as no planets had yet accreted.||How many planets were known to Ancient Greece? How many planets were known to science prior to the invention of the telescope? How many planets were called as such in our Solar System prior to Pluto's reclassification?
|-
|6. What {{w|NFL}} player has scored the most points outside of a game?||Ambiguous, Unknowable||The term "scored the most points" generally only applies within the context of a game, making it very unclear what kind of "points" the question is referring to. Does it mean points in non-NFL games? Points in games other than football? Points outside the context of any game at all (such as 'making a point' in conversation)? Even if this were clarified, points scored in official games in professional sports leagues are meticulously recorded and published, points scored in any other context are not, so the question is likely impossible to answer. Arguably, Brian Jordan would be an answer, with 121 Minor League and 755 MLB runs scored (points).||Which NFL player scored the most points in a game/season/career?
|-
|7. The {{w|Wright brothers}} built the first airplane. Who built the last one?||Unknowable||Orville and Wilbur Wright are widely credited with designing and building the first airplane (in the sense of a heavier-than-air flying machine that could take off, steer and land under its own power - if such a machine should count as an airplane proper remains a controversial subject, taking into consideration the machine created 3 years later by brazilian inventor ''Alberto Santos Dumont'' which falls more in line with what an airplane is expected to be - whether he or the brothers were more deserving of credit for this achievement is debated to this day especially in Brazil, Dumont's country of origin). In modern times, design and construction of airplanes has become a huge, international industry, with many airplanes of widely varying sizings being built each year. Since airplanes are built continuously, which one was made most recently depends on when the question is asked (and would be very difficult for the average person to know -- and not trivial for even a member of the aerospace industry to know). If it's asking about the last airplane ''ever'', that's impossible to know, since that plane hasn't been built yet (and hopefully won't for a very long time). Also, the question seems to be asking for a name, but modern airplanes are generally designed and built by companies, without a single person (or even a small number of people) being responsible.||Who built the first airplane '''after''' the Wright brothers? When was the final Wright Model B aircraft built?
|-
|8. Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?||Unknown, Possibly unknowable||This is a famous, centuries-old {{w|open question}} in math known as {{w|Goldbach's conjecture}}. Mathematicians widely believe that it is true, and it has held true for every number checked up to 4 ⋅ 1018, but since it's impossible to check every number, we can't assume it's universally true. No mathematical proof of its veracity exists at this point. Since it is {{w|Gödel's incompleteness theorems|known}} that something can be true but impossible to prove (and, being true, impossible to disprove), this may be the situation forever.||According to which mathematical conjecture is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?
|-
|9. Not counting {{w|Canberra}}, what city is the capital of {{w|Australia}}?||No answer exists||Australia has only one capital (unlike some countries, which divide the legislative and administrative capitals, for example), and that capital is Canberra. Hence, by definition, there is no national capital "not counting Canberra". Though each constituent state also has its state capital (inclusive of Canberra, which is the entirety of its {{w|Australian Capital Territory|own state territory}}), this would still leave us with an ambiguous choice. Before 1927, the answer could be Melbourne, as that was where the Parliament sat at that time. ||What city is the capital of Australia? What is currently the largest city in Australia? What is the smallest state capital in Australia? Not counting Canberra, what city was the most recently founded state capital of Australia? What city was the capital city before Canberra?
|-
|10. Who played the drums?||Trivial, yet unknowable without context||As worded, the question could be answered with anyone who's ever played the drums, in any context, whether professional or not, in all of history. This would include a huge number of people, most of whom would not be well-known. Most people would be able to offer a technically correct answer, and almost none of them would be interesting. Or maybe the host is wondering who it was that played drums that night, as part of the bar's live music.||Who played the drums for some specific band/album/track/concert?
|-
|(Title text) Where is {{w|London}} located? (a) the {{w|British Isles}} (b) {{w|Great Britain and Northern Ireland}} (c) the {{w|United Kingdom|UK}} (d) {{w|Europe}} (or 'the {{w|European Union|EU}}') (e) {{w|Greater London}}||Multiple answers||All choices are technically correct as they are various geographical areas that include the city of London, England. Also note that the City of London is different from the city ''named'' London as it is technically surrounded by it, hence (e) as an answer. Answer (d) is both correct and incorrect, as it conflates a geographic region, Europe, and a political body, the European Union. The United Kingdom (and therefore London) {{w|Brexit|left the EU}} in 2020, but is still geographically included in Europe. In addition, 'the UK' is short for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, so answers (b) and (c) refer to the same thing. This also does not get into cities named London outside of the UK, so for example "Ontario" or "Canada" could also be possible answers if the test designer were truly evil, thus making none of the answers correct. ||What is the capital of the United Kingdom? (answer: London) Where is London, England '''not''' located? (a) the British Isles (b) Great Britain and Northern Ireland (c) the UK (d) Europe (e) the EU (answer: (e))
|}

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

:[Cueball, holding a wireless microphone in one hand and a pencil and notebook in the other, reading from the notebook]:
:Welcome to pub trivia! Round one is 10 questions:

# Which member of BTS has a birthday this year?
# How many sides does a platonic solid have?
# What is the smallest lake in the world?
# Which Steven Spielberg movie features more shark attacks - ''Jaws'' (1975) or ''Lincoln'' (2012)?
# How many planets were there originally?
# What NFL player has scored the most points outside of a game?
# The Wright brothers built the first airplane. Who built the last one?
# Is every even number greater than 2 the sum of two primes?
# Not counting Canberra, what city is the capital of Australia?
# Who played the drums?

:[Caption below the panel]:
:A local pub trivia place hired me to run bad quizzes at competing bars.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category: American football]]
[[Category: Astronomy]]
[[Category: Geography]]
[[Category: Math]]
[[Category: Music]]

2842: Inspiraling Roundabout

2023-10-18T20:55:46Z

TV4Fun: Request for citations

{{comic
| number = 2842
| date = October 16, 2023
| title = Inspiraling Roundabout
| image = inspiraling_roundabout.png
| titletext = Look, I just think we need to stop coddling those hedonistic roundabout hogs who get into the inner lane and circle for hours, wasting valuable capacity.
}}
==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by RUNAROUND SUE}}

A {{w|roundabout}}, a form of traffic circle or rotary, is a traffic control device that often serves as an alternative to stop signs, instead allowing for mere yields, as all traffic flows in the same counterclockwise direction around a central point (clockwise in left-hand traffic countries). Using roundabouts for intersections arguably improves the flow of traffic and increases safety, since they eliminate turns against traffic and don't require a full stop during low-traffic periods.

Various roundabout designs have been proposed and used throughout the world. Some of these use spiraling designs, where a road user wishing to access one of the furthest exits of the roundabout is initially directed into a lane towards the centre, which then spirals outwards, guiding them out until they reach their intended exit. Randall, on the other hand, proposes an "Inspiraling Roundabout" which spirals each entrance/exit lane inward, eventually leading all three roads to meet in the center.

The caption states that it's "[[Technically|technically]] navigable", but that the Highway Department has vetoed it, presumably because of its delierate complexity, impracticality, and a design that directs all vehicles toward a common center, risking head-on collisions.

The system is "technically navigable", because it's fairly simple to use, in principle. Assuming {{w|Left- and right-hand traffic|left-hand driving / right-hand traffic}}, one can get to the next exit without entering the spiral. Getting to the subsequent exit simply requires making a single lane change to the right. However, if the driver doesn't like to change lanes or that lane change can't be performed at the right spot, the driver would travel ever deeper into the spiral.

If a driver enters the center and wishes to exit the roundabout at a different exit (as is typical), the lack of signage at the center of which path to take would make it confusing to choose the right lane.

Additionally, inward-bound and outward-bound vehicles would use the same lanes, risking head-on collisions if even a few vehicles are using the roundabout at the same time.

The joke is that such a deliberately challenging and dangerous design would be unlikely to be approved{{Citation needed}}.

The '''title text''' justifies this creative design by presuming the amusing problem of "coddling hedonistic roundabout hogs who get into the inner lane and circle for hours". Of course, it's unlikely that anyone would deliberately spend more time than is necessary (let alone hours) circling a roundabout, so this design proposes to solve a non-issue.
* In street racing culture, doing "donuts" -- circling a single spot at high speed to leave circular tread marks on the pavement -- is a popular pastime, but these drivers circle for a few rotations, not several hours.
* The complaint of "coddling" some group is most likely inspired by the title of the 2018 book, "The Coddling of the American Mind," a criticism of modern higher education and the dominant result of a Google Search for "coddling."

[[253: Highway Engineer Pranks]] also has a rotary that intentionally collides cars.
[[2728: Lane Change Highway]] has a similar theme of changing lanes because the road is poorly designed.

==Trivia==
* Unlike inspiraling roundabouts, outspiraling roundabouts are a real thing, common across western Europe. They are known as "[https://html.duckduckgo.com/html/?q=turbo+roundabout Turbo Roundabouts]", though the design usually features at least 4 entrances/exits.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}
:[A large roundabout with three entrances of two lanes, three exits, and three spirals (as is CLEARLY evidenced by the three inner termini and three separate starts) of dotted lines starting from the medians between entry lanes and exit lanes of the same road which terminate in the center leaving a lane-sized median of plain asphalt.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Even though it '''''was''''' technically navigable, the highway department vetoed my inspiraling roundabout design.

{{comic discussion}}

2803: Geohydrotypography

2023-07-18T02:53:28Z

TV4Fun: CITE unreferenced

{{comic
| number = 2803
| date = July 17, 2023
| title = Geohydrotypography
| image = geohydrotypography_2x.png
| imagesize = 339x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Atlantic is expanding at about 10 ppm (points per month).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a Geohydrotypographologist - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Typing speed is typically measured in words per minute, with higher numbers indicating greater proficiency. The Atlantic Ocean is full of water{{Citation needed}}. This comic suggests that, were the water covered with words, the slow widening caused by plate tectonics would increase the words per minute of whoever was typing on it by 100 words per minute.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:If you covered the surface of the Atlantic Ocean with twelve-point printed text, with the lines wrapping at the coasts, the expansion of the ocean basin due to plate tectonics would increase your word count by about 100 words per second.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My hobby: Geohydrotypography

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2801: Contact Merge

2023-07-13T17:48:34Z

TV4Fun:

Same person.
:All three of them...[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 08:32, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Why is he only using John's first name when talking about him, as if Surf King should know who that is, when it's clear they've "never met"?
Shouldn't it be: My phone keeps wanting to merge you with my friend John Smith? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.30|172.71.178.30]] 07:46, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
: Because he's spectacularly unaware, and assumes that everyone that he 'knows' also know each other?[[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.110|172.70.90.110]] 08:16, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
: Because "my friend John" is perfectly specific enough. It could have (if not for the needs of the joke) just as easily been: My phone keeps trying to merge you with one of my other friends. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.51|172.69.247.51]] 13:40, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

This is the first XKCD in a long time that I have absolutely no understanding of. Who is Surf King? Even Google doesn't bring anything up (I assumed it was someone well known in the USA but unknown to the few of us that don't live in that country). Please someone post an explanation soon! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.46|162.158.74.46]] 09:06, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:No one in particular. Just someone named John. The short explanation is that his phone figured out that "Surf King" and "John" are the same person/contact while Cueball remains ignorant. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 09:18, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::I see now. I think I was reading too much into it. I usually assume Randall is operating on a level far above my own! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.146|172.69.79.146]] 10:02, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

I took the "4 years" thing to mean that Cueball had been chatting with SurfKing for 4 years (not an idle chat, but still actively used), and has somehow missed the fact that it's his friend John he's been talking with the whole time. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.25|172.70.38.25]] 11:51, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:Yes, and I think it's probably a group chat. It might not be that unusual for someone to use a nickname in a group chat (maybe because someone else gave them that nickname). The group chat context might also make it more likely that a context would have been established where Cueball might expect that everyone would know who "John" was, though as pointed out above, Cueball is pretty clueless.[[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 11:56, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:: Adding, I think it has to be a group chat because it would be too strange even for Cueball if he started a one-on-one chat with Surf King without knowing who he was, but if some friend added them both to a chat this situation might make sense. [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:05, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::: One more, sorry: This *has* to be a group text because Cueball is @-ing Surf King. You don't need to @ someone if they're the only other person you're talking to. (Also Surf King must be pretty annoyed if he's managed to break out the bold italics in a group text, I don't think most texting services support that.) [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:11, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::(Comment below edit-conflicted by sub-thread thisnisvindented to... Adding this replybafter, but same timestamp.)
::I deliberately left "group chat" unsaid (i.e. leaving it open) because of the lack of correspondants' avatars on the non-self side of the conversation, which seems to be a standard for both actual and xkcdified representation. Though 'tagging' SurfKing might indicate a more broadcast chat, it's as possible/polite to say in a one-to-one (like starting a letter "Dear Aunty Emma", though the envelope it was in was clearly addressed to her). ((This bit written before edit-conflict with Mwphil's triple-indent, above. But answers it anyway, possibly.))
::Anyway, likely possibly its a grouping-agnostic 'chatroom' type thing (or conversation handler) whereby you invite/include at least one other person and it threads all messages with the same full set of contacts together for easy reading (and possible separation from derivative conversations with additions/removals from that set, unless it allows retroactive inclusion/chucking). As said below, I've used many different chat-type methods (though not directly with the "speech bubble" UI as visual theme) and I think we can't pin this down to a particular family of P2P interfaces. But I find the respective thought processes of the two participants (both inside and outside the screenshot shown) more interesting than the more nebulous decisions as to UX/functionality. Strangely for me, being that I'm much more comfortable thinking about code than people where it's just something involving myself.
::But, of course, open to be re-rewritten. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.35|172.70.85.35]] 12:22, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Done a significant rewrite/expansion to the explanation. My experience of "bubble chats" like the comic is restricted only to screenshots (or illustrations, like this) so I'm extrapolating a lot from all the variations that exist, plus adding extensive IRC/BBS experience which is linked by cross-pollination (pre-web/Web-1.5/etc forming a clear basis for Web2.x and App-based paradigms now handle instant/asynchronous short-form messaging conventions). If I'm totally wrong, I'm sure you'll rip out the bad bits. Wanted also to suggest the possibility that if John hasn't actually been seriously using Surf King for a while (but still has pull-/push-notifications active), it was only Cueball's necro that got him to go back into whatever chat-handler that was set up to handle his surf-dude chat. But it was already very unweildy an Explanation, so I'll only leave this bit of my imagination here - to be more easily ignored/dismissed. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.35|172.70.85.35]] 12:22, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

''The title text implies that Cueball (still unaware of the reality of the sitution) has had second thoughts about the compatability of Surf King/John with himself'' - I disagree with this. I think what the title text is saying that even though Cueball now knows John and Surf King are the same person, he still thinks they wouldn't like each other - this is philosophically confusing to Cueball, and suggests that John has subtle self-hatred issues which only became obvious thanks to Cueball's mistake. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 13:22, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

Came here because I didn't understand the comic. Now I am even more confused. It would be great if someone could explain the comic in a clear and understandable way. It is possible that there are multiple interpretations, but at the moment they are intermingled. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.55|172.71.160.55]] 14:18, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
: Cueball is in an ongoing chat (possibly a group chat) with someone whose alias is "SurfKing". He tells SurfKing that the contacts manager on his phone is trying to merge "SurfKing" with his friend, John. This has happened repeatedly, but he doesn't realize the cause: John *is* SurfKing. He says that SurfKing should meet John because they both like to surf. SurfKing is outraged by this because he has been talking to Cueball in this chat for four years, and yet Cueball still is unaware that SurfKing is John. In other words, John has been talking to Cueball for four years and Cueball thinks he is some other guy called "SurfKing" after all of this time and never connected the two.
:This sometimes happens in real life, particularly in group chat. You could be chatting with a group of people, not knowing who they all are behind their aliases, and continue for some time. Eventually, you become friends with people whom you have never seen in real life, not realizing that "SurfKing" was just your friend John who likes to surf. Alternatively, you could meet a bunch of people in real life at a surfing competition, giving out your contact info, and "SurfKing" strikes up a conversation later. You think this is a new person you met at the competition and chatted with for years before you find out that this is just your friend's alias. Randall then comments that he wonders who holds the longest record for having done this.[[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]] ([[User talk:Geek Prophet|talk]]) 16:32, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:: [[User:Geek Prophet|Geek Prophet]], that is an excellent, clear, and concise explanation. Perhaps you would care to add it to the article instead of the discussion page. [[User:TV4Fun|TV4Fun]] ([[User talk:TV4Fun|talk]]) 17:48, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

== three dots ==

I don't think the three dots are Surf King not deigning to respond. Aren't three dots (in some chat things?) what you get when someone is typing but hasn't sent the message yet? So Surf King has started to try to respond to this but is too flabbergasted to finish his comment. [[User:Mwphil|Mwphil]] ([[User talk:Mwphil|talk]]) 12:03, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:I thought there could be three things they could represent:
:*Surf King "had no words" to Cueball's inane reality-ignoring comment, it's his version of 'eye rolling'. Which Cueball didn't understand (fully/correctly).
:*The "your party is typing" symbol. (Although that shouldn't be still there once further messaging (to and from that party) have been added to the chat-sequence.)
:*It's a conversation-manager indication of time passed.
:**And/or that further messages existed in this spot but that are ellided in this view (leaving intro message, for context, and the current foot of the conversation).
:To me, the first makes most sense (flabberghasted and ''did'' type something). The second looks wrong (reason given). The third is clear from context (the time passing), though there's a problem with the alternate/additional 'third' point being that it doesn't help the joke of this being a four year (mostly no-contact?) conversation where Surf King has seemingly forgotten things while Cueball has no grasp of the temporal dislocation.
:But YMMV. And because I wasn't ''totally'' sure I tried to write what I wrote to cover all three main ideas. (It wasn't really dealt with at all when I started my edit regarding it. Any further informed change is of course perfectly welcome, but at least you now have my half-considered lines of thought about all this.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.153|172.71.178.153]] 12:39, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
:...Forgot to mention the fourth (separate) interpretation I also had.
:*It's a response so long that it's been collapsed behind an icon. Though usually that'd be the first bit of it being shown with an "<expand>" or "<read more...>", as a tappable hotspot, this might not be the case here.
:But ''if'' it's a collapsed paragraph of a long "no, they're both me, you know this because when we last met I..." reply, then it seemingly ''also'' went Whoosh==>Cueball's head, at least by the time four further years had passed. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.62|172.70.85.62]] 13:10, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
::About the "Your party is typing" message disappearing, I do think that it's within reasonable comics convention to show things that happen in temporal sequence within the same panel within reasonable limits. (https://readgraphicnovels.blogspot.com/2017/04/read-understanding-comics-graphic-novel-chapter-4-page-2.html) So Randall could be depicting the three dots symbol because it had appeared in the chat before, even though not everything in the panel appears at once. I don't know how much he uses this convention though (well I'm pretty sure there are panels in the strip depicting passage of time within a panel, but I don't know if any work this way).
::My take on John/Surf King typing three dots is that that would be a sort of passive-aggressive reaction, and I think John/Surf King is supposed to be a pretty normal person. Albeit one who's friends with Cueball. This is admittedly my interpretation [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.92|172.70.110.92]] 14:09, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
On reading it, I at least was convinced that this was a conversation taking place today, with John actually typing the three dots. It is true that the "Hey" suggests that this could be a (much) later text, but there is no reason to suppose it is four years later.
:I think this is the only interpretation possible, and the current interpretation is obviously incorrect. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.92.201|172.70.92.201]] 16:58, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

I thought that rather than there being a long gap between the two parts of the conversation, like the current explanation says, that "Surf King"/John was expressing disbelief that Cueball hadn't understood that they were the same person for the four years that they've been chatting.
[[User:Apocolypse101|Apocolypse101]] ([[User talk:Apocolypse101|talk]]) 17:20, 13 July 2023 (UTC)

2761: 1-to-1 Scale

2023-04-11T05:08:42Z

TV4Fun: REF: Unsourced

{{comic
| number = 2761
| date = April 10, 2023
| title = 1-to-1 Scale
| image = 1_to_1_scale_2x.png
| imagesize = 444x281px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = There's a version that shows the planets with no cropping, but it's hard to find a display that supports it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT AT 1-TO-1 SCALE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is supposed to show what the surface of each planet looks like.

The title text remarks that it is hard to find a display that supports a version of the image without cropping. This is because a true 1:1 scale image showing each of the planets would be ridiculously large[https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1164/how-big-is-the-solar-system/], larger than any monitor or display currently available on Earth.{{Citation needed}}

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

:[Caption below the panel:]
:The solar system's planets at 1:1 scale

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

2757: Towed Message

2023-04-01T03:34:40Z

TV4Fun: REF: Unsourced

{{comic
| number = 2757
| date = March 31, 2023
| title = Towed Message
| image = towed_message_2x.png
| imagesize = 613x236px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = "Hi, what you do is fly over a designated zone and detach the--" "WE'RE SORRY, THE MOBILE CUSTOMER YOU ARE TRYING TO REACH IS OUT OF SERVICE"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an UNLANDABLE PLANE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, an {{w|Aerial_advertising#Banner_towing|aircraft is towing a banner}}. The banner's message is self referential, signaling distress that the pilot of the aircraft does not have the knowledge of how to land an aircraft with a banner in tow. Notably, these aircraft do not take off or land with the banner in tow, but instead have a hook and release mechanism to [https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2022/09/02/the-surprising-way-those-beach-plane-banners-get-airborne add and drop the banner in flight]. This is generally safe for an experienced pilot, [https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2020/november/pilot/imperiled-pickup though not entirely without risk]. The aircraft in the illustration is similar to a {{w|Piper J-3 Cub}}, which is popular for such tasks for its low operating cost and performance at low airspeeds.

The phone number beginning with "{{w|555 (telephone number)|555}}" is commonly seen in movies.

Such banners are created prior to takeoff.{{Citation needed}} This may mean that the pilot anticipated that they would have difficulty landing and dedicated the banner to crowdsourcing a solution in flight, rather than learning how to land with a banner beforehand or even simply forgoing the banner. However, the banner could have [[Beret Guy|somehow]] been created in flight when the pilot realized that they didn't know how to land the plane.

The title text features a caller who tries to explain the correct method (detaching the banner over a designated empty location, then landing the plane regularly), but the cellphone service provider's system informs the caller that the call has been disconnected, probably due to the aircraft moving out of range of the {{w|cell site}} the phone was connected to and failing to automatically connect to an adjacent cell, or possibly the cell network detecting the call on {{w|Cellular_network#Frequency_reuse|multiple sites}} due to its {{w|Mobile_phones_on_aircraft#Technical_discussion|altitude}} and disconnecting it from the network.

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

:[An airplane tows a banner. In the background, there are four small clouds and five birds]

:[Text on the banner:] Do '''''you''''' know how to land a plane that's towing a banner? Call '''555-0127''' now!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Airplane banner]]
[[Category:Aviation]]

2750: Flatten the Planets

2023-03-16T00:34:06Z

TV4Fun: Ref: Unsourced

{{comic
| number = 2750
| date = March 15, 2023
| title = Flatten the Planets
| image = flatten_the_planets_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x647px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We'll turn the asteroid belt into ball bearings to go between different rings orbiting at different speeds.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an OFF BY THREE ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE ERROR. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic depicts a situation where the solar system is flattened to create a ring system around the Sun. This may be inspired by the {{w|Alderson disk}}, a hypothetical megastructure intended to gain truly massive amounts of living space by constructing a literal disk of matter around a star. This would require several solar systems' worth of matter to do, and materials with a tensile strength beyond what is likely physically possible for any known form of matter. The planets of our solar system would not be suitable for this endeavor.{{Citation needed}}

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" | Planet
! colspan="2" | Thickness
|-
!Inches
!Millimeters
|-
| Mercury || 1/8" || 3.2 mm
|-
| Venus || 1" || 25 mm
|-
| Earth || 3/4" || 19 mm
|-
| Mars || 0.01" || 0.25 mm
|-
| Jupiter || 18" || 460 mm
|-
| Saturn || 3" || 76 mm
|-
| Uranus || 1/8" || 3.2 mm
|-
| Neptune || 1/16" || 1.6 mm
|}

==Transcript==
:[This comic depicts a situation where the planets of the Solar System are flattened using a roller pin to create a contiguous ring system around the Sun, with each planet taking up the part within their orbit to the next planet (or the Sun).]

:[The top part shows a normal image of the Solar System with the eight planets orbiting the Sun, and their orbits shown as circles. The Sun is yellow and the planets have approximately the color they typically are shown in. Earth has more features than the other three rocky planets. Jupiter has clear features including the red spot, while Saturn has its rings. Beneath this is a broad arrow pointing down.]
:↓
:[The arrow points to a roller pin. A similar arrow points down to the next image.]
:↓
:[The second large image shows the Solar System with the planets flattened to fill out the gap between the Sun and each of the planets, so they each cover the area of the circle within their orbits, into the next planet (or the Sun). Each segment has kept a similar color as used for the planets in the first image. The Sun is not flattened and is now the center of a huge ring with eight different colors, some with patterns, mainly Earth, but also Jupiter and Saturn's discs show features.]

:[Beneath this to the right is a side view of the flattened Earth, with its thickness indicated with two arrows pointing in at the top and up at the bottom of two dotted lines continuing where the "Earth" stops. A label has been written between these two lines, and the thickness is compared to US quarter and penny coins.]
:Earth
:3/4"

:[Below this and going all the way across the panel is a side view with a segment of the Sun to the left followed by all the flattened planets, labeled with their name and their thicknesses. Arrows point to the relevant segment from the three rocky planets other than Earth. Above Jupiter and Saturn is a label between two arrows. Text alternates between being above and below the planets. Their thicknesses differ quite a lot, with Mars being the thinnest and Jupiter by far the thickest. Cueball stands on the flattened Earth.]
:← Not to scale →
:Mercury 1/8"
:Venus: 1"
:Earth 3/4"
:Mars 250 microns
:Jupiter 18"
:Saturn 3"
:Uranus 1/8"
:Neptune 1/16"

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't know why NASA keeps rejecting my proposals to improve the Solar System

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]

1871: Bun Alert

2023-02-25T21:54:37Z

TV4Fun:

{{comic
| number = 1871
| date = August 2, 2017
| title = Bun Alert
| image = bun_alert.png
| titletext = Since buns range from crepuscular to nocturnal, it's recommended that you enable the scheduled "Do Not Disturb" mode on your phone to avoid being woken by alerts about Night Buns.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic opens with [[Beret Guy]] identifying a "bun", an informal term for a {{w|rabbit}} also used in [[1682: Bun]]. The title text of that former comic specifically refers to sending out a "BUN ALERT" to friends and family with location and photographic evidence of the bun, so in this comic, that concept appears to have been elevated from a simple mass SMS/MMS message to a standalone application.

Upon seeing the bun, Beret Guy uses his phone to send an alert about the "Bun" with a [[wikipedia:Push technology|push notification]]. He is still looking for investors, though such an app would likely not appeal to a wide market{{Citation needed}}. In response to [[Ponytail]]'s confusion, he explains that bunnies are "like loaves of bread that hop" making a pun by comparing rabbits to bread, as "bun" can commonly refer to a small loaf of bread. Beret Guy is known to be fascinated with bakeries, as shown in the comics [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport]], [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel ]], or [[452: Mission]], so it makes sense that this sort of comparison occurs to him. It is known that the word "bun" is similar to the word "pun". Beret Guy has a history of misinterpreting statements and phrases (and often making said misinterpretations correct through some strange power of his), so it is not implausible that he actually genuinely thinks that these "buns" are bread products that somehow behave exactly like rabbits.

As Ponytail leaves, apparently to remove herself from the situation, [[Megan]] hurriedly approaches, excited to see the "bun". This serves as a punchline as, despite Ponytail appearing to be the voice of reason, it seems that Beret Guy's inane bun alert system has gathered a dedicated following after all.

Megan's question "Is it small?" and her amazement when she finds out that it is parallels the idea in [[1682: Bun]] where the bun's size is said to be inversely correlated with its status; smaller buns such as the one in this comic are thought of as higher-ranking "king buns" by the characters in both strips. In real life, smaller rabbits are more likely to simply be young. It is also possible that she simply thinks smaller buns are cuter, which might have been the motivation for the whole bun-ranking system thing in the first place.

The title text refers to buns being {{w|crepuscular}} and {{w|nocturnal}} animals, meaning they are primarily active at twilight and night, respectively. This means that someone with the app would get a lot of notifications while they would most likely be asleep. Many smartphones have a "Do Not Disturb" mode that can be activated so that only select communications (i.e. direct calls) will actually set off the ringer/vibration, and all others will simply be added to the device's notification queue; such a function can be scheduled to automatically activate during the period when the user is asleep. The title text unironically points out a prime example of the need for such a function: if something is likely to notify your device late at night, then you should make sure that those notifications are silenced by the Do Not Disturb function.

The bun alert reappears in [[1903: Bun Trend]], where Beret Guy receives the alert.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Ponytail see a rabbit sitting in the grass; Beret Guy points to the bun.]
:Beret Guy: Bun alert!
:Ponytail: Oh, yeah! Cute!
:Beret Guy: Gotta document this. I'll notify everyone, send out a push alert.
:Ponytail: ...to who?

:[Zoom in on Beret Guy and Ponytail; Beret Guy taps on his phone.]
:Beret Guy: Everyone subscribed to the alert system.
:Ponytail: Alert system?
:Beret Guy: Yeah! We built it over the last few years. It's pretty small. Still looking for investors.
:Ponytail: But...''why'' are you alerting people about rabbits?

:[Zoom out; Beret Guy puts away his phone, points at the bun.]
:Beret Guy: I mean...look at them. They're like loaves of bread that hop.
:Ponytail: I see.
:Beret Guy: ''People need to know.''

:[Zoom on Beret Guy in a frameless panel.]
:Beret Guy: They need to know:
:Beret Guy: '''''There are buns.'''''

:[Ponytail walks off, Megan comes running towards Beret Guy with a phone in her hand.]
:Ponytail: Okay, uhh, I'm gonna go.
:Megan: ''I got the alert!'' Where's the bun? '''''Is it small?'''''
:Beret Guy: ''Extremely.''
:Megan: Oh my God.

==Trivia==
*In [[1682: Bun]], it was Ponytail who was infatuated with "buns", while Megan was the incredulous one questioning the situation. In this comic, the roles are reversed. This is a strong indication that the characters represented by Ponytail and Megan in this comic are not the same characters from ''1682: Bun''.

*On August 6th, 2017 a [http://jgreenemi.com/bun-alert-an-afternoon-xkcd-project/ real-world Bun Alert] was created by a developer following inspiration from [[1871: Bun Alert]]. The project was shut down by the developer on January 29th, 2018 and no longer sends out alerts, although [https://bunalert.jgreenemi.com/ the webpage] is still accessible.

*On August 8th, 2017 an Android app was created by a developer also following inspiration from [[1871: Bun Alert]]

*On October 5th, 2020 an update to the Android app, along with an iOS app was published. The website is available [https://bunalert.app/ here].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Buns]]

1871: Bun Alert

2023-02-25T21:54:05Z

TV4Fun: Ref: Unsourced

{{comic
| number = 1871
| date = August 2, 2017
| title = Bun Alert
| image = bun_alert.png
| titletext = Since buns range from crepuscular to nocturnal, it's recommended that you enable the scheduled "Do Not Disturb" mode on your phone to avoid being woken by alerts about Night Buns.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic opens with [[Beret Guy]] identifying a "bun", an informal term for a {{w|rabbit}} also used in [[1682: Bun]]. The title text of that former comic specifically refers to sending out a "BUN ALERT" to friends and family with location and photographic evidence of the bun, so in this comic, that concept appears to have been elevated from a simple mass SMS/MMS message to a standalone application.

Upon seeing the bun, Beret Guy uses his phone to send an alert about the "Bun" with a [[wikipedia:Push technology|push notification]]. He is still looking for investors, though such an app would likely not appeal to a wide market[[Citation needed]]. In response to [[Ponytail]]'s confusion, he explains that bunnies are "like loaves of bread that hop" making a pun by comparing rabbits to bread, as "bun" can commonly refer to a small loaf of bread. Beret Guy is known to be fascinated with bakeries, as shown in the comics [[434: xkcd Goes to the Airport]], [[442: xkcd Loves the Discovery Channel ]], or [[452: Mission]], so it makes sense that this sort of comparison occurs to him. It is known that the word "bun" is similar to the word "pun". Beret Guy has a history of misinterpreting statements and phrases (and often making said misinterpretations correct through some strange power of his), so it is not implausible that he actually genuinely thinks that these "buns" are bread products that somehow behave exactly like rabbits.

As Ponytail leaves, apparently to remove herself from the situation, [[Megan]] hurriedly approaches, excited to see the "bun". This serves as a punchline as, despite Ponytail appearing to be the voice of reason, it seems that Beret Guy's inane bun alert system has gathered a dedicated following after all.

Megan's question "Is it small?" and her amazement when she finds out that it is parallels the idea in [[1682: Bun]] where the bun's size is said to be inversely correlated with its status; smaller buns such as the one in this comic are thought of as higher-ranking "king buns" by the characters in both strips. In real life, smaller rabbits are more likely to simply be young. It is also possible that she simply thinks smaller buns are cuter, which might have been the motivation for the whole bun-ranking system thing in the first place.

The title text refers to buns being {{w|crepuscular}} and {{w|nocturnal}} animals, meaning they are primarily active at twilight and night, respectively. This means that someone with the app would get a lot of notifications while they would most likely be asleep. Many smartphones have a "Do Not Disturb" mode that can be activated so that only select communications (i.e. direct calls) will actually set off the ringer/vibration, and all others will simply be added to the device's notification queue; such a function can be scheduled to automatically activate during the period when the user is asleep. The title text unironically points out a prime example of the need for such a function: if something is likely to notify your device late at night, then you should make sure that those notifications are silenced by the Do Not Disturb function.

The bun alert reappears in [[1903: Bun Trend]], where Beret Guy receives the alert.

==Transcript==
:[Beret Guy and Ponytail see a rabbit sitting in the grass; Beret Guy points to the bun.]
:Beret Guy: Bun alert!
:Ponytail: Oh, yeah! Cute!
:Beret Guy: Gotta document this. I'll notify everyone, send out a push alert.
:Ponytail: ...to who?

:[Zoom in on Beret Guy and Ponytail; Beret Guy taps on his phone.]
:Beret Guy: Everyone subscribed to the alert system.
:Ponytail: Alert system?
:Beret Guy: Yeah! We built it over the last few years. It's pretty small. Still looking for investors.
:Ponytail: But...''why'' are you alerting people about rabbits?

:[Zoom out; Beret Guy puts away his phone, points at the bun.]
:Beret Guy: I mean...look at them. They're like loaves of bread that hop.
:Ponytail: I see.
:Beret Guy: ''People need to know.''

:[Zoom on Beret Guy in a frameless panel.]
:Beret Guy: They need to know:
:Beret Guy: '''''There are buns.'''''

:[Ponytail walks off, Megan comes running towards Beret Guy with a phone in her hand.]
:Ponytail: Okay, uhh, I'm gonna go.
:Megan: ''I got the alert!'' Where's the bun? '''''Is it small?'''''
:Beret Guy: ''Extremely.''
:Megan: Oh my God.

==Trivia==
*In [[1682: Bun]], it was Ponytail who was infatuated with "buns", while Megan was the incredulous one questioning the situation. In this comic, the roles are reversed. This is a strong indication that the characters represented by Ponytail and Megan in this comic are not the same characters from ''1682: Bun''.

*On August 6th, 2017 a [http://jgreenemi.com/bun-alert-an-afternoon-xkcd-project/ real-world Bun Alert] was created by a developer following inspiration from [[1871: Bun Alert]]. The project was shut down by the developer on January 29th, 2018 and no longer sends out alerts, although [https://bunalert.jgreenemi.com/ the webpage] is still accessible.

*On August 8th, 2017 an Android app was created by a developer also following inspiration from [[1871: Bun Alert]]

*On October 5th, 2020 an update to the Android app, along with an iOS app was published. The website is available [https://bunalert.app/ here].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Beret Guy's Business]]
[[Category:Buns]]

2711: Optimal Bowling

2022-12-15T05:10:05Z

TV4Fun: This needs a citation needed

{{comic
| number = 2711
| date = December 14, 2022
| title = Optimal Bowling
| image = optimal_bowling_2x.png
| imagesize = 306x670px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you want to bowl a strike, the optimal place is almost certainly inside a bowling alley, although with a little luck any establishment uphill from one could also work.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RELATIVISTIC BOWLING ALLEY - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This series of line graphs purports to advise players on how to improve their odds of achieving a strike in the sport of {{w|bowling}} -- presumably {{w|ten-pin bowling}}, the most popular version of the sport in the United States.

Although graphs such as these could potentially be useful to bowlers, the graphs shown in this comic are drawn to the wrong scale to be practical{{Citation needed}}. For example, the fourth graph in this comic illustrates a bowler's probability of a strike with a ball whose mass ranges from 100 kg (2.2 pounds) to close to 1010 kg (over 22 billion pounds), and continues by indicating that balls even larger than that would cause "equipment damage" (up to 1020 kg) or the creation of a black hole (starting from around 1025 kg and up). The last entry on the X-axis of this graph is 1040 kg, which is about 5 billion times the mass of the {{w|Sun}}.

By contrast, the United States Bowling Congress requires all bowling balls to weigh no more than 16 pounds (that is, a mass of no more than 7.257 kg), with no minimum weight. Hence, if the X-axis of the graph ran from, say, 0 to 8 kg, the graph might actually impart some useful information.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[The header is surrounded on either side by small drawings of two bowling pins and a bowling ball.]
:Data for Optimal Bowling

:[Four line graphs are depicted. Each has a numbered one-word general description in a box at the top, an unlabeled Y-axis, and a labeled X-axis. The relevant curve and other comments on each graph are in red.]

:1. Aim
:[The graph's X-axis is labeled from -180° to 180°.]
:Release Direction
:[The red curve on the graph is just above the X-axis at all points except for a steep peak around 0°. The red curve is labeled:]
:Relative Probability of Strike

:2. Speed
:[The graph's X-axis is labeled from 10-1 to 108, with the last point on the X-axis labeled "Speed of Light".]
:Ball Speed (m/s)
:[The red curve on the graph starts at the X-axis for 10-1, reaches its peak around 10, then declines and becomes a dashed line ending around three-quarters of the peak around 102. The remainder of the curve is replaced by two labels:]
:Equipment Damage
:Widespread Destruction

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]

2709: Solar System Model

2022-12-10T16:23:34Z

TV4Fun:

{{comic
| number = 2709
| date = December 9, 2022
| title = Solar System Model
| image = solar_system_model_2x.png
| imagesize = 270x370px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Earth is, on average, located in the habitable zone, but at any given time it has a certain probability of being outside it, which is why life exists on Earth but is mortal.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DETERMINED ELECTRON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic parodies the old, {{w|Bohr model|early-20th century models of atomic structure}} where electrons were thought to be orbiting the nucleus like planets around a sun, and flips it on its head. Instead of the atomic structure model lacking a known causal relationship, it is now the planetary system that is quantum mechanical in nature, split into probabilistic {{w|Atomic orbital|orbitals}}.

[[Miss Lenhart]] is shown here to be teaching an Astronomy class, and claims that it was thought that the planets moved around the sun like electrons around the nucleus before this model was superseded by the probabilistic 'quantum mechanical' view of orbital locations for ''planetary'' movement. In reality, the description of probabilistic orbitals is applied to the electrons in an atom; quantum-like "uncertainty" effects are not exhibited at the planetary scale{{Citation needed}}. However, such a concept has been prominently featured in the video game ''{{w|Outer Wilds}}'', with its [https://outerwilds.fandom.com/wiki/Quantum_Moon Quantum Moon]

The title text takes this one step further by making the {{w|Circumstellar habitable zone|habitable zone}} of the Sun behave like an orbital – the Earth being a part of it. The Earth generally remains in the habitable zone which is why life exists, then describes the cause of death on Earth to be the times when the Earth's position is outside the habitable orbital.

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

Early 20th century models of the solar system imagined that planets circled the sun like electrons in an atom.

We now know planets have no precise location, but instead occupy probabilistic ''orbitals''…

ASTRONOMY

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2709: Solar System Model

2022-12-10T16:15:25Z

TV4Fun: It was Bohr, not Rutherford

{{comic
| number = 2709
| date = December 9, 2022
| title = Solar System Model
| image = solar_system_model_2x.png
| imagesize = 270x370px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Earth is, on average, located in the habitable zone, but at any given time it has a certain probability of being outside it, which is why life exists on Earth but is mortal.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DETERMINED ELECTRON - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic parodies the old, {{w|Bohr model|early-20th century models of atomic structure}} where electrons were thought to be orbiting the nucleus like planets around a sun, and flips it on its head. Instead of the atomic structure model lacking a known causal relationship, it is now the planetary system that is quantum mechanical in nature, split into probabilistic {{w|Atomic orbital|orbitals}}.

[[Miss Lenhart]] is shown here to be teaching an Astronomy class, and claims that it was thought that the planets moved around the sun like electrons around the nucleus before this model was superseded by the probabilistic 'quantum mechanical' view of orbital locations for ''planetary'' movement. In reality, the description of probabilistic orbitals is applied to the electrons in an atom; quantum-like "uncertainty" effects are not exhibited at the planetary scale. However, such a concept has been prominently featured in the video game ''{{w|Outer Wilds}}'', with its [https://outerwilds.fandom.com/wiki/Quantum_Moon Quantum Moon]

The title text takes this one step further by making the {{w|Circumstellar habitable zone|habitable zone}} of the Sun behave like an orbital – the Earth being a part of it. The Earth generally remains in the habitable zone which is why life exists, then describes the cause of death on Earth to be the times when the Earth's position is outside the habitable orbital.

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

Early 20th century models of the solar system imagined that planets circled the sun like electrons in an atom.

We now know planets have no precise location, but instead occupy probabilistic ''orbitals''…

ASTRONOMY

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Physics]]

2707: Astronomy Numbers

2022-12-07T01:52:56Z

TV4Fun: Add citation for space being big

{{comic
| number = 2707
| date = December 5, 2022
| title = Astronomy Numbers
| image = astronomy_numbers_2x.png
| imagesize = 593x315px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I adopted a cat that weighs 12 solar masses. Laser pointers love chasing it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A WARPED SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Space is big[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv1spjsvu-A] and the things that are in space can also end up being very big themselves. As a result of this, most quantities in astronomy can vary by huge scales. For example, Earth has a mass 10^23 times more than the average human, and the Sun is 10^5 times more than that, which itself is 10^12 times less massive than the Milky Way. The same applies to speeds, distances, and time, which can often be measured in terms of light speed, light-years, and millions (or even billions) of years. Because of this, it's a truly unusual occurrence for anything in space to end up in the fairly narrow range of scales of mass, size, speed, or time that humans can easily grasp.

Ponytail, a scientist apparently researching something related to Earth's orbit, finds that on the next January 1, Earth will be approaching the sun at a velocity of 65 miles per hour—an extremely common and normal-sounding velocity to American ears, often used as a speed limit on highways in the US. Ponytail is clearly a little thrown-off by this, and remarks that she finds it "suspicious" when reasonably human-scaled numbers come up.

She then extends this paranoia to things that should be measured in regular numbers, such as the weight of cats. The vet (Megan) is seemingly used to this problem (perhaps she gets a lot of physicists), so she restates the 12-lb weight of Ponytail's cat in solar masses. Since using this unit yields an ''incredibly'' small number, 3*10^-30 (a three preceded by a decimal point and 29 zeroes), it evidently sounds more plausible to the astronomer. This weight is in fact about 13lb 2oz, slightly heavier than the cat, due to the less precise answer.

==Details on the numbers==
Although the Earth's orbital velocity around the Sun is far above any "normal" scales (around 30 kilometers per second or 108,000 kilometers per hour), Earth has a pretty circular orbit around the Sun so most of this speed ends up being tangential (sideways) rather than radial (towards or away from) the Sun, which is the value relevant for Ponytail's calculations. On January 1, Earth's radial velocity is close to its smallest value because we reach our closest point to the Sun in the first few days of January each year (in 2023, {{w|Perihelion|perihelion}} happens on January 4) so by January 1, it's nearly come to a standstill before it starts traveling away from the Sun again. On the other hand, by April 3, 2023, Earth will be receding from the Sun by almost 500 meters per second or 1800 kilometers per hour, a slightly less normal speed for the average person to encounter in everyday life.{{citation needed}}

65 miles per hour is approximately equal to 105 kilometers per hour, although the even more typical scientific value (in {{w|International System of Units|SI}} derived units) would be 29 meters per second. 3 × 10^−30 solar masses is approximately equal to 6 kilograms or 13 pounds (consistent with the 12 pounds, or slightly under 5.5 kilograms, of the original figure) and is normal, if perhaps slightly overweight, for a cat.

==Title text==
The title text suggests that laser pointers "love chasing" a new cat with a weight of 12 solar masses (an inversion of the typical cat behavior of [[729: Laser Pointer|chasing laser pointer dots]]).
All gravitational fields bend light towards their center, a 12 solar mass object would bend quite a lot. A Laser pointer pointed at such a cat would bend towards it or "chase" it. In fact, 12 solar masses, would have a Schwarzschild radius of around 36 kilometers, so a cat with that mass would very definitely be a black hole, drawing all light within 72 kilometers around it into its singularity.

Another interpretation of the title text is that Randall has (presumably) accidentally adopted a distant star instead, which astronomers usually take a liking to pointing laser pointers at during both star parties & normal parties they were unwisely invited to. Assuming Randall's 12-solar-mass cat goes through similar life cycles to a 12-solar-mass star, his cat will probably end up living a violent, short life of just a few million years before expanding into a red supercat and exploding as a feline supernova, which might explain why astronomers are so interested in pointing it out. Or maybe a {{w|Laser guide star}} for a telescope with adaptive optics is being referred to.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a whiteboard writing on it with a pen, while Cueball looks over her shoulder from behind her. On the board is an almost circular ellipse with a cross that centers on a dot towards the left side of it. On the right side there is a small circle on the ellipse's line. There are several lines of wiggles representing unreadable text. To the left of the ellipse there are two lines near the top of and four near at the bottom of the ellipse. Ponytail is writing a fifth line below these almost under the ellipse. At the bottom to the left there is a rectangular frame with a line of text beneath it and at the bottom left corner there is a line forming a half closes rectangle around two dots.]
:Ponytail: …And we need to correct for our elliptical orbit. On January 1st, Earth will be approaching the sun at a rate of ...let's see...
:Ponytail: 65 miles per hour.
:Ponytail: Weird. Okay.
:Cueball: Weird?

:[Ponytail has turned towards Cueball, the pen is no longer in her hand and the white board is no longer shown.]
:Ponytail: I get suspicious whenever I see a normal number in astronomy. We're not supposed to have those. Feels wrong.
:Ponytail: Scales should all be incomprehensible.

:[Megan in a lab-coat raised her hand palm up towards an animal carrier cage standing on her desk. The cage has a handle and five air holes are at the top. Behind two of them something black inside the cage can be seen. Ponytail is standing on the other side of the desk looking at Megan. Above the top of the panels frame there is a panel with a label:]
:Earlier, at the vet:
:Megan: Your cat weighs 12 lbs.
:Ponytail: Ridiculous, nothing weighs "12". You must mean 10-20? Or 1040?
:Megan: Fine. Your cat weighs 3x10-30 solar masses.
:Ponytail: Okay. Better.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Cats]]

2705: Spacetime Soccer

2022-12-01T12:31:56Z

TV4Fun: CITE unreferenced

{{comic
| number = 2705
| date = November 30, 2022
| title = Spacetime Soccer
| image = spacetime_soccer_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x280px
| noexpand = true
| 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]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a FOUR-DIMENSIONAL GOALIE - I still don't know what the offside rule actually is. I think it might... [more]. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic proposes Spacetime Soccer, an impossible{{Citation needed}} sport consisting of a "regular" football field with a gravitational well in the center of it (although given the size of the indent presented, it would likely be spanning the size of planetary orbits). Not only would it be impossible for human players to travel through more than three spatial 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.

{{w|Offside (association football)|Offside}} is a description in soccer that applies to players who are in certain positions relative to the boundaries of the pitch, the ball, and the second-last opponent on the opposing team. Players in such positions are eligible for being judged guilty of an offside offence if they become involved in the ongoing play before rectifying their status. It is of special importance to know the different players' positions at the exact moment the ball gets passed, rather than when the passed ball may be received or the offside player is otherwise considered active. But in relativistic spacetime there is no universal definition of an exact moment, beyond a single point, as time may run at different speeds for multiple observers in varying situations (where they are moving relative to each other, are influenced by differing local gravity or – as seems very likely in this example – both).

The title text is written in the style of the beginning to a Wikipedia article on the topic. It mocks the fact that most countries in the world refer to the sport with that particular obscure offside rule as football (or some translation thereof, like fútbol or Fußball) while the USA call it soccer, because they already used the name "football" for gridiron football.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Spacetime soccer got a lot of criticism for how many players fell into the gravity well, but what ultimately doomed it was the advanced mathematics required to figure out the offsides rule.

{{comic discussion}}

2696: Precision vs Accuracy

2022-11-11T02:08:45Z

TV4Fun: I hope I got the placement right wrt punctuation this time.

{{comic
| number = 2696
| date = November 9, 2022
| title = Precision vs Accuracy
| image = precision_vs_accuracy_2x.png
| imagesize = 501x462px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Barack Obama is much less likely than the average cat to jump in and out of cardboard boxes for fun' is low precision, but I'm not sure about the accuracy.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BARACK OBAMA IN A CARDBOARD BOX. Further detail, sortable table? - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic parodies the difference between 'accuracy' and 'precision' with a table. {{w|Accuracy and precision}} are common concepts to be encountered in the scientific field and often students have issues with the differences between them. Accuracy concerns whether a statement is true, while precision concerns how detailed it is; it is possible for a statement to be one but not the other. The comic explores this concept by comparing {{w|Barack Obama}}, former President of the United States, with {{w|cat}}s. Confusingly, he measures different statistics of both Barack Obama and cats (sometimes measuring them in terms of cats) leaving the unwary reader even more confused.

Being precise is typical of calculations that roll out an excess of significant digits, often in the form of trailing decimals. Precision is lowered by using more rounded figures, or merely being comparative, but largely unaffected by whether the original values used were accurate or even correct. Accuracy is a cumulative function of the accuracy given to the intermediate values used for any calculation, and can be degraded by using figures that are themselves in some way inaccurate or imprecise. One part of confusion between the two is because being too precise usually decreases accuracy.

The numbers mentioned in the top row (high precision) of the table all use exactly the same digits, dictating that a full five digits of ''precision'' are used in them all. The most "valid" or correct value is a number that's very accurate and precise (see table). For the medium accuracy the number is an anagram of the 1st entry, giving a value that is reasonable but would be overly exact, whilst the low accuracy number is just a repeat of the first entry's digits with a shifted decimal but clearly at the wrong scale.{{Citation needed}} For the latter, he replaces the thousands separator with the decimal point, perhaps as a visual pun.

The title text compares Obama's and cats' enjoyment of playing with cardboard boxes. While cats are known to do this,{{citation needed}} we don't know whether Obama does.

The day prior to the publication of this comic (November 8, 2022) was election day in the United States, so Randall may have been remembering Barack Obama's presidency at this time.

{| class="wikitable"
!Precision
!Accuracy
!Statement
!Explanation
|-
|High
|High
|Barack Obama was president for 70,128 hours
|This is the official length in hours of {{w|Barack Obama}}'s 8-year presidency, including 2 {{w|leap year|leap days}}. Obama served from January 20, 2009 through January 20, 2017, and his term officially began and ended at noon on those days. (There were three {{w|leap second|leap seconds}} during his presidency, though.)
|-
|High
|Medium
|Barack Obama weighs as much as 17.082 cats
|The accuracy would depend on the mass of the cats in question. Also a human's mass can vary by a few pounds in a small amount of time as meals are consumed, resources are used in metabolism and wastes are eliminated, and thus this may be overly precise due the margin of error in both the mass of cats and the mass of Mr. Obama. In 2016, Obama was [https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/08/politics/obama-medical-exam-loses-weight officially reported] to weigh 175 lb (79.3787 kg). [https://www.google.com/search?q=how+heavy+is+an+average+cat Google claims that an average cat weighs between 8.8 and 11 lbs], so this statement may be close to accurate.
|-
|High
|Low
|Barack Obama is 70.128 feet tall
|A highly precise (5 significant digits) measurement, but far from his actual height, published as 6'1".
The given value is more than an order of magnitude different from both him and {{w|Robert Wadlow|almost}} any other known human, whilst one of 7.0128 would ''only'' be about 15% off – still a low accuracy, but not outside the realms of possibility for an otherwise unknown person.
Coincidentally, Barack Obama is approximately 70 ''cat'' feet tall, using the paw size of a house cat to measure his height. Given the number of cat-related facts in the rest of the chart, this could be seen as rather appropriate.
|-
|Medium
|High
|Most cats have 4 legs
|Like many mammals, cats are quadrupeds, which means "four feet". Unless there is a genetic or other developmental issue, or an an injury that causes the loss of a limb, then cats generally have 4 legs.
|-
|Medium
|Medium
|Barack Obama is 6'1"
|While only as precise as the nearest inch, a common degree of rounding in that scale of measurement, that is the former president's published height.
[https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/08/politics/obama-medical-exam-loses-weight In 2016], Obama was said to have "grown" 0.5 inches in height, so there is a definite lack of consistency of exactly how tall he is. The examinations may have been made at different times of their respective days, with some spinal compression occurring all the time not laid in bed, and his current height is also not publically recorded; several years of gradual aging could also reduce his posture slightly, or sustaining his fitness (since experiencing the travails of office) may counteract this to a greater or lesser effect.
|-
|Medium
|Low
|Barack Obama has 4 legs
|Barack Obama, being a mammal, does qualify as a tetra-pod, but as a primate, his ancestors' forelimbs evolved into arms and hands, and like other humans, he does not generally use them for locomotion, but to manipulate his environment, thus this is highly ''in''accurate.

|-
|Low
|High
|Most cats have legs
|A true (high accuracy) statement without much information (low precision).
|-
|Low
|Medium
|Barack Obama has fewer legs than your cat
|Again, this will depend on the cat (not to mention whether or not you actually have a cat), but in general, true.
|-
|Low
|Low
|Barack Obama's cat has hundreds of legs
|This statement has low accuracy, as Barack Obama owns a four-legged dog named Sunny, but is not known to have owned a cat, much less one with more legs than normal. It also has low precision, as "hundreds" could reasonably range from 200 to 900. (From a strict logician's point of view, this could however be considered a vacuously true statement.)
|-
|Low
|Unsure
|Barack Obama is much less likely than the average cat to jump in and out of cardboard boxes for fun
|Barack Obama has never publicly jumped in and out of cardboard boxes for fun,{{citation needed}} but the possibility that he does in private exists.
|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic shows a table with 3 rows and 3 columns. Each row and column has a label, and then nine statements are given for the 3x3 grid.]
:{| class="wikitable"
|-
| || High accuracy || Medium accuracy || Low accuracy
|-
| High precision
|Barack Obama was president for 70,128 hours||Barack Obama weighs as much as 17.082 cats||Barack Obama is 70.128 feet tall
|-
| Medium precision
|Most cats have 4 legs||Barack Obama is 6'1"||Barack Obama has 4 legs
|-
| Low precision
|Most cats have legs||Barack Obama has fewer legs than your cat||Barack Obama's cat has hundreds of legs
|}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Cats]]

2695: Soil

2022-11-07T21:06:08Z

TV4Fun: Do I have to do everything around here?

{{comic
| number = 2695
| date = November 7, 2022
| title = Soil
| image = soil_2x.png
| imagesize = 547x217px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = You might want to bring your frost-sensitive plants in from the patio. The high-level aerosols may result in short-term cooling across the entire backyard.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXPLANATION SEED. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

[[Beret Guy]] seems to be using {{w|volcano}} seeds to grow tiny volcanoes as an alternative to fertilizing [[Cueball]]'s garden. In reality, volcanoes are caused by the pressure of {{w|magma}} (underground lava) from below the Earth's crust pushing up through it, not seeds{{Citation needed}}.

Volcanic soil is [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/volcanic-soil generally fertile], although as Cueball points out, the process of eruption is destructive to whatever plants are ''presently'' in his garden. Beret Guy's announcement in the final panel resembles the voice-over from nature documentaries.

The title text alludes to the fact that sulfate {{w|aerosol}}s from volcanic eruptions may cause a [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/volcanic-soil short-term cooling effect], expanding on the comedy from a small scale volcano, by adding small scale volcano effects — in reality, the cooling effect occurs because the {{w|aerosol}}s in the atmosphere block out energy from the sun. Not to mention the fact that of course, the currently flowing lava is probably harmful to the frost-sensitive plants near the garden anyway.

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

:[Cueball is standing, holding a trowel. Beret Guy is kneeling, and pouring the content of a small bag in a hole in the ground.]
:Cueball: Thanks for the gardening help!
:Beret Guy: I made these seeds myself!

:[Beret Guy is standing next to a small eruption coming from the ground.]

:[Same scene, eruption is now a knee-high volcano. It produces fumes.]
:Beret Guy: The infusion of nutrient-rich volcanic soil will revitalize your garden.

:[Same scene, the volcano is now waist-high. There are flames on its sides.]
:Cueball (as an off-panel voice): All my plants are on fire.
:Beret Guy: But soon, life will return to these slopes!

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Strange powers of Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]

2249: I Love the 20s

2022-08-18T15:08:58Z

TV4Fun: Ref: Unsourced

{{comic
| number = 2249
| date = January 1, 2020
| title = I Love the 20s
| image = i love the 20s.png
| titletext = Billboard's "Best of the 80s" chart includes Blondie's 1980 hit "Call Me." QED.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic was released on the first day of the year {{w|2020}}. It was the second of two [[:Category:New Year|New Year comics]] around the 2019-2020 New Year, after [[2248: New Year's Eve]].

The comic opens with [[Megan]], [[Cueball]], [[White Hat]], and [[Ponytail]] celebrating the new year and discussing their relief that the change of decade brings with it two beneficial side-effects; firstly, they can now unambiguously name the decade "the 20s", and secondly, since the decade has a well-defined name, any cultural trends that begin in the 20s can be attributed to the decade itself, and not to the generation that happens to coincide with it.

White Hat, however, tries a couple of times to raise a pedantic objection: he believes that the new decade does not "officially" start until 2021.

Ponytail corrects him on this, but he refuses to accept the correction until Megan cites an unlikely source: the fact that the {{w|VH1}} television show
{{w|I Love the '90s (American TV series)|''I Love the '90s''}} categorized MC Hammer's 1990 single "{{w|U Can't Touch This}}" as a 90s song, which supports Ponytail's definition of decade. The joke is that a pop culture documentary is not an authoritative source for definitions of time standards{{Citation needed}}, yet for some reason everyone is willing to accept its authority on such matters anyway.

The disagreement over the definition of when decades start is due to the fact that there is more than one way to count decades. You could do it in one of the following two ways:
*By counting every span of ten years that has occurred since the start of year 1 in the Common Era (White Hat's definition)
*By taking the digit that is common to all years in a given ten-year span (Ponytail's definition)

White Hat's definition is an "ordinal" method, since it functions by counting the number of ten-year spans ''since the first one'', which is defined to have begun in the year 1. However, Ponytail's definition is the "cardinal" method, which simply groups years by their common most significant digits. For example, when we say "the 1980s", we mean "the span of ten years that all began with the digits 1-9-8".

Neither definition is wrong, however Ponytail's definition is the more common one, and she notes that this is not how decades are typically determined (the show isn't called "I Love the 200th Decade"), and the fact that we count centuries in an ordinal way does not mean that we should do the same with decades.

White Hat's objection (probably deliberately) recalls an issue that was frequently discussed around the year 2000. Because we ''do'' count centuries ordinally (eg. "1st century", "20th century", etc.), and the first century began on the year 1, the 21st century did not technically start until 2001. Much of the world, not understanding this (or not caring), celebrated the dawning of the year 2000 as the start of both a new century and a new millenium, ignoring those who point out the change wouldn't happen for another year. (Though it should be noted unlike decades this is a genuine mistake rather than two slightly different definitions.)

Megan's exclamation "Stop!" is similar to the line famously used by MC Hammer in "U Can't Touch This" ("Stop! Hammer time.").

"{{w|Aughts}}" and "Teens" were names suggested for the {{w|2000s_(decade)|2000s}} and {{w|2010s}} respectively; however, neither of those names managed to gain widespread acceptance.

{{w|Millennials}} is a name given to the generation which was born in the 80s and 90s, such that they began entering adulthood in the 2000s. The term was sometimes used pejoratively by older generations who view millennials as immature or complacent, particularly during the 2010s. The comic speculates that millennials may have been unfairly targeted due to the fact that the decade didn't have an easily-identifiable name; if it had, then people might have attributed their misgivings about modern culture to the decade itself, instead of singling out a demographic. This phenomenon was previously discussed in [[1849: Decades]].

Continuing the dubious "proof" offered by Megan, the title text goes on to use the {{w|Billboard (magazine)|Billboard}} [https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboards-top-songs-80s Best of the 80s] chart as proof that the 1980s started in 1980, as their chart includes {{w|Blondie (band)|Blondie's}} "{{w|Call Me (Blondie song)|Call Me}}", which was released in 1980. The title text ends with {{w|Q.E.D.|QED}} ("quod erat demonstrandum"), which means "which was [necessary] to be shown", and is traditionally used at the end of a mathematical proof, as if this second landmark piece of evidence proves Megan's point as conclusively as a mathematical proof.

==Transcript==
:[Megan walks in from the left greeting Cueball, White Hat, and Ponytail standing next to each other, the last two looking in her direction.]
:Megan: Happy new decade!
:Ponytail: Welcome to the '20s!
:White Hat: '''''Actually—'''''
:Ponytail: I'm excited we can name decades again.
:Ponytail: "Aughts" and "teens" never caught on.

:[Megan stops next to Cueball as White Hat has his finger raised.]
:White Hat: Actually, the new decade doesn't start-
:Ponytail: Mostly, I'm just glad we can go back to attributing cultural trends to decades instead of generations.

:[All four just stand normal.]
:Cueball: Yeah.
:Cueball: Decades were silly, but making everything about "millennials" turned out to be even worse.
:Ponytail: Seriously.

:[Only White Hat and Ponytail are shown, both with their arms held out to the sides.]
:White Hat: It's technically not a new decade until '''2021'''.
:Ponytail: OK, listen.
:Ponytail: If you're going to be pedantic, you should at least be right.
:White Hat: I '''''am''''' right!
:Ponytail: You're '''''not'''''.

:[Zoom in on White Hat and Ponytail's upper bodies as they gesture towards each other both raising their hands palm up. Megan interrupts them from off panel, as made clear in the next panel. Her voice comes out of a starburst on the left panel frame.]
:White Hat: See, the 20th century didn't start until--
:Ponytail: But decades aren't centuries. They're not cardinally numbered.
:White Hat: You don't get it. Let me draw a--
:Ponytail: No, '''''you''''' don't--
:Megan (off-panel): Stop!

:[All four characters are displayed again. Megan has raised a finger and all the others look at her.]
:Megan: I can resolve this.
:Megan: *Ahem*
:Megan: MC Hammer's ''U Can't Touch This'' (1990) was featured in '''''I Love the '90s''''', not ''''' '80s'''''.
:Ponytail: ...That settles that.
:White Hat: Yeah, I accept VH1's authority.
:White Hat: You win.

==Trivia==
* Millennials were also mentioned in [[1962: Generations]] and in [[2165: Millennials]]. Also, [[Randall]] himself is a millennial.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Pedantic]]

2646: Minkowski Space

2022-07-16T04:01:05Z

TV4Fun: Add discussion of Hilbert spaces in quantum mechanics.

{{comic
| number = 2646
| date = July 15, 2022
| title = Minkowski Space
| image = minkowski_space.png
| titletext = My liege, we were able to follow the ship into Minkowski space, but now they've jumped to Hilbert space and they could honestly be anywhere.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A RELATIVISTIC QUANTUM STATE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A spaceship is being pursued by an enemy ship. Much like in [[2577: Sea Chase]], it attempts to escape by changing the nature of the space. In this case, it goes into {{w|Minkowski space}}, a mathematical formulation of three dimensional space combined with the dimension of time to form a {{w|manifold}} originally intended to describe {{w|electromagnetism}} in terms of {{w|special relativity}} but which is also used in {{w|general relativity}}.

Minkowski space is no different than ordinary spatiotemporal physical reality, so the idea of traveling from regular space into Minkowski space is meaningless, providing the humor of the comic's absurdist joke. The visual depiction of the spaceships as skewed diagonally is based on graphical {{w|Minkowski diagram}} representation of objects in Minkowski space, where the {{w|world line}}s of physical matter are bounded inside its diagonal {{w|light cone}}s. The mention of distance depending on the observer's {{w|frame of reference}} refers to distances changing when measured in different inertial frames of reference, a concept called the {{w|relativity of simultaneity}}.

The title text implies hiding in {{w|Hilbert space}} is much easier. This is because Hilbert spaces can have an infinite number of dimensions, and thus are much more complicated than four-dimensional Minkowski space. Hilbert space is used to describe mathematical objects such as functions of various parameters and complexity, not physical spatiotemporal reality, so it is very unusual for a physical object to be represented in Hilbert space. The reference to Hilbert space could also refer to the {{w|Uncertainty principle}}, as quantum states can be represented as vectors in a Hilbert space.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:{A spaceship is being pursued.}
:Voice 1: The enemy ship is right behind us! Prepare to jump to Minowski space on my mark.

:Voice 1: Three... two... one... MARK!
:SFX: Click

:{The panel distorts.}

:{The panel distorts further.}
:Voice 1: Are they still getting closer?
:Voice 2: I can't tell.
:Voice 3: I think it depends on your frame of reference.

{{comic discussion}}

2623: Goofs

2022-05-25T07:49:31Z

TV4Fun: No, I am not done requesting citations

{{comic
| number = 2623
| date = May 23, 2022
| title = Goofs
| image = goofs.png
| titletext = The film is set in 2018, but when Commander Bremberly chases the hologram through Times Square, there's a billboard for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Depending on the date, that billboard would have been advertising either Infinity War or this movie.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a IN THE EVENT OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN REALITY AND FICTION REALITY IS WRONG - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
IMDb is the {{w|Internet Movie Database}}, a website that contains detailed, user-contributed information about movies and TV shows. One of the sections in many entries is "[[#Goofs|Goofs]]". This may list bloopers, inconsistencies, implausible actions, anachronisms, etc. in the movie. While some people find enjoyment in searching for these errors, to others, the entries listed can often be overly pedantic and missing the point{{Citation needed}} (a problem that can often afflict sites that rely on users to provide their content). The comic makes fun of this with several goofs that simply point out differences between something in the movie and reality; but since the movie is fiction (in this case, a science fiction film that includes a space detective, a cybernetic dog, blimp drones, and a hologram kissing scene), one can say that these "goofs" might simply be more differences between the movie world and our own.

In the first goof, a named street doesn't actually exist in the city in which the movie is set. Unless the address is important to the plot (Manhattan has a number of streets with well-known characters - for example, the main theatre district is on Broadway, Fifth Avenue is a major shopping district, and Wall Street is known for large financial institutions), screenwriters can and do make up street names. It might actually be expedient to 'rename' a setting in many cases, to avoid issues such as fans showing up at said street and harassing the residents.

In the second example, they point out that there's no harpoon store at the location where the characters obtain a harpoon in the movie, and the nearest actual harpoon store doesn't have a display window. Movies take liberties with details like this for plot expediency, and is not considered a goof. Manhattan does not appear to have ''any'' notable harpoon stores, with or without the kind of frontage described.

In the third example, the background of a scene is of an apartment in Downtown Vancouver (a cheap and popular filming location that frequently stands in for other cities). The goof points out that the real-life apartment does not belong to the character who supposedly lives in it. Fictional movie characters do not exist in reality{{Citation needed}}, and many scenes are set in fictional locations that are completely separate from their real-life filming locations. As such, this is only a "goof" if the scene is taken entirely literally.

The title text describes an actual anachronism. The film is set in 2018, but there's a billboard for the movie ''{{w|Avengers: Age of Ultron}}'', which came out in 2015, while the next Avengers film, ''{{w|Avengers: Infinity War}}'', came out in 2018. Assuming the movie was filmed before 2018, the filmmakers wouldn't have known what films would be current at the time it would be released, and certainly not the artwork they'd be using to promote them. They could have chosen to set it during the time of initial filming, but again, unless the specific date is significant to the plot, it's common to set (or rather, assume) a film takes place about the same time it's released. Generic advertisements for fictional (or {{w|Last Action Hero|parody}}) films might be put over egregiously obvious existing material, physically or in post-production editing, as might references to major brands – perhaps replaced by those agreed with from {{w|product placement}} partners.

The title text also mentions the possibility of a self-reference – the billboard could be for this film itself since it's being released at the same time it's set. This assertion that {{w|Blazing Saddles|in-universe self-reference}} is plausible for a movie production is likely another example of the goof's writer failing to understand the basic "premise of fiction". Most movies do not exist within the fictional world they portray,{{Citation needed}} and many audiences would find self-reference to be a far greater obstacle to suspending disbelief than an ad for the wrong Avengers movie.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An excerpt from an Internet Movie Database web page showing a list of goofs from a film. Each item has some small illegible text below it, which on the real IMDb would say something like "7 of 72 found this interesting | Share this". The first and third items have a faint yellow-tinted background. The third item is only partially visible at the bottom of the "screen".]
:[Heading:]
:'''Goofs (78)'''
:[List:]
:The space detective's office is on Chestnut Ave, but Lower Manhattan has no street by that name. Agent Glennifer pursues the cybernetic dog onto what is clearly Ludlow Street.
:The agents destroy the blimp drones in Union Square with harpoons from a store display rack. The nearest harpoon store is several blocks away and has no outdoor displays.
:The apartment in the background of the hologram kissing scene actually exists in downtown Vancouver. We called the owners, who confirmed they had no residents named [...]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Sometimes the IMDB "Goofs" section really seems to struggle with the whole premise of fiction.

==Goofs==
* There is no entry for a film featuring an agent called Glennifer or a commander named Bremberly on IMDB. Randall is clearly failing to do basic research.
* On the real IMDb, each item in the Goofs section would be listed under a category such as "Errors in geography" (which might apply to the three goofs listed in the main cartoon) or "Anachronisms" (which might apply to the goof in the title text). However, no such category is displayed here.
* On real Goofs pages, the information below each entry includes a public feedback listing (X of Y found this interesting) and a link entitled "Share this". In the comic, only unintelligible squiggles are included in their place, which really breaks the immersion of the purported "webpage". Of course, on a real IMDb page, all of the text would also be in the Verdana font, not Randall's handwriting.
* The comic features two entries with a yellow background, which is impossible. On IMDb, entries alternate between having white and gray backgrounds and only turn yellow when the mouse hovers over them.
* On IMDb, the number of goofs is located in a navigation box between the header and the goofs list. In the comic, the number is placed in the header, and there is no navigation box at all.
* A similar Goofs section exists in the [[explain xkcd]] wiki's page for this comic, [[2623: Goofs]], but it fails even more evidently to recreate the look of IMDb's Goofs page. Additionally, the last entry is recursive, which is clearly unprofessional.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Fiction]]

2620: Health Data

2022-05-18T08:18:36Z

TV4Fun: Add pothole

{{comic
| number = 2620
| date = May 16, 2022
| title = Health Data
| image = health_data.png
| titletext = Donate now to help us find a cure for causality. No one should have to suffer through events because of other events.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A UNIQUE SEQUENCE OF PAST EVENTS YIELDING FURTHER INFORMATION IF INVESTIGATED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] is at [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail's]] office receiving examination or test results, but her statements are frustratingly generic, and entirely useless. She says that his "numbers" have revealed many "measurements" and "variables" but doesn't specify what they are. In response to being asked whether that is bad, she ominously says that variables are the number one risk of "outcomes." This is obvious{{Citation needed}}, and therefore unhelpful, since every outcome is the product of some set of variables. Additionally, outcomes can be good, bad, or neutral, so it does not address the question. Doctor Ponytail further states that the past is "a big contributor to" the future, a similarly [[703: Honor Societies|tautological]] statement, as Cueball implies by asking whether that is just {{w|causality}}. The doctor replies that causality is the leading cause of death, which is also so tautological as to be meaningless though technically correct.

Cueball tries to cut to the root of the issue by asking his chances of survival. Ponytail asks whether Cueball has a family history, but rather than asking for a history of specific illnesses, she is merely asking whether he has any family history at all. Her apparent concern on discovering that he does is presumably due to the fact that everyone who has a family history dies, and therefore she sees this as a negative thing. However, this is not medically informative, since everyone has some kind of family history (whether they personally know anything of it or not) and everyone eventually dies.{{Citation needed}}

The comic is likely a comment on the impenetrability of some medical diagnoses, where high levels of jargon and non-contextualized statistics, combined with a lot of hedging language, can leave patients none the wiser about their prospects or the relative merits of various courses of treatment. Similarly, it could be reflecting on the effects of {{w|availability bias}} and the {{w|base rate fallacy}} when medical practitioners are deriving diagnoses, treatment options, and similar conclusions from medical records designed to highlight the information necessary to diagnose specific well-understood illnesses. It may also be making fun of poorly defined health statistics: statistics for the [https://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-03-poisoning-unintentional-death.html leading causes of accidental death in the United States], for example, typically cite 'poisoning' as the number one cause, even though poisoning other than drug overdoses is actually quite rare. The comic takes vague statistics to the extreme, citing 'causality' as the leading cause of death.

The title text continues the joke, suggesting that researchers are searching for a cure for causality, which is absurd and inconceivable.

The comic as a whole is reminiscent of [[830: Genetic Analysis]] and [[1840: Genetic Testing Results]] (particularly the title text of the latter), as the information given by the doctor in all three is self-evident and useless as a result.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Doctor Ponytail are talking to each other. Cueball is sitting on an examination table and Doctor Ponytail, in a doctor's coat, is looking down and reading from a clipboard with some illegible writing on it.]
:Doctor Ponytail: I'm taking a look at your numbers, and it doesn't look good.
:Doctor Ponytail: You have a lot of measurements. Quite a few variables.

:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail looks up at Cueball.]
:Cueball: Is that... bad?
:Doctor Ponytail: Variables are the #1 risk factor for outcomes.
:Doctor Ponytail: The past is a big contributor to the future.

:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail puts her arm with the clipboard down.]
:Cueball: Isn't that just causality?
:Doctor Ponytail: Causality is the leading cause of death in this country.

:[Same setting.]
:Cueball: So what are my odds?
:Doctor Ponytail: Do you have a family history?
:Cueball: Of what?
:Doctor Ponytail: Just, in general.
:Cueball: ...Yes?
:Doctor Ponytail: Oh no.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2620: Health Data

2022-05-18T08:13:08Z

TV4Fun:

{{comic
| number = 2620
| date = May 16, 2022
| title = Health Data
| image = health_data.png
| titletext = Donate now to help us find a cure for causality. No one should have to suffer through events because of other events.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A UNIQUE SEQUENCE OF PAST EVENTS YIELDING FURTHER INFORMATION IF INVESTIGATED - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] is at [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail's]] office receiving examination or test results, but her statements are frustratingly generic, and entirely useless. She says that his "numbers" have revealed many "measurements" and "variables" but doesn't specify what they are. In response to being asked whether that is bad, she ominously says that variables are the number one risk of "outcomes." This is obvious{{Citation needed}}, and therefore unhelpful, since every outcome is the product of some set of variables. Additionally, outcomes can be good, bad, or neutral, so it does not address the question. Doctor Ponytail further states that the past is "a big contributor to" the future, a similarly {{w|Tautology (logic)|tautological}} statement, as Cueball implies by asking whether that is just {{w|causality}}. The doctor replies that causality is the leading cause of death, which is also so tautological as to be meaningless though technically correct.

Cueball tries to cut to the root of the issue by asking his chances of survival. Ponytail asks whether Cueball has a family history, but rather than asking for a history of specific illnesses, she is merely asking whether he has any family history at all. Her apparent concern on discovering that he does is presumably due to the fact that everyone who has a family history dies, and therefore she sees this as a negative thing. However, this is not medically informative, since everyone has some kind of family history (whether they personally know anything of it or not) and everyone eventually dies.{{Citation needed}}

The comic is likely a comment on the impenetrability of some medical diagnoses, where high levels of jargon and non-contextualized statistics, combined with a lot of hedging language, can leave patients none the wiser about their prospects or the relative merits of various courses of treatment. Similarly, it could be reflecting on the effects of {{w|availability bias}} and the {{w|base rate fallacy}} when medical practitioners are deriving diagnoses, treatment options, and similar conclusions from medical records designed to highlight the information necessary to diagnose specific well-understood illnesses. It may also be making fun of poorly defined health statistics: statistics for the [https://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-03-poisoning-unintentional-death.html leading causes of accidental death in the United States], for example, typically cite 'poisoning' as the number one cause, even though poisoning other than drug overdoses is actually quite rare. The comic takes vague statistics to the extreme, citing 'causality' as the leading cause of death.

The title text continues the joke, suggesting that researchers are searching for a cure for causality, which is absurd and inconceivable.

The comic as a whole is reminiscent of [[830: Genetic Analysis]] and [[1840: Genetic Testing Results]] (particularly the title text of the latter), as the information given by the doctor in all three is self-evident and useless as a result.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Doctor Ponytail are talking to each other. Cueball is sitting on an examination table and Doctor Ponytail, in a doctor's coat, is looking down and reading from a clipboard with some illegible writing on it.]
:Doctor Ponytail: I'm taking a look at your numbers, and it doesn't look good.
:Doctor Ponytail: You have a lot of measurements. Quite a few variables.

:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail looks up at Cueball.]
:Cueball: Is that... bad?
:Doctor Ponytail: Variables are the #1 risk factor for outcomes.
:Doctor Ponytail: The past is a big contributor to the future.

:[Same setting but Doctor Ponytail puts her arm with the clipboard down.]
:Cueball: Isn't that just causality?
:Doctor Ponytail: Causality is the leading cause of death in this country.

:[Same setting.]
:Cueball: So what are my odds?
:Doctor Ponytail: Do you have a family history?
:Cueball: Of what?
:Doctor Ponytail: Just, in general.
:Cueball: ...Yes?
:Doctor Ponytail: Oh no.

{{comic discussion}}

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

2616: Deep End

2022-05-07T06:56:27Z

TV4Fun: {{REF: Unsourced}}

{{comic
| number = 2616
| date = May 6, 2022
| title = Deep End
| image = deep_end.png
| titletext = Hey! No running in the back-arc basin!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This article needs additional citations for verification. Unsourced articles may be given an espresso and a free lolcat. - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Pools, like oceans, contain water. This comic produces a schematic for the former, derived from science about the latter. On Earth, the surface consists of tectonic plates which move around. In this comic, [[Randall]] equates Swimming pools with {{w|plate tectonics}}, to explain how deep ends form in said pools. Unfortunately, swimming pools aren't really formed by plate tectonics. {{Citation needed}}

A {{w|swimming pool}} is a pool of water, typically used for swimming. Most of these have a deep end and a shallow end. This is intentional, likely to accommodate for new swimmers to have somewhere to stand while accommodating for more confident swimmers for whom the floor would get in the way{{citation needed}}.

{{w|Subduction}}, a geological process in which one plate slips beneath another and is forced down into the mantle, is shown here as the reason swimming pools have deep ends. This usually takes place between continental plates and oceanic plates, although it could happen with two oceanic plates. The comic depicts the former; an oceanic plate subducting under a continental one.

On the left of the image is the shallowest water in the pool, about the height of [[Megan]], excluding her head. Going to the right from there, the pool floor (Representing the oceanic plate) begins to curve downwards towards the subduction zone. As the floor goes down, the water gets deeper. In the deepest area, it is labeled "Deep End"

At the bottom of the deep end, there is a curve and a deposit on the plate/pool floor. This is likely sediment buildup from waterborne debris that has settled there. Under the sediment, there are some small bubbles of trapped water. This implies that the oceanic plate is moving left-to-right across the image. Some of the bubbles are dragged along by the oceanic plate, while others float up through the continental plate until they reach the "Splash zone".

A splash zone is an area of a waterpark with water being sprayed around, allowing people to get wet without the need to get into the pool {{citation needed}}. In this comic, the splash zone is actually geysers, fed by the bubbles of water from the subduction. In reality, subduction zones do create similar effects: water moving up from subducting plates is the origin of many {{W|volcanic arc|volcanic arcs}}. Volcanic systems sometimes include features such as the geysers depicted in the comic.

While it may seem a little far-fetched, [https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/thirsty-mantle-subduction-zones-swallow-more-water-thought/ subduction zones do actually swallow large amounts of water]. This causes a lot of interesting effects, like new types of rocks and other stuff. These are probably explained in [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703714002610 this scientific paper], although I'm not 100% sure as I didn't actually read past the title.

The title text refers to {{W|back-arc basin|back-arc basins}}, zones of depression that sometimes occur slightly beyond volcanic arcs due to a rift in the tectonic plate. The ban on running in this area likely has more to do with its proximity to the pool area than any intrinsic danger in back-arc basins {{Citation needed}}.

Other comics that mention unusual tectonic plate motion include [[1388: Subduction License]] and [[1874: Geologic Faults]]

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

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

2616: Deep End

2022-05-07T06:52:53Z

TV4Fun: Citations needed

{{comic
| number = 2616
| date = May 6, 2022
| title = Deep End
| image = deep_end.png
| titletext = Hey! No running in the back-arc basin!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This article needs additional citations for verification. Unsourced articles may be given an espresso and a free lolcat. - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Pools, like oceans, contain water. This comic produces a schematic for the former, derived from science about the latter. On Earth, the surface consists of tectonic plates which move around. In this comic, [[Randall]] equates Swimming pools with {{w|plate tectonics}}, to explain how deep ends form in said pools. Unfortunately, swimming pools aren't really formed by plate tectonics. {{Citation needed}}

A {{w|swimming pool}} is a pool of water, typically used for swimming. Most of these have a deep end and a shallow end. This is intentional, likely to accommodate for new swimmers to have somewhere to stand while accommodating for more confident swimmers for whom the floor would get in the way{{citation needed}}.

{{w|Subduction}}, a geological process in which one plate slips beneath another and is forced down into the mantle, is shown here as the reason swimming pools have deep ends. This usually takes place between continental plates and oceanic plates, although it could happen with two oceanic plates. The comic depicts the former; an oceanic plate subducting under a continental one.

On the left of the image is the shallowest water in the pool, about the height of [[Megan]], excluding her head. Going to the right from there, the pool floor (Representing the oceanic plate) begins to curve downwards towards the subduction zone. As the floor goes down, the water gets deeper. In the deepest area, it is labeled "Deep End"

At the bottom of the deep end, there is a curve and a deposit on the plate/pool floor. This is likely sediment buildup from waterborne debris that has settled there. Under the sediment, there are some small bubbles of trapped water. This implies that the oceanic plate is moving left-to-right across the image. Some of the bubbles are dragged along by the oceanic plate, while others float up through the continental plate until they reach the "Splash zone".

A splash zone is an area of a waterpark with water being sprayed around, allowing people to get wet without the need to get into the pool {{citation needed}}. In this comic, the splash zone is actually geysers, fed by the bubbles of water from the subduction. In reality, subduction zones do create similar effects: water moving up from subducting plates is the origin of many {{W|volcanic arc|volcanic arcs}}. Volcanic systems sometimes include features such as the geysers depicted in the comic.

While it may seem a little far-fetched, [https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/thirsty-mantle-subduction-zones-swallow-more-water-thought/ subduction zones do actually swallow large amounts of water]. This causes a lot of interesting effects, like new types of rocks and other stuff. These are probably explained in [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016703714002610 this scientific paper], although I'm not 100% sure as I didn't actually read past the title.

The title text refers to {{W|back-arc basin|back-arc basins}}, zones of depression that sometimes occur slightly beyond volcanic arcs due to a rift in the tectonic plate. The ban on running in this area likely has more to do with its proximity to the pool area than any intrinsic danger in back-arc basins.

Other comics that mention unusual tectonic plate motion include [[1388: Subduction License]] and [[1874: Geologic Faults]]

==Transcript==

{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

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

2614: 2

2022-05-03T00:02:15Z

TV4Fun:

{{comic
| number = 2614
| date = May 2, 2022
| title = 2
| image = 2.png
| titletext = It's like sigma summation notation, except instead of summing the argument over all values of i, you 2 the argument over all values of 2.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 6b6t.org - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This demonstrates the different ways in which the number 2 can be typeset in various scientific fields.

The dotted box represents any character (presumably a letter or bigram of letters). The number 2 preceding this character is a coefficient in regular math (algebra). The number 2 as a superscript means take the second power (i.e., square whatever precedes it) in physics or regular math, while in normal text a superscript 2 is usually used to indicate a footnote. The number 2 as a subscript can be used, in chemistry, to show how many atoms of a particular element are present in a molecule (e.g., H2O). A subscript 2;2 shows the second element on the second row of a matrix. The number 2 in parenthesis would normally be the argument to a function (e.g., f(2)), but in group theory the number 2 in parenthesis could indicate a cyclic subgroup or ideal generated by two or a special case of cycle notation for elements of symmetry groups used to mean an element that keeps 2 fixed{{citation needed}}. A symbol centred underneath another symbol is normally reserved for doing summations, where the big symbol is Σ, or some other operation applied to a sequence of numbers; it does not make sense to have a single number there, as indicated in the alt text. The prepended super and subscripts are often used in nuclear chemistry, with the superscript representing mass number and the subscript representing atomic number.

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

[An apparently scientific expression:]
2 [superscript:] 2 [subscript:] 2 [normal text:] an empty box [superscript:] 2 [subscript:] 2;2 [normal text:] (2) [beneath the last 2:] 2

{{comic discussion}}

2614: 2

2022-05-03T00:01:54Z

TV4Fun: Add explanation of prepended 2's.

{{comic
| number = 2614
| date = May 2, 2022
| title = 2
| image = 2.png
| titletext = It's like sigma summation notation, except instead of summing the argument over all values of i, you 2 the argument over all values of 2.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 6b6t.org - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This demonstrates the different ways in which the number 2 can be typeset in various scientific fields.

The dotted box represents any character (presumably a letter or bigram of letters). The number 2 preceding this character is a coefficient in regular math (algebra). The number 2 as a superscript means take the second power (i.e., square whatever precedes it) in physics or regular math, while in normal text a superscript 2 is usually used to indicate a footnote. The number 2 as a subscript can be used, in chemistry, to show how many atoms of a particular element are present in a molecule (e.g., H2O). A subscript 2;2 shows the second element on the second row of a matrix. The number 2 in parenthesis would normally be the argument to a function (e.g., f(2)), but in group theory the number 2 in parenthesis could indicate a cyclic subgroup or ideal generated by two or a special case of cycle notation for elements of symmetry groups used to mean an element that keeps 2 fixed{{citation needed}}. A symbol centred underneath another symbol is normally reserved for doing summations, where the big symbol is Σ, or some other operation applied to a sequence of numbers; it does not make sense to have a single number there, as indicated in the alt text. The prepended super and subscripts are often used in nuclear chemistry, with the superscript representing mass nber and the subscript representing atomic number.

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

[An apparently scientific expression:]
2 [superscript:] 2 [subscript:] 2 [normal text:] an empty box [superscript:] 2 [subscript:] 2;2 [normal text:] (2) [beneath the last 2:] 2

{{comic discussion}}

2489: Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special

2022-04-29T21:21:03Z

TV4Fun:

{{comic
| number = 2489
| date = July 14, 2021
| title = Bad Map Projection: The Greenland Special
| image = bad_map_projection_the_greenland_special.png
| titletext = The projection for those who think the Mercator projection gives people a distorted idea of how big Greenland is, but a very accurate idea of how big it SHOULD be.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the fourth comic in the series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]] displaying Bad Map Projection #299: The Greenland Special. It came one and a half year after the third [[2256: Bad Map Projection: South America]] (#358).

{{W|Map projection}}s are different methods of representing the curved surface of the Earth on a two-dimensional map. There's no perfect way to do so. Because the Earth is not flat, any 2D map projection of it will always distort in a way the spherical reality, and a map projection that is useful for one aspect (like navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) will not be so for all the others. Typically a projection can represent only distances, areas ''or'' angles correctly, or at best imperfectly compromise two of these. The map choice should reflect the purpose you need to put it to, as it will necessarily distort (perhaps by twisting, skewing and/or resizing) those aspects it was not designed to show intact.

One such projection is the {{w|Mercator projection}}, which is designed so that all north-south lines of longitude are parallel to each other and all {{w|rhumb line}}s are consistent, which is most important in the time of map-based navigation. In reality, apart from the direct east-west directions, all the imaginary straight lines eventually meet at the poles which - even if they look parallel. The apparent distance between lines of latitude at the more extreme latitudes expands and the vicinity around each pole can never be drawn, as Mercator maps show geographic features plotted over ever larger map areas and distances than they should, for those nearer the poles, compared to those more equatorial. It is not possible to accurately compare the sizes of features across the globe using this projection, although the distortions can be effectively ignored for more local maps that do not plot a significant area of the globe (other than ''very'' close to the poles, historically not an issue) and along or between any given narrow strips of latitude away from the equator the comparison is between near equal scalings.

Greenland is a large {{Citation needed}} island in the Arctic ocean and one of the nearest pieces of land to the north pole. The Mercator projection shows it to be significantly larger than it really is, compared to equator-straddling features such as Africa. It is therefore one of the most obvious inaccuracies of Mercator's map, if used (e.g.) in the classroom to teach physical geography (which perhaps would best use a representation that was consistent to area) rather than navigation.

The {{w|Equal-area_map|equal-area}} projections such as {{w|Mollweide_projection|Mollweide}} or {{w|Tobler_hyperelliptical_projection|Tobler Hyperelliptical}}, the latter of which seems to extremely closely match the majority of the features evident upon the hand-drawn map, ensure that shapes contain the same relative proportion of area as they would upon the original spherical (or {{w|Spheroid#Oblate_spheroids|slightly spheroidal}}) surface, across all latitudes, but only by bending the directions and rescaling the distances ever more drastically the closer to the map edge (the anti-meridian to that the map is centred upon) you go. Unlike the Mercator projection, you ''can'' show the poles (as the extreme upper and lower limits of the rim) from an equatorially-centred view, and every point of the Earth is given one definite position (or two, where they lie exactly upon the crossing point between the left/right extremes of the map).

This comic's projection has retained this singular inaccuracy as a deliberate feature, though avoiding all other such inaccuracies of the Mercator projection by using a different projection elsewhere that is designed explicitly to avoid them. For example, a traditional Mercator map would show other polar areas such as Antarctica, southern South America, or even New Zealand as larger, but this map does not.

Although it may not be obvious, due to no land-masses being normally shown at/close-enough to the North Pole, the Mercatorish Greenland actually extends beyond the Elliptic map's northern limits into positions that do not even ''exist'' in reality - it does not even 'wrap around and over' the pole (like a bad toupée) but passes through it and the arbitrary back-edge meridian line and into purely imaginary space that does not exist upon the surface of the Earthly sphere. (For a flipped comparison, the lower 'curve' of Antarctica is not its coast, but merely the map's 'wrap-around' edge where a further step would have you stepping back onto the continent at a second point of this nominal edge. The true coast of Antarctica is only the rough upper edge, passing between the two points which each represent the one arbitrary 'wrap-around' coordinate that is opposite-but-adjacent on the map's oval edging, i.e. at ±180°E/W, but which otherwise has no particularly special quality 'on the ground'.)

The title text suggests that this map was created for people who believe Greenland should be larger. Whether these people believe it should be physically increased in size in some manner or should simply receive a greater share of the attention is unclear. One method for increasing its size would be to increase the coverage of its ice cap, which is currently decreasing in size due to increases in temperature. However, increasing Greenland's ice coverage to the size it appears on a Mercator map would involve covering the entire island and surrounding ocean with ice, which would be very problematic for Greenland's population{{citation needed}}.

==Transcript==
:Bad Map Projection #299:
:<big>The Greenland Special</big>
:Equal-area map preserves size everywhere except Greenland, which uses the Mercator projection.
:[A drawn world map, perhaps the Tobler hyperelliptical projection, except for Greenland which is of a typical Mercator appearance and sized at almost the size of Africa, to almost entirely fill the space between Canada and Iceland. It extends up well beyond the nominal location of the North Pole, while its southern tip has an apparent latitude comparable to that of Spain or the vicinity of Virginia.]
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Bad Map Projections]]

2599: Spacecraft Debris Odds Ratio

2022-03-29T20:39:17Z

TV4Fun: Ref: Unsourced

{{comic
| number = 2599
| date = March 28, 2022
| title = Spacecraft Debris Odds Ratio
| image = spacecraft_debris_odds_ratio.png
| titletext = You say this daily walk will reduce my risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 30%, but also increase my risk of death by bear attack by 300%? That's a 280% increased! I'm not a sucker; I'm staying inside.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EVENS RATIO - Explain how the 280% from the title text comes about. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a misunderstanding of statistics very similar to that of [[1252: Increased Risk]]. It explains that going outside for more than 5 hours significantly increases your risk of head injury from falling spacecraft, and advises to limit outside activity to avoid this risk.

However, since the odds of being hit in the head by (any part of) a falling spacecraft are astronomically low to begin with, {{Citation needed}} quadrupling it or more still results in a negligible probability. The horizontal error bars for times greater than 4 hours are marked with asterisks to indicate they are significantly different from the reference value at 0 hours, as indeed those error bars don't overlap the vertical line for the 0-hours reference value. The graph originally referred to "hours spent outdoors" but later was edited to specify "hours spent outdoors per day" (as opposed to, for example, hours spent outdoors in one's lifetime).

{{w|Error bar}}s are graphical representations of the variability of data and used on graphs to indicate the error or uncertainty in a reported measurement.

Presenting the data by hour brackets hides the data distribution inside each bracket. If the data were presented hour by hour, and not by groups of hours, they may show a different threshold of increased risk or no threshold (odds ratio could be linear).

The graph and error bars are based on a {{w|Monte Carlo Method|Monte Carlo simulation}}, a type of computational algorithm that uses repeated random sampling to obtain the likelihood of a range of results of occurring; see, for instance, this article about [https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/monte-carlo-simulation Monte Carlo simulations]. Additionally, this may indicate that the entire study was conducted via a monte carlo simulation and that no real data was collected adding to the absurdity of the claim that more time spent outside could lead to an increased risk of head injuries due to falling space craft.

The specific reference to falling spacecraft is likely inspired by events happening around the time of this comics release (March 2022). Around a month before this was posted, the head of the Russian space agency, {{w|Roscosmos}}, warned that sanctions against Russia (mostly those over the {{w|2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine}}) could result in the {{w|International Space Station}} crashing. Since the Russian section of the space station is the one that provides propulsion (although it is built to rely on the power generated by the other sections), this was taken seriously and as of when this was posted, {{w|NASA}} was trying to come up with alternative stabilization strategies in case the situation worsened. There was also a recent [https://www-uol-com-br.translate.goog/tilt/noticias/redacao/2022/03/17/parte-do-foguete-spacex-e-encontrada-por-morador-do-pr.htm?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=pt-BR&_x_tr_pto=wapp report] of some 600 kg space rocket debris found in Brazil.

The title text makes a similar joke. While the increase in chances of death by a bear attack are greater when going outside than the decrease in chances of death by cardiovascular disease, by getting out to exercise, it is incorrect to combine them in this way, since cardiovascular disease has a much higher starting chance of death, and reducing it by 30% has a much more significant effect on overall life expectancy than quadrupling the very very small chance of death by bear attack.

The "280% increase" of the title text is also an error, though perhaps not for reasons that are obvious at first (for instance, the correct calculation is not "300% − 30% = 270%"). To "increase by 300%" means multiplying the probability by (1 + 3.0) = 4.0, while to "decrease by 30%" means multiplying by (1 − 0.3) = 0.7. Combining these means multiplying by both, for an overall change of 4.0 × 0.7 = 2.8, or 280%. However, this result means the risk has increased ''to'' 280% of its old value, not ''by'' 280%. And in any case, it is ''still'' not valid to simply combine two changes in wildly different risks like this.

==Transcript==
:[A chart is shown. Above the chart there is a heading, with a subheading below it:]
:Odds ratio for head injuries from falling spacecraft debris
:(Monte Carlo Simulation)

:[The chart is rectangular with the X-axis labels above the chart with numbers from 1 to 5. These are places over vertical lines. The first at 1 is black, the other four are light gray. There are three smaller light gray ticks between each set of lines, and one on either side of the first and last. The distance between lines gets smaller and smaller towards the right, probably logarithmic.]
:X-axis: 1 2 3 4 5

:[The Y-axis is not scaled; there are no ticks or lines. Instead it just gives five labels from top to bottom. Above those labels there is an arrow pointing to the top one with a label above explaning the axis.]
:Hours spent outdoors
:Y-axis:
::0 (ref)
::1
::2-4
::5-10
::11+

:[Aligned with each of these five divisions of the Y-axis there is a dot. The top one is placed on the solid line under 1 as a reference point. The other four dots all have long error bars, with the dots at the center of these. The second dot is a bit to the left of the solid line, with the error bar going almost to the left edge of the graph and halfway to the first light gray line to the right. The third dot is located halfway between the solid and the first light gray line with the error bar just crossing the solid line, and almost reaching the gray line. The fourth dot is about a third way between the first and second of the gray lines, with the error bar crossing both these lines. The fifth and last dot is just past the second gray line, with the error bar crossing both that, going more than half toward the first gray line, and also just past the third gray line. On the same height as the two bottom dots, there are asterisks just right of the edge of the graph.]
:<nowiki>*</nowiki>
:<nowiki>*</nowiki>

:[Below the panel there is a caption:]
:Our new study suggests that spending more than 5 hours outside significantly increases your risk of head injury from spacecraft debris, so try to limit outdoor activities to 4 hours or less.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Statistics]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2585: Rounding

2022-02-24T03:42:19Z

TV4Fun:

{{comic
| number = 2585
| date = February 23, 2022
| title = Rounding
| image = rounding.png
| titletext = I've developed a novel propulsion system powered by loss of precision in unit conversion.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT moving at ᛟ smoots per millibarn attometer (rounded) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is about the follies of unit conversion. Normally, when you say you can ride a bike at 45 {{w|Miles per hour|mph}} if you round, you mean that you can ride at a speed between 44.5 and 45.5, something most people are incapable of doing {{Citation needed}}. The joke is that he actually means if you go through a extremely long chain of rounding imprecisely, starting at 17 mph (which is not an improbable speed for an ordinary road-bike and a reasonably fit rider), you can get to the value of 45.

The title text furthers the joke by taking the imprecise rounding literally, implying that this increase could actually be used/abused as a novel form of propulsion, but it isn't clarified for what type of vehicle. It could be an engine for ground or air travel, but contains the implication that it is trying to 'trick physics' similar to the {{w|Alcubierre drive|theoretical 'warp drive'}} conceived to propel interstellar spacecraft at otherwise impossible speeds.

Randall also uses some esoteric units here: fathoms/sec, furlongs/min, and furlongs/hr. A {{w|fathom}} is a unit of length, usually used to measure the depth of water. Fathoms/sec could potentially be used to measure the speed of a submersible, but not the speed of a bike. A {{w|furlong}} is also a unit of length, but is mostly obsolete except in horse racing. It is possible that furlongs/min or furlongs/hour could be used to measure the speed of a horse. {{w|Knot (unit)|Knot}}s (nautical mile per hour) are a standard unit of measuring speed, but are typically used for measuring speed for airplanes or ships, not speed on land.

{| class="wikitable"
! step !! mph !! {{w|Metre per second|m/s}} !! {{w|Knot (unit)|knots}} !! {{w|fathom}}s/sec !! {{w|furlong}}s/min !! {{w|Kilometres per hour|km/h}} !! furlongs/hour !! {{w|yard}}s/sec
|-
! 1
| 17 || 7.59968 || || || || || ||
|-
! 2
| 17.9 || 8 || 15.5508 || || || || ||
|-
! 3
| 18.41 || || 16 || 4.50083 || || || ||
|-
! 4
| 20.45 || || || 5 || 2.72727 || || ||
|-
! 5
| 22.5 || || || 5.50001 || 3 || || ||
|-
! 6
| 24.55 || || || 6 || || 39.5021 || ||
|-
! 7
| 24.85 || || 21.5983 || || || 40 || ||
|-
! 8
| 25.32 || || 22 || || || 40.744 || ||
|-
! 9
| 25.48 || || || || || 41 || 203.809 ||
|-
! 10
| 25.5001 || || || || || || 204 ||
|-
! 11
| 26 || 11.623 || || || || || ||
|-
! 12
| 26.84 || 12 || || || 3.57909 || || ||
|-
! 13
| 30 || || || || 4 || || || 14.6667
|-
! 14
| 30.68 || || || 7.5 || || || || 15
|-
! 15
| 32.73 || 14.6304 || || 8 || || || ||
|-
! 16
| 33.554 || 15 || || || || || ||
|-
! 17
| 34 || || || || 4.53332 || || ||
|-
! 18
| 37.5 || || 32.5867 || || 5 || || ||
|-
! 19
| 37.98 || || 33 || || || || || 18.5659
|-
! 20
| 38.86 || || || 9.5 || || || || 19
|-
! 21
| 40.91 || || 35.549 || 10 || || || ||
|-
! 22
| 41.43 || || 36 || || 5.52373 || || ||
|-
! 23
| 45.0001 || || || || 6 || || ||
|}

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

:[Cueball, wearing a bike helmet and standing next to a bike, is speaking to Megan.]

:Cueball: I can ride my bike at 45 MPH.
:Cueball: If you round.

:[To their right and proceeding down the rest of the comic, arrows show conversions from one measure into another unit.]

:17 MPH
:8 meters/sec
:16 knots
:5 fathoms/sec
:3 furlongs/min
:6 fathoms/sec
:40 KPH
:22 knots
:41 KPH
:204 furlongs/hr
:26 MPH
:12 M/S
:4 furlongs/min
:15 yards/sec
:8 fathoms/sec
:15 M/S
:34 MPH
:5 furlongs/min
:33 knots
:19 yards/sec
:10 fathoms/sec
:36 knots
:6 furlongs/min
:45 MPH

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

2580: Rest and Fluids

2022-02-13T03:40:31Z

TV4Fun: Add back tasteful and funny citation needed joke

{{comic
| number = 2580
| date = February 11, 2022
| title = Rest and Fluids
| image = rest_and_fluids.png
| titletext = Remember not to take it easy. Put a hot washcloth on your forehead, remain standing, and breathe dry air while taking lots of histamines. You need to give your body a chance to get sick again.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a HYDROPHILIC EDITOR - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Black Hat]] congratulates [[Cueball]] on his recovery from some type of illness or injury. Common advice when someone is sick is to get plenty of rest and drink lots of water, to aid recovery and to ensure they don't ignore various common causes of fluid loss.

However, being Black Hat, he targets Cueball (who has been restored to full health) to tell him that he now should do the opposite of this. While a healthy person should get a reasonable amount of exercise, and should not spend excessive time in bed, Black Hat goes to an absurd extreme. He tells Cueball to stop drinking water entirely and engage in an excessive amount of activity — in this case, by running on a {{w|treadmill}} to the point of physical collapse. The caption explains this, saying that it is "important" to tell people who have recently recovered from sickness to stop resting and drinking fluids, clearly asserting that these behaviours are for the exclusive purpose of healing, and that they are useless (or even counter-productive) for someone who is now healthy.

(Obviously, because {{w|dehydration}} and over-exerting yourself is generally bad, people should not take this advice literally. They should gradually resume normal activities, including exercise, in safe amounts.)

The title-text expands on this backward line of thinking by suggesting to do the opposite of common remedies for various usual remedies: a hot cloth, standing, breathing parched air, taking {{w|histamines}} (this is as opposed to reducing a fever with a cool compress, resting in bed, inhaling hot water vapours and using {{w|antihistamine}}s). Done inadvisedly, each of these can make one ill. Needless to say, this is the opposite of what most people want to achieve with their health. {{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Black Hat are talking to each other. Black Hat has his arms outstreched.]
:Black Hat: So glad you're feeling better!
:Black Hat: Be sure to get dehydrated and run on a treadmill until you black out!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Once people aren't sick anymore, it's important to remind them to stop resting and drinking fluids.
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]

2580: Rest and Fluids

2022-02-11T20:32:07Z

TV4Fun: This is a much better CN

2577: Sea Chase

2022-02-08T01:48:06Z

TV4Fun: Needs a citation here

{{comic
| number = 2577
| date = February 4, 2022
| title = Sea Chase
| image = sea_chase.png
| titletext = There are two rules on this ship: Never gaze back into the projection abyss, and never touch the red button labeled DYMAXION.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a DYMAXION ABYSS. Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

In this comic, Randall returns to one of his pet subjects: [[977: Map Projections|map projections]]. Unusually {{Citation needed}}, this time it is from the perspective of people living — or, in this case, sailing — upon the world that is quite literally being mapped.

Two sailing ships, of circa 18th-century design, are engaged in a close chase across the {{w|Atlantic}}, the aggressor flying the Skull and Crossbones of a stereotypical pirate vessel. It can be seen from the flags of both ships that they are tacking into the wind, the trailing ship seeming to be lighter and yet deploying more effective canvas with two active sails than the forward one can with three. The ship being chased has a plan to escape and the means to do so. At a crucial moment, [[Cueball]] is told to flip a large incongruous switch that (like several [[1620: Christmas Settings|other]] [[1763: Catcalling|artifacts]] in the xkcd universe) alters the nature of their reality.

Whereas beforehand the world is directly represented upon a simply contiguous map, the {{w|Robinson projection}}, it is now changed to one (which is actually the new reality) known as {{w|Goode homolosine projection|Goode Homolosine}} in which the flattening of the world mitigates localized warping of angle, distance, and area by introducing discontinuities in relatively "unused" parts of the mapped world, such as the center of the Atlantic.

By precisely timing the change (as they cross a particular {{w|meridian}}, possibly the 40°W one), they leave the pursuer now on the wrong side of the very real gap, allowing the pursued ship to escape whatever fate they were trying to avoid. Though there is still an oceanic connection, it requires sailing down the edge towards the tropics, rounding this particular rent in the planet's surface, and heading back up the other side. This is vastly further than Cueball's ship needs to travel to reach (presumably) any European port in which they can safely moor.

The title text elaborates on the policies of the ship: crewmates are never to look into the "projection abyss" and to never hit the red button labeled "{{w|Dymaxion_map|DYMAXION}}."

The first rule suggests that changing the projection of physical reality produces a gap in reality — a void. This may be dangerous to gaze into or simply unnerving to crewmates, hence the rule. This may also be a reference to a well-known quote by philosopher {{w|Friedrich Nietzsche}}: “He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” See [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4363/4363-h/4363-h.htm Beyond Good and Evil at Project Gutenberg]

[[Image:Dymaxion_projection.png|thumb|300px|Dymaxion projection of the world]]

The second rule references a button that seems to do the same thing as the lever but changes the world into a {{w|Dymaxion map|Dymaxion projection}}. The Dymaxion map projects the Earth onto 20 triangles, which are typically chosen such that landmasses are contiguous while adding many discontinuities in the oceans. This would make navigating by ship in such a 2D world even more difficult than in the Goode homolosine projection. In particular, crossing the Atlantic ocean becomes impossible because of the introduction of a projection abyss from Norway to the Caribean.

The Robinson, Goode Homolosine, and Dymaxion projections have been referenced in [[977: Map Projections]].

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

:[A pirate ship flying the Skull and Crossbones is sailing after a merchant ship. Two sailors' voices come from the merchant ship.]
:Merchant ship sailor #1: They're closing in!
:Merchant ship sailor #2: Hang on, we're almost at the meridian!

:[A map of the Earth in the Robinson projection, with two red dots in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. A voice comes from the red dot further to the east.]
:Merchant ship sailor #2: ''Now!'' Throw the switch!

:[Cueball, representing merchant ship sailor #1, pulls down a giant lever switch labeled "Projection", from "Robinson" to "Goode Homolosine".]

:[A map of the Earth in the Goode Homolosine projection, with one red dot on the American side of the split and one red dot on the European side of the split.]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

2564: Sunshield

2022-01-05T17:13:48Z

TV4Fun: This article is in need of additional citations for verification.

{{comic
| number = 2564
| date = January 5, 2022
| title = Sunshield
| image = sunshield.png
| titletext = RIP the surface of Mars
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE JWST - Please continue expanding and improving the explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
JWST stands for {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}}, a space telescope launched about 2 weeks prior to publication of the comic. It has a {{w|James Webb Space Telescope sunshield|sunshield}} to protect its instrumentation from the heat of the sun and to keep them below 40 K (-233 °C/-388 °F). The sunshield was deployed the day before the comic was published. The JWST has to undergo a sequence of deployment steps to unfold parts that had to be packed for launch. This sequence has some possible points of failure that would render the very expensive space telescope useless. Thus successful steps are widely celebrated. This comic is an example of such a celebration.

Ordinary cameras use a {{w|Flash (photography)|flash}} to take pictures in low-light situations. Outer space is very dark{{Citation needed}}, so this comic posits that the JWST has a very powerful flash to compensate for this. In reality, astronomical cameras don't use flash photography -- they depend on the light either emitted by objects themselves (e.g. stars) or from nearby very bright objects (e.g. planets in the Solar System reflect light from the Sun). A flash wouldn't work because:
* It would take too long for the light of the flash to return to the telescope, and
* There would not be enough light returning, due to the scattering in all directions. There is, however, the {{w|Lunar Laser Ranging experiment}} which uses lasers, which are loosely related to flashes for photography, to measure the distance between earth and moon. Instead, mirrors and/or lenses focus the light, and long exposure times are used to collect enough light to form a decent image.

The comic assigns the sunshield a new, comical purpose of shielding the sun and earth (which is roughly in the same direction as the sun, due to the deployment at the {{w|Lagrange point|L2 Lagrange point}}) from this flash, rather than the other way around. When the camera is taking a picture, the comic shows a totally dark shadow behind the shield.

The comic also has the camera making a "click" sound. In traditional mechanical cameras, this sound comes from the {{w|Shutter (photography|shutter}} opening and closing, and digital cameras mimic this sound so the user (and subject, when human) knows when the picture is being taken. JWST won't actually click -- it doesn't have a shutter, it takes long exposurem, digital images, and in space no one can hear you click.

The telescope also tells the universe to smile for the picture. The universe doesn't have a mouth to smile with {{Citation needed}}, although there are a number of features on Solar System objects that look like faces; this is a phenomenon called {{w|pareidolia}}. The most well known is the Man in the Moon, but there are [https://www.universetoday.com/121551/faces-of-the-solar-system/ numerous others].

The title text suggests that, due to the sunshield not being angled toward Mars, its surface has been badly scarred by the flash. This implies ''incredible'' strength of the flash, perhaps to ensure the light can return from its destinations, comparable to {{tvtropes|KillSat|death-ray satellites}} in fiction.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[The James Webb Space Telescope is floating through space, a black background.]
:JWST: Okay, universe-
:JWST: Smile!

:JWST: ''Click''

:[A bright flash glows from the telescope, turning most of the panel white. The left side is blocked and kept dark by the telescope's sunshield.]

:Caption: Astronomy fact: The purpose of the JWST sunshield is to protect the Sun and the Earth from the telescope's powerful flash.

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

1902: State Borders

2022-01-01T20:34:48Z

TV4Fun:

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

==Explanation==

In this comic, graphic designers take control of the United States, but the only thing they do is to change the state and national borders, using primarily aesthetic criteria. State and national borders have generally emerged from some combination of political decisions, natural boundaries, control of natural resources, and, to some degree, from chance. As the comic implies, some borders originally resulted from surveying errors, but became encoded by law and tradition, and thus were never changed.

Despite the caption's rather blasé reaction to the graphic designers' master plan, the changes they propose could be rather tumultuous. Political boundaries are difficult to change because rewriting them places entire populations in different states or even different countries. Even within the US, changing a population from one state to another has serious implications. A different state means different laws, tax obligations, public benefits, business regulations, infrastructure support, etc. It would also mean that control of some very substantial natural resources would be transferred from one state to another. More significantly, the suggestion to cede portions of the US to Canada and Mexico would be a much bigger deal, forcing residents of those areas to either leave their homes, businesses, and communities or surrender their current nationality and apply for citizenship in another country. The joke behind the comic is that graphic designers would tend to ignore these practical concerns and pay more attention to a map looking orderly.

This comic hints at the fact that it is indeed Randall who wants to see these changes made.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Proposed change !! Explanation
|-
| Give to Canada || {{w|Minnesota}} has a small northern exclave (the {{w|Northwest Angle}}) which is sparsely populated (with only about 120 residents), and is accessible from the rest of the US only via water (the {{w| Lake of the Woods}}) or by travelling through Canada. This land being part of the US is the result of a geographic error during the original negotiations over the border, and its irregularity would naturally bother someone concerned with clean and logical boundaries. The new borders suggest giving this territory to Canada to simplify the state and national border.
|-
| This should be {{w|Wisconsin}} || {{w|Michigan}} is divided into two parts by {{w|Lake Michigan}}. The graphic designers suggest eliminating a boundary line by assigning the upper peninsula of Michigan to Wisconsin. The upper peninsula of Michigan was given to Michigan as part of a compromise to end the {{w|Toledo War}}.
|-
| Move Long Island to NJ or CT, or make it its own state || {{w|Connecticut}} and {{w|New Jersey}} are very close to each other but don't actually border, separated only a few miles by {{w|New York State}}. {{w|Long Island}} is part of New York State, which visibly juts out into the Atlantic (extending so far to the east that it gives New York a maritime border with Rhode Island) and apparently drives graphic designers crazy who see an association with New Jersey or Connecticut or even becoming its own state more logical than being a part of New York State. This would have some issues, not least of which is that Long Island contains two of {{w|New York City}}'s five boroughs ({{w|Brooklyn}} and {{w|Queens}}) and more than half the city's population.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the eastern border of New York, northern border of Massachusetts, and northern border of Connnecticut || Straighten the eastern border of New York from New York City to the southern tip of Lake Champlain, straighten the northern border of Massachusetts, and straighten the northern border of Connecticut.
|-
|-
| Align to Grid || Most of the Western states are variations on "large box", but there's something a bit irregular about them. Never fear, the Design Team has fixed it! In the process, they've also changed the border between Idaho and Montana from a natural boundary following the Continental Divide into an arbitrary squiggle.
|-
| Clean Up (Maryland/Ohio/Pennsylvania/Virginia/West Virginia) || Maryland's western panhandle and both of West Virginia's to the east and north would be smoothed out to have nice, straight, shorter lines. The Mason-Dixon Line that forms the current border between Maryland and Pennsylvania would also be extended east to the border between Pennsylvania and Delaware, which the latter in real life cuts into Pennsylvania a little bit via the {{w|Twelve Mile Circle}}.
|-
|Enlarge Rhode Island & Delaware || {{w|Rhode Island}} and {{w|Delaware}}, the two {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area#Area_by_state.2Fterritory|smallest U.S. states by area}}, are often difficult to make out on a map of the United States.
Expanding Delaware to occupy the entire {{w|Delmarva_Peninsula|Delmarva peninsula}} eliminates some boundary lines the designers apparently consider excessively fiddly, as well as solving another "Michigan" problem, as the "VA" of "Delmarva" refers to its {{w|Eastern Shore of Virginia|Eastern Shore}}, which is separated from the rest of Virginia by the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The two parts of Virginia are connected by the {{w|Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel}}, while Maryland's two bay shores are connected by U.S. Route 50. Rhode Island is not indeed entirely an island, and the mainland portions are the focus of the graphic designers.

Expanding Rhode Island eastward would make it easier to see on a map. Giving the former {{w|Plymouth Colony}} to Rhode Island would have the additional advantage of making Massachusetts a more neatly rectangular state.
|-
| If we're going to have a panhandle, why not commit to it? || {{w|Oklahoma}} has a "panhandle" to its west, which is a kind of {{w|Salient (geography)|Salient}}. The obvious fix would be to give it to Texas. In a twist, the graphic designers suggest extending it even further, across the northern parts of {{w|Arizona}} and {{w|New Mexico}}. This would make the {{w|Four Corners Monument}} obsolete, since Arizona and New Mexico would no longer border {{w|Utah}} and {{w|Colorado}} respectively, let alone all four states sharing a corner.
|-
| Fix this thing || The border of {{w|Missouri}} cuts into {{w|Arkansas}}, in the so-called {{w|Missouri Bootheel}}. The Design Team has awarded that piece to {{w|Arkansas}}, straightening the border.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Kentucky}}/{{w|Virginia}} || Virginia's western border is shifted east to align it with the borders to the north and south, forming a continuous line along the {{w|Appalachian_Mountains|Appalachians}}.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Nevada}}/{{w|Arizona}} || Continue the line of Utah's western border and Arizona's far northwestern border south (replacing part of the {{w|Colorado River}} boundary), transferring part of Arizona's {{w|Mohave_County,_Arizona|Mohave county}} to Nevada.
|-
| Unlabelled cleanup at the junction of {{w|Texas}}/{{w|Oklahoma}}/{{w|Arkansas}}/{{w|Louisiana}} || Square off {{w|Southwest Arkansas}}, and move {{w|Lousiana's}} northwest border to meet up, presumably because square corners are better.
|-
| Clean up (Arizona/New Mexico/Texas) || One of {{w|New Mexico}}'s borders should be extended into a single line. This results in ceding some land to Mexico, having {{w|El Paso}} split across New Mexico and Texas, and Highway 62 alternating between two states.
|-
| Straighten to fix survey errors (Tennessee) || {{w|Tennessee}}'s southern border is supposed to be the 35th parallel north, but due to surveying errors made in the 19th Century the marked border is one mile south of that line. At many times since, Georgia has sought to fix this by various means (at least partly because doing so would net them some rights to the water from the Tennessee River) including bringing its case to the US Supreme Court - with the Design Team in charge, they wouldn't need those lawyers any more. Farther westward, Tennessee's actual southern border suddenly juts south at the Tennessee River between Alabama and Mississippi - again, the Design Team would rather see it smoothed out. Tennessee's northern border with Kentucky has similar hitches that prevent it from being a straight line that the Design Team wants to address.
|-
| Good Curve! Keep. (Florida/Georgia/South Carolina) || The only thing the design team likes already about the shape of the US is the shape of the Atlantic coast in northern {{w|Florida}}, Georgia, and {{w|South Carolina}}, as it seems to bend into the US smoothly. Unfortunately for them, the curve is coastline; whether or not we get to keep it is up to the whims of Mother Nature {{Citation needed}}. Fortunately for them, they like it as is, so it doesn't matter that they can't change it.
|-
| Let's be honest, this should be Canada too || {{w|Southeast Alaska}} should be given to {{w|Canada}}, presumably because it more neatly fits with {{w|British Columbia}}. This is slightly problematic, as the current state capital, {{w|Juneau}}, is within this section. Presumably, the state capital would be moved to Alaska's most populous city, {{w|Anchorage}}.
|-
| Why should Florida get Alabama's coastline? It has plenty. ||
The {{w|Florida Panhandle}} borders southern {{w|Alabama}} denying the state all but a sliver of coastline. Given that Florida already has an abundance of coast, the Graphic Designers consider the present arrangement unfair. Ceding the Florida counties west of the {{w|Apalachicola River}} has actually been {{w|Florida_Panhandle#Alabama_annexation_proposals|raised since the 19th century}}. This change would have the additional benefit of more neatly aligning Florida's western border with that of neighboring {{w|Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia}}. As a sidenote, this would have significant political implications, as Florida is a closely divided "swing state" whose votes can easily determine the outcome of US Presidential elections. Ceding the largely rural and conservative population of the panhandle would likely tilt the rest of the state in favor of the Democratic candidate in future elections. Such an upset of the power balance is one reason why these kinds of changes would be aggressively opposed.
|}

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

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

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

==Trivia==
*Here's how the outline map of the United States (excluding Hawaii) will look like if the suggested border changes are done:
[[File:1902-border-changed.png|600px]]

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:US maps]]

2559: December 25th Launch

2021-12-25T09:33:44Z

TV4Fun: This really needs a citation.

{{comic
| number = 2559
| date = December 24, 2021
| title = December 25th Launch
| image = december_25th_launch.png
| titletext = Update: Santa has been destroyed by the range safety officer.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RANGE SAFETY OFFICER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

The James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. It has suffered many, many delays over its development period (as previously referenced in [[2014: JWST Delays]]), but it is finally scheduled to launch on December 25, 2021.

In this comic, the James Webb Space Telescope is finally ready to take off. However, unfortunate circumstance occurs: Santa Claus himself, on his way to deliver presents to children, crosses into the path of the telescope. The joke is the implication that, right on the brink of success, this extraordinarily unlucky incident would cause yet another delay, much to Cueball's horror.

Real launch aborts have {{w|STS-68|occurred}} with fewer than 2 seconds left in the countdown, causing delays of over a month. (A different interpretation is that the telescope might crash into Santa, destroying both.)

According to the title text, the range safety officer has made the decision to kill Santa Claus in order to proceed with the launch. This seems to demonstrate that they are determined not to let anything else interfere with the launch any further (or that given a choice between destroying both the telescope and Santa or just destroying Santa, the range safety officer chooses the latter).

In "reality", Santa Claus performs deliveries overnight, while the launch is scheduled for morning local time, so the timing of such a collision would not occur {{Citation needed}}. Additionally, if Santa's sleigh were headed to the vicinity of Cape Canaveral, NASA would have been warned in advance by the {{w|North American Aerospace Defense Command}}, which {{w|NORAD Tracks Santa|tracks Santa}} to [https://www.noradsanta.org/en/map prevent] unwanted interference with air traffic and launching spacecrafts and attacks from anybody not believing in Christmas.

==Transcript==
:[Close-up of the top of the James Webb Space Telescope launch rocket. A "Webb" logo can be seen alongside other indistinct logos. Some clouds and birds are visible in the background.]
:Caption: T-Minus 10...9...8...

:[Zoom-out to show the complete rocket and the ground below. The rocket takes up the bottom-left corner. At the top-right, Santa Claus and a line of reindeer are flying in towards the left.]
:Santa: Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!

:[Ponytail and Cueball sitting at mission control consoles.]
:Cueball: ''Oh no.''

{{comic discussion}}

2547: Siren

2021-11-27T14:08:07Z

TV4Fun: Really, do I have to do everything around here?

{{comic
| number = 2547
| date = November 26, 2021
| title = Siren
| image = siren.png
| titletext = Directions from CITY OF TROY to ITHACA / Total time: 10y 54d 14h 25m / Warning: Route crosses an international border / route includes capture by the goddess Calypso / route includes a ferry
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by ODYSSEUS’S BROKEN GPS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{w|Odysseus}} is the hero of the Greek epic ''{{w|Odyssey}}'' by {{w|Homer}}. This is a poem that relates the journey of Odysseus back home to his homeland from the newly defeated Troy, and how he inadvertently angered Poseidon thus causing the journey to take 10 years.

In the story, now widely translated and adapted for modern audiences, {{w|Circe}} warns Odysseus of the {{w|siren (mythology)|Sirens}}, who sing beautiful songs that lure sailors towards their shores, just to doom the boats to sink upon the jagged rocks surrounding their islands.

This comic reframes the advice as if Odysseus was being told to ignore the incorrect instructions of a {{w|Satellite navigation device|GPS-linked routefinder}}, rather than the Sirens. Errors, omissions or out-of-date information in the databases used by such devices famously have sent drivers down roads they might never have even tried to use (guided by printed maps, road-signs or even past experience) without the alluring voice of the 'infallible' dashboard device leading them through too-narrow lanes, into rivers or even hundreds of miles completely out of their way - perhaps to a destination similarly-named to their intended one. GPSs did not exist during the time the poem was written {{citation needed}}, so this could not be the case here.

A navigation system giving wrong directions can happen, for example, due to outdated or incomplete map data. Sometimes users can file an error report with the provider of the navigation system and hope that they fix the problem in a software update. This is what Circe already did multiple times. However, the error was not fixed, so she has to resort to telling Odysseus to ignore the route.

The title text shows what the route description could have looked like, had Odysseus indeed used a modern navigation system. It includes the start and destination of the route, the estimated duration and warnings about special circumstances of the journey.

Normally, the sea voyage from the City of Troy to Ithaca should take much less than ten years. For Odysseus it took so long because of the many obstacles he had to face, so the navigation system would have some sort of clairvoyance function built in.

"Route crosses an international border" and "Route includes a ferry" are standard warnings included in a route description. The latter alludes to the fact that Odysseus made the voyage by sea. "Route includes capture by the goddess {{w|Calypso (mythology)|Calypso}}" is not normally something that a navigation system would warn about or could know about {{Citation needed}}, but this indeed happened to Odysseus in Homer's tale; he was kept on her island Ogygia for seven years.

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

:[Circe is speaking to Odysseus.]
:Circe: Remember, Odysseus:
:Circe: As you pass the rocks you will hear a woman calling out to you, urging you to stray from your path, but plug your ears and hold your course, for her beguiling lies will draw you to a watery grave.
:Circe: I don't know ''why'' they can't just fix it. I keep filing error reports.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Circe was actually just telling Odysseus to ignore his GPS.

{{comic discussion}}