explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2891: Log Cabin

2024-02-08T17:07:08Z

Thaledison:

:: "''The odd part about it is the bottom right corner, which appears to be infinitely recursive copies..''"
The whole right side is the left side, shrunk and recursed. Each iteration rotated 90 degrees. The 'shrink' is about 1.616 by my squint, a lot like a "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio Golden Ratio]" LOGarithmic spiral, as NickM says. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 19:49, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

::This is a LOGarithmic spiral [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.103|172.70.210.103]] 19:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)NickM

:: It is precisely the golden ratio, assuming the left side is a square [[User:Terdragontra|Terdragontra]] ([[User talk:Terdragontra|talk]]) 22:09, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Assuming a standard 36" wide front door, then the next "front" door would be 22.27 inches, then 13.78 inches, then 8.53 inches, at which point I doubt the inspector could squeeze through it, though I guess they could still take a peek inside the next recursion. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.58|172.68.34.58]] 20:57, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Infinite bedrooms, infinite baths, close to schools and shopping. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.48|172.69.247.48]] 21:00, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
::Government: Your property tax comes up to infinite dollars. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.160|172.71.26.160]] 21:45, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
:: In some jurisdictions bedrooms need to have at least one externally facing window. Under this rule there are infinite rooms with beds, but only 8 bedrooms. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:07, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Interesting comparison with the archetypal "labyrinth". It's actually a fractal version that only avoids being unicursal-with-no-dead-ends due to the off-living-room private spaces being quite trivial offshoots. Which arguably makes it ''fairly'' classical in nature. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.114|172.70.90.114]] 21:18, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Should there be a mention that due to the limitations of the image format, it only actually achieves eight iterations? Which makes sense given that construction materials also have limits, and is still enough that the inspectors might be a bit confused if they don't pay close enough attention. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.216|172.69.60.216]] 23:21, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Write it [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2891:_Log_Cabin&diff=prev&oldid=334498 how you want], I just wanted to avoid calling a room with no bath (but a shower) as a "bathroom", especially when I was mentioning a 'bathroom' with an actual bath in it so soon after. Not that there's a completely unambiguous term for the room with the toilet/lavatory/whatever in it. (For reference, for me it's "the toilet", despite that also being the porceline item itself, and even that is derived from a hairdressing cloth, through a string of euphemisms. But knew that wouldn't be accepted by the wider readership.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.26|172.70.85.26]] 01:49, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:In the USA, any room with a toilet and sink is typically called a "bathroom" whether or not there is a literal bath within. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.3|172.70.131.3]] 09:33, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
::Don't think it's particularly a US/UK thing - it's pretty commonly called a 'bathroom' in the UK too. I think the point of the editor above was the potential for confusion between the ''two'' 'bathrooms', and how to avoid it.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.243|172.69.43.243]] 09:44, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:Using a language that allows to say "Sh*thouse" in a nice way (praised be the diminutive!) helps in such cases...[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 10:15, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
::There is a {{wiktionary|Thesaurus:bathroom|truly astounding range of terms}}, in English alone, (and I can think of several not included there, even discounting the rather localised overly-vulgar ''or'' overly-polite ones). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.221|172.70.90.221]] 11:38, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
Are there any non-Euclidean geometries in which you could fit this house without having to shrink the rooms or the people? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.44|172.68.3.44]] 16:42, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

One way to build this would be with robotics that alter the structure as the visitor moves, like a holodeck. This could give the perception of the visitor shrinking forever, and the robotics wouldn’t let them leave until they rewalked their entry path. Another way would be to just make the rooms get too tiny to enter and hide the missing ones around a corner. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.6|162.158.166.6]] 16:58, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2639: Periodic Table Changes

2022-06-30T15:21:50Z

Thaledison: Added Comment

The format of this comic appears most similar to https://xkcd.com/1902/. Is it worth noting that, in some representations of the periodic table (see https://ptable.com/#Electrons), Helium is indeed placed in the second column next to Hydrogen? [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 21:54, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

Nice. I'm doing the old "what elements have been obscured/overwritten" thing, after far too long since actually memorising the Periodic Table that was on my school's lab wall... But, hey! Where has Hahnium got to? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.77|172.70.162.77]] 22:25, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

I wonder why he kept the Latinate abbreviations for Antimony and Mercury. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:17, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

The changes by Asdf seem like they mostly belong in the Transcript, not Explanation.
:I moved some of my lengthy descriptions from Explanation to Transcript, hopefully this helps. Sorry if I caused inconvenience. -[[User:Asdf|Asdf]] ([[User talk:Asdf|talk]]) 00:00, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

Laaaaame! Not revolutionary enough! Why not simply get rid of all these historical accidents and indicate any element by its nuclear charge? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.117|172.71.102.117]] 07:05, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

Anyone else find it ironic that the new kinds of carbon are indexed with Roman numerals on the same comic where it says "this isn't Ancient Rome"? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.27|162.158.38.27]] 07:18, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

For the language nerds among us, "I" for iron wouldn't work at all well in Dutch. Although the element is typewritten "ijzer", the first two characters are treated as a single letter and are capitalised together (IJzer). It's pronounced EI and is listed in the Dutch alphabet alongside (or sometimes even instead of) Y.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.55|162.158.233.55]] 08:37, 30 June 2022 (UTC)
:Clearly there isn't much consideration given to any other language than English. The "annoying W" is for Wolfram or something close in many languages, "Na" is Natrium, "K" is Kalium - frankly, Mr. Munroe just uses the wrong language. Then again, "Fe" really is annoying, of course it should be "Ei" for Eisen ... [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 11:32, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

This feels more like a parallel to corporate reorganisations that are based on idealised concepts of how an organisation 'should' work than on the practicalities of what people actually do, than it does to economic plans. Particularly with the reference to training elements to adapt to their new positions. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.173|172.70.90.173]] 10:47, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

For the language bit he somehow missed Mercury (Hg: Hydrargyrum). [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 15:21, 30 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond

2022-06-28T14:39:18Z

Thaledison: Removed my incorrect comment

Are we going to try identifying what material this is? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.82.179|172.70.82.179]] 01:50, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:first one off the top of my head, aqua regia? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.69|172.70.38.69]] 02:46, 28 June 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
::Doesn't aqua regia score a 0 in reactivity? [[User:N-eh|N-eh]] ([[User talk:N-eh|talk]]) 03:23, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:My guess would be something radioactive, like uranium or plutonium. [[User:Clam|Clam]] ([[User talk:Clam|talk]]) 03:29, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
::There are very, very few Health 4 / Fire 0 / Instability 2 compounds. The NIH database lists 4: nitrous oxide, phosphorus oxychloride, phosphorous trichloride, and thionyl chloride (although it's important to note these values aren't always standardized; some authorities consider phosphorus oxychloride to be Health 3, for example). Based on the street value and the number of US agencies who would be concerned about it, my guess is thionyl chloride, a useful industrial chemical which is also used in at least one meth lab synthesis pathway... AND highly regulated as a chemical weapon precursor (to both sulfur mustard and G-series nerve agents). Oh, and it is absolutely a Disposal Pain 4 candidate, too. [[User:Qalyar|Qalyar]] ([[User talk:Qalyar|talk]]) 04:52, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
The center square is a free space, but if you win without it you get a special bonus prize. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.129|172.70.42.129]] 04:18, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Given Randall's fixation with velociraptors, is anyone else thinking the "dropped ceiling" may be a reference to the labs in Jurassic Park?
:Possible. The first thing I had to think of was HalfLife (ie Black Mesa). [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:34, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Does Randall watch Warsaw local news? Yesterday [https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/mokotow/warszawa-wilanow-ul-branickiego-straz-miejska-interweniowala-w-sprawie-walacego-sie-budynku-5766504 there was an article about an accident with dropped ceiling]. Accident with dropped ceiling next day on xkcd gave me uncanny feeling. [[User:Tkopec|Tkopec]] ([[User talk:Tkopec|talk]]) 09:31, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:I was wondering whether the whole thing was inspired by the {{w|2022 Aqaba toxic gas leak}}, that it was published well within a day of. Probably not (because 'too soon', especially with deciding what humour to add, assuming he started from scratch) but he might well have heard of it even as he was already mid-way through the drawing/publishing process and felt it ok to press ahead (perhaps modified to make it ''less'' likely to be directly associated in some way).
:Not worth an in-explanation (or Trivia) mention, but saying it here as a dismissable aside. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 13:58, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

The "''Number of times it's caused one of those terrifying lab accidents that chemists tell scary stories about late at night -> 2''" reminds me of the [https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-work-with Things I Won't Work With] category on Derek's Lowe blog, including famous [https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-you-time Sand Won't Save You This Time] article about dangers of chlorine trifluoride, with a few ''scary stories'' included. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:04, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:The "smelling weird" one made me remember the one about [https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-thioacetone thioacetone]--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.114.63|172.71.114.63]] 12:53, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond

2022-06-28T14:37:54Z

Thaledison: Fixing signature after logging in somehow didn't work

Are we going to try identifying what material this is? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.82.179|172.70.82.179]] 01:50, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:first one off the top of my head, aqua regia? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.69|172.70.38.69]] 02:46, 28 June 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
::Doesn't aqua regia score a 0 in reactivity? [[User:N-eh|N-eh]] ([[User talk:N-eh|talk]]) 03:23, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:::No, it scores a 3, It's 4 official square are Fire 0, Reactivity 3, Health 1, Special OX (Oxidizing agent) [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 14:37, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:My guess would be something radioactive, like uranium or plutonium. [[User:Clam|Clam]] ([[User talk:Clam|talk]]) 03:29, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
::There are very, very few Health 4 / Fire 0 / Instability 2 compounds. The NIH database lists 4: nitrous oxide, phosphorus oxychloride, phosphorous trichloride, and thionyl chloride (although it's important to note these values aren't always standardized; some authorities consider phosphorus oxychloride to be Health 3, for example). Based on the street value and the number of US agencies who would be concerned about it, my guess is thionyl chloride, a useful industrial chemical which is also used in at least one meth lab synthesis pathway... AND highly regulated as a chemical weapon precursor (to both sulfur mustard and G-series nerve agents). Oh, and it is absolutely a Disposal Pain 4 candidate, too. [[User:Qalyar|Qalyar]] ([[User talk:Qalyar|talk]]) 04:52, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
The center square is a free space, but if you win without it you get a special bonus prize. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.129|172.70.42.129]] 04:18, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Given Randall's fixation with velociraptors, is anyone else thinking the "dropped ceiling" may be a reference to the labs in Jurassic Park?
:Possible. The first thing I had to think of was HalfLife (ie Black Mesa). [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:34, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Does Randall watch Warsaw local news? Yesterday [https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/mokotow/warszawa-wilanow-ul-branickiego-straz-miejska-interweniowala-w-sprawie-walacego-sie-budynku-5766504 there was an article about an accident with dropped ceiling]. Accident with dropped ceiling next day on xkcd gave me uncanny feeling. [[User:Tkopec|Tkopec]] ([[User talk:Tkopec|talk]]) 09:31, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:I was wondering whether the whole thing was inspired by the {{w|2022 Aqaba toxic gas leak}}, that it was published well within a day of. Probably not (because 'too soon', especially with deciding what humour to add, assuming he started from scratch) but he might well have heard of it even as he was already mid-way through the drawing/publishing process and felt it ok to press ahead (perhaps modified to make it ''less'' likely to be directly associated in some way).
:Not worth an in-explanation (or Trivia) mention, but saying it here as a dismissable aside. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 13:58, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

The "''Number of times it's caused one of those terrifying lab accidents that chemists tell scary stories about late at night -> 2''" reminds me of the [https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-work-with Things I Won't Work With] category on Derek's Lowe blog, including famous [https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-you-time Sand Won't Save You This Time] article about dangers of chlorine trifluoride, with a few ''scary stories'' included. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:04, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:The "smelling weird" one made me remember the one about [https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-thioacetone thioacetone]--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.114.63|172.71.114.63]] 12:53, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2542: Daylight Calendar

2021-12-08T15:36:16Z

Thaledison: Added Comment

When did y'all in the US "fall back" your clocks? It has a look of being (askewedly) inspired by DST reversal, and I know you did one of the switches at a different typical weekend than us (UK BST>GMT was last weekend of October), but I thought it was 'first weekend of month-after-(the-month-that-it-is-our-last-weekend-of)'. You know, I could have just looked this up. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 00:11, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Second question, more easily expressed and less obviously answered, which sun-up/sun-down is this calculated by? Nautical, civil, etc? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 00:11, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

I think at the equator, you get one day per day.
At the pole you get two days per day in summer, then one six month long day.{{Unsigned}}
:Ah, I just mentioned that, in my edit. Though it depends upon how close to the pole as to how long you wouldn't get one full day for (and how the shifting boundaries align, possibly). I haven't worked out if those "further north" people are necessarily Arctic, or merely Canadian/northern-States even. I know that in the UK we're north enough to technically never get beyond civil twilight in the 'summer' months (the Sun isn't low enough below the horizon, as it passes below the northern rim, to be proper 'night') but we're still short of the actual Arctic Circle and true days-without-night/light, accordingly. I'm still not sure what edge-case is imagined. Perhaps intentionally left vague? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.20|141.101.99.20]] 00:59, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Is this supposed to be about whether it's cloudy? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.30|172.68.132.30]] 00:17, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:I think not. If cloud cover were taken into account, the date would fail to ever sync up from place to place, and in heavily-overcast areas (*cough* Cleveland *cough) you'd only have a few days a year. Whereas, if cloud cover is irrelevant and a "day" is simply defined as the sun being above median horizon level (whether visible or not) for a total of 12 hours, then the date in each time zone will sync up once a year. Presumably you would arrange things so that this happens on New Year's Day. (If you don't arrange things and just switch to the calendar at some point in time, the date would sync up on the anniversary of the switch, assuming everyone switches at once.) Additionally, timezones would work roughly as they do now, if you travel due east or due west: driving west from Eastern time to Central, for example, would take you to a place where it's one hour earlier on the same date. Things would only get really weird if you go north or south at all, and even that would be sufficiently regular and formulaic that school children could be taught how to calculate it. --[[User:Tsadok|Tsadok]]

If I knew where to start (too many assumptions needed), I'd be tempted to make an "xkcd Calendar" that works like the [[1335|xkcd Clock]], but there are so many possible configurations (e.g. when is the 'epoch' of synchronisation? When do you count daylight from/to? Do you assume 6AM day-starts and work up from there?) before you then have to plug in your lat/lon to get your highly personalised datetime result that may well differ significatly even from someone a few miles away, when the time-boundaries involved have misaligned just enough and haven't shifted back together again (perhaps!) by the next epoch-point... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.20|141.101.99.20]] 01:34, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:If you use the same epoch for everyone, the date and time would sync up within each timezone once a year, on the anniversary of the epoch. If everyone just naively starts at their then-current date/time on the switch date, then the switch date is the epoch. The ideal epoch and switch date for minimizing confusion would be midnight January 1st; this also has precedent (e.g., the Unix epoch is midnight January 1st 1970). This leaves the question of whether to start each day's time at 00:00:00, or start it at whatever you have to start it at to make noon happen at 12:00:00. The latter would mean starting the clock at negative times in the summer, positive in winter, and any given latitude's start-of-day times would average out pretty close to 00:06 over the course of a year. (The average wouldn't be _exactly_ 00:06 with infinite precision over a single year, because you're only averaging a finite number of days. But the average would asymptotically approach 00:06 over large numbers of years (unless the DST change being not-at-midnight or leap days being not-at-New-Year throws it off in a systematic way; but I am guessing this proposed calendar would replace and obviate DST; leap seconds *are* added at midnight, so they're ok; that leaves leap days as a potential monkey wrench if they aren't moved to align with the epoch), and it would be "close enough" for garden variety everyday purposes even after just one year.) --[[User:Tsadok|Tsadok]]
::Ok, maybe go with this, start it at Unix timestamp 1609459200 (Midnight Jan 1st 2020, GMT), and you'd need to look up sunrise/sunset (0 degrees with respect to horizon) in the location (possibly round to the nearest degree of latitude for the closest conurbation, except when in the ocean) for the year. There may be a formula for that, or there may just be an API you can hit. Things wouldn't quite sync up, because the orbit isn't a unit number of sidereal days long. I'm wondering how bad the drift gets in 400 years. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:14, 17 November 2021 (UTC)
:::Hi, I just wrote some python code that hopefully works to check an API for sunrise and sunset and then calculate from the start of the year: https://replit.com/@AJLee/xkcdDaylightCalendar [[Special:Contributions/172.70.142.221|172.70.142.221]] 15:15, 8 December 2021 (UTC)
::::I like it, maybe add an explicit summary: "It is currently <datetime>, Day Number <day#>. Today will end at <day-end>, <x> seconds from now" [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 15:36, 8 December 2021 (UTC)

I know it is released close to daylight saving change. But has it actually anything to do with that? It is not mentioned at all, and only the darkness of November has any relation to the change. I'm not sure I would include it in the DST category... Randall has often made it clear that he dislikes DST but this new calendar is no guarantee they would not also include DST anyway. Hopefully we will stop with the DST in Europe from next year, so that we will not change back to summer time next spring! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:53, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:I thought it would have been closer to (US) changeover to be directly related. But perhaps Randall took a week to 'run some numbers' after being inspired, to get some (implausibly) plausible scenario to depict.
:As for stopping putting the clocks forward... You could do that, but I'd suggest waiting a few years to see if people accept that before you also stop turning them back again in autumn, just in case... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 10:53, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:The conversation is clearly a parody of the kinds of conversations that occur regularly after the change to/from DST. I was at the eye doctor yesterday, and when she asked me about night driving I mentioned that this didn't really become an issue until the DST change, because now it's dark in the early evening. So these conversations do occur more than a week after the change. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:18, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Has anyone noticed the different style of Megan in this comic? I think that it may not be her… --[[User:Obscure xkcd reference|Obscure xkcd reference]] ([[User talk:Obscure xkcd reference|talk]]) 16:50, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

=== Three-Day Days ===
What I want to know is, what latitude do you have to be at, to get three-day days in November? --[[User:Tsadok|Tsadok]]
:Anywhere north of the tropic, probably, if you count partial days (if a day starts before sunset, goes over anything even a smidgen less than 12 hours of daylight the next day, then completes itself soon after sunrise the day after).
:But a bit of looking around suggests that today anywhere around 70°N has less than 4 hours of daylight so would easily need three ''full'' daylights in a row (or all-but) and possible unconsidered fractions of the neighbouring days depending on how the modified day-boundries land, which you may wish to ignore if you're strict). Wainwright, AK, would qualify, amongst other US settlements (most with native-names) and a number of Canadian ones, assuming you mean North from the US. There's Denmark (i.e. Greenland), Norway/Sweden/Finland and of course Russia with places too. Murmansk is slightly too far south today, I think, but I haven't checked for later dates in November and I'm sure it'll get included before too much longer.
:Looking for a current six-hour daylight (i.e. any daylight not included in the period the day trips over upon is exactly made up for at the beginning of the third day touched before the new-calendar day ends) suggests reaching ~65°N will suffice, which adds a fair few other places 'up north' that would apply to right now.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.32|141.101.99.32]] 21:15, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Of course, before mechanical clocks, all days were 12 hours long. It is just that the length of the hour varied, as it was always one twelfth of the day, or night. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 18:04, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2542: Daylight Calendar

2021-11-17T17:14:16Z

Thaledison: Added Comment

When did y'all in the US "fall back" your clocks? It has a look of being (askewedly) inspired by DST reversal, and I know you did one of the switches at a different typical weekend than us (UK BST>GMT was last weekend of October), but I thought it was 'first weekend of month-after-(the-month-that-it-is-our-last-weekend-of)'. You know, I could have just looked this up. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 00:11, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Second question, more easily expressed and less obviously answered, which sun-up/sun-down is this calculated by? Nautical, civil, etc? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.227|172.70.85.227]] 00:11, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

I think at the equator, you get one day per day.
At the pole you get two days per day in summer, then one six month long day.{{Unsigned}}
:Ah, I just mentioned that, in my edit. Though it depends upon how close to the pole as to how long you wouldn't get one full day for (and how the shifting boundaries align, possibly). I haven't worked out if those "further north" people are necessarily Arctic, or merely Canadian/northern-States even. I know that in the UK we're north enough to technically never get beyond civil twilight in the 'summer' months (the Sun isn't low enough below the horizon, as it passes below the northern rim, to be proper 'night') but we're still short of the actual Arctic Circle and true days-without-night/light, accordingly. I'm still not sure what edge-case is imagined. Perhaps intentionally left vague? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.20|141.101.99.20]] 00:59, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Is this supposed to be about whether it's cloudy? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.30|172.68.132.30]] 00:17, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:I think not. If cloud cover were taken into account, the date would fail to ever sync up from place to place, and in heavily-overcast areas (*cough* Cleveland *cough) you'd only have a few days a year. Whereas, if cloud cover is irrelevant and a "day" is simply defined as the sun being above median horizon level (whether visible or not) for a total of 12 hours, then the date in each time zone will sync up once a year. Presumably you would arrange things so that this happens on New Year's Day. (If you don't arrange things and just switch to the calendar at some point in time, the date would sync up on the anniversary of the switch, assuming everyone switches at once.) Additionally, timezones would work roughly as they do now, if you travel due east or due west: driving west from Eastern time to Central, for example, would take you to a place where it's one hour earlier on the same date. Things would only get really weird if you go north or south at all, and even that would be sufficiently regular and formulaic that school children could be taught how to calculate it. --[[User:Tsadok|Tsadok]]

If I knew where to start (too many assumptions needed), I'd be tempted to make an "xkcd Calendar" that works like the [[1335|xkcd Clock]], but there are so many possible configurations (e.g. when is the 'epoch' of synchronisation? When do you count daylight from/to? Do you assume 6AM day-starts and work up from there?) before you then have to plug in your lat/lon to get your highly personalised datetime result that may well differ significatly even from someone a few miles away, when the time-boundaries involved have misaligned just enough and haven't shifted back together again (perhaps!) by the next epoch-point... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.20|141.101.99.20]] 01:34, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:If you use the same epoch for everyone, the date and time would sync up within each timezone once a year, on the anniversary of the epoch. If everyone just naively starts at their then-current date/time on the switch date, then the switch date is the epoch. The ideal epoch and switch date for minimizing confusion would be midnight January 1st; this also has precedent (e.g., the Unix epoch is midnight January 1st 1970). This leaves the question of whether to start each day's time at 00:00:00, or start it at whatever you have to start it at to make noon happen at 12:00:00. The latter would mean starting the clock at negative times in the summer, positive in winter, and any given latitude's start-of-day times would average out pretty close to 00:06 over the course of a year. (The average wouldn't be _exactly_ 00:06 with infinite precision over a single year, because you're only averaging a finite number of days. But the average would asymptotically approach 00:06 over large numbers of years (unless the DST change being not-at-midnight or leap days being not-at-New-Year throws it off in a systematic way; but I am guessing this proposed calendar would replace and obviate DST; leap seconds *are* added at midnight, so they're ok; that leaves leap days as a potential monkey wrench if they aren't moved to align with the epoch), and it would be "close enough" for garden variety everyday purposes even after just one year.) --[[User:Tsadok|Tsadok]]
::Ok, maybe go with this, start it at Unix timestamp 1609459200 (Midnight Jan 1st 2020, GMT), and you'd need to look up sunrise/sunset (0 degrees with respect to horizon) in the location (possibly round to the nearest degree of latitude for the closest conurbation, except when in the ocean) for the year. There may be a formula for that, or there may just be an API you can hit. Things wouldn't quite sync up, because the orbit isn't a unit number of sidereal days long. I'm wondering how bad the drift gets in 400 years. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:14, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

I know it is released close to daylight saving change. But has it actually anything to do with that? It is not mentioned at all, and only the darkness of November has any relation to the change. I'm not sure I would include it in the DST category... Randall has often made it clear that he dislikes DST but this new calendar is no guarantee they would not also include DST anyway. Hopefully we will stop with the DST in Europe from next year, so that we will not change back to summer time next spring! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:53, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:I thought it would have been closer to (US) changeover to be directly related. But perhaps Randall took a week to 'run some numbers' after being inspired, to get some (implausibly) plausible scenario to depict.
:As for stopping putting the clocks forward... You could do that, but I'd suggest waiting a few years to see if people accept that before you also stop turning them back again in autumn, just in case... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 10:53, 16 November 2021 (UTC)
:The conversation is clearly a parody of the kinds of conversations that occur regularly after the change to/from DST. I was at the eye doctor yesterday, and when she asked me about night driving I mentioned that this didn't really become an issue until the DST change, because now it's dark in the early evening. So these conversations do occur more than a week after the change. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:18, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Has anyone noticed the different style of Megan in this comic? I think that it may not be her… --[[User:Obscure xkcd reference|Obscure xkcd reference]] ([[User talk:Obscure xkcd reference|talk]]) 16:50, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

=== Three-Day Days ===
What I want to know is, what latitude do you have to be at, to get three-day days in November? --[[User:Tsadok|Tsadok]]
:Anywhere north of the tropic, probably, if you count partial days (if a day starts before sunset, goes over anything even a smidgen less than 12 hours of daylight the next day, then completes itself soon after sunrise the day after).
:But a bit of looking around suggests that today anywhere around 70°N has less than 4 hours of daylight so would easily need three ''full'' daylights in a row (or all-but) and possible unconsidered fractions of the neighbouring days depending on how the modified day-boundries land, which you may wish to ignore if you're strict). Wainwright, AK, would qualify, amongst other US settlements (most with native-names) and a number of Canadian ones, assuming you mean North from the US. There's Denmark (i.e. Greenland), Norway/Sweden/Finland and of course Russia with places too. Murmansk is slightly too far south today, I think, but I haven't checked for later dates in November and I'm sure it'll get included before too much longer.
:Looking for a current six-hour daylight (i.e. any daylight not included in the period the day trips over upon is exactly made up for at the beginning of the third day touched before the new-calendar day ends) suggests reaching ~65°N will suffice, which adds a fair few other places 'up north' that would apply to right now.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.32|141.101.99.32]] 21:15, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Talk:739: Malamanteau

2021-10-18T14:28:30Z

Thaledison: Added Comment

Neologism isn't properly defined in the explanation. A neologism can be any new word; it doesn't have to be made through a combination of other words. Also, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malamanteau redirects to xkcd's page last I checked. Wiktionary's page on it was deleted almost 3 years ago. Additionally, the description is missing an explanation for the image text (and maybe the word "portmanteau" should get a definition included). [[Special:Contributions/76.106.251.87|76.106.251.87]] 22:03, 21 April 2013 (UTC)
:Now that you mention that the page redirects to xkcd, it's interesting to see the Revision history on it (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Malamanteau&action=history&year=2013) [[User:Saibot84|Saibot84]] ([[User talk:Saibot84|talk]]) 03:24, 18 May 2013 (UTC)
:*<12:44, 26 April 2013>‎ Amalthea (Protected Malamanteau: Repeatedly recreated ([Edit=Block all non-admin users] (indefinite) [Move=Block all non-admin users] (indefinite)))
:*<12:43, 26 April 2013>‎ Amalthea (-130) (Revert to revision by Amalthea)
:*<11:34, 26 April 2013>‎ IP_77... (+130) (Undid revision by Amalthea, restored the content)
:*<13:25, 20 April 2013‎> Amalthea‎ (-130) (In the absence of new reliable sources that can bring this beyond a dictionary entry, I think the consensus from Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Malamanteau still holds.)
:*<13:07, 20 April 2013‎> IP_87... (+130) (restored the content from the comic)
:*<22:07, 27 September 2012‎ Scottywong (+18) (redirect to xkcd)
:*<unknown date> Page Deleted

I have a feeling that the main point of this comic was that the words "portmanteau" and "neologism" (and maybe even "malapropism") appear disproportionately more on Wikipedia than other references. I certainly would agree with that sentiment. --[[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]] ([[User talk:Quicksilver|talk]]) 02:19, 20 August 2013 (UTC)

The page is still redirecting to the wikipedia page on xkcd, how long do you think it will be before the original content is restored? [[User:Whiskey07|Whiskey07]] ([[User talk:Whiskey07|talk]]) 11:37, 21 November 2013 (UTC)
:Never. The page has now been fully, indefinitely protected. Good thing too. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 21:45, 27 December 2013 (UTC)

I tend to agree with [[User:Quicksilver|Quicksilver]]'s comment: not only is the comic poking fun at Wikipedia's propensity for using these words, but Randall's comic has created a page relying on almost no content _except_ these sorts of words. {{unsigned ip|141.101.81.216}}

"and a malapropism of "portmanteau"."
I'm a little confused on how that is a malapropism.--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.35|172.68.132.35]] 09:42, 18 April 2017 (UTC)

I am quite tempted to add a citation needed note to this sentence: "This is called a meta or "self-referential" joke." [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 14:28, 18 October 2021 (UTC)

Talk:2486: Board Game Party Schedule

2021-07-09T13:22:41Z

Thaledison: Added Comment

I've done the best I can starting this out. Since it's been years since I did gatherings like this, if someone can suggest more modern examples of complicated tabletop simulation games than the ones I suggested (Squad Leader and SFB started in the late 1970s, for heaven's sake), please do so. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.236|108.162.245.236]] 00:27, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

How about Seven Wonders? [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 04:59, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

This is why we always decide the game before inviting people. Then people can already head home before 11pm. To be more serious, the most complicated game that we played with novices was Eclipse with several expansions in a 9 player setup. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.160|162.158.88.160]] 07:15, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

The classics for my home group with this are Kingmaker and Twilight Imperium. In fact to even suggest those we now have to plan a week or month ahead of time. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 13:51, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

A "simpler" game, like Catan or Dominion...?
Um. More like Scattergories, Scrabble, Sorry, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples, Uno, even Go Fish. Catan and Dominion might be relatively well known, but they are NOT simple. My experience is that the strategically-minded people who love immersive resource-allocation based games like Catan and Dominion are frequently open to learning new games, while the crowd that opts for "simpler" games typically just want to have fun without having to think too hard about stuff. (I say this as someone who loves immersive resource-allocation games, with a girlfriend who typically prefers the simpler stuff.)
Also, feels like Scythe deserves a mention, as a game that might be pulled out of a cupboard for game night but ends up taking hours to set up and explain. Whereas Warhammer players typically seek out their own, rather than casually springing their hobby on the general public. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.84|108.162.221.84]] 17:05, 8 July 2021 (UTC) mezimm
: Fair, although with my group what usually ends up happening is side games of Magic: the Gathering, and that's not simple, but it's quick to setup and doesn't take super long to complete. [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 13:22, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

Yeah, a not-a-COVID-19 comic. That said, just curious, why don't we include the title text as part of the transcript? Was a decision made some time ago to not include these, or have we just not been doing it for so long and no one questioned this until just now. [[Special:Contributions/127.0.0.1|127.0.0.1]] 19:00, 8 July 2021 (UTC)
:(Nice IP. *cough*) The transcript describes in text that which cannot already be read as text (without OCR, etc). The title-text is already in text form, reiteration would be redundantly repetitive. - Or so I've seen it explained several times before, and it makes perfect sense to me. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.105|162.158.158.105]] 03:10, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

== that was fast ==

this was my first time looking up the most recent comic on here (though it wasn't 'cause [I'm] dumb'... for once), and can I just say you all work really fast at getting a basic explanation written out. Your work is much appreciated by this student software dev :-)--[[User:Twisted Code|Twisted Code]] ([[User talk:Twisted Code|talk]]) 18:56, 8 July 2021 (UTC)

2486: Board Game Party Schedule

2021-07-09T13:20:55Z

Thaledison: Undo revision 214810 by Alanfoster (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2486
| date = July 7, 2021
| title = Board Game Party Schedule
| image = board_game_party_schedule.png
| titletext = Several of the guests are secretly playing Meta Board Game Party. Every minute of parallel debate in the breakaway faction earns double victory points!
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a RESTLESS FACTION. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic shows a timeline of a gathering to play some sort of fairly complex tabletop game, such as {{w|Warhammer (game)|Warhammer}}, {{w|Star Fleet Battles|Star Fleet Battles}}, or {{w|Squad Leader|Squad Leader}}. These games often have many pages of rules, forms to fill out, and in the case of many battle simulation games can have dozens or even hundreds of counters to position. Often the very complex rules must be explained in detail, which can be extremely dull in a group environment.

Conversely, just beginning like at the time entry point "it will make sense once you play" without explanation often leads to new player frustration that, had they had a complete understanding, they would have made different choices and had a more reasonable chance at victory, or even worse, avoided constantly being informed of "illegal moves".

In addition, since it's a {{w|party|party}}, there are other activities that take place in addition to playing the game, notably ordering and eating food.

By the time you eat, prepare the game, and teach the new players, little time is left to actually play the game.

Often during these gatherings the frustration with the factors above cause people to suggest settling on a simpler or more well known game such as {{w|Catan|Catan}} or card games like {{w|Dominion (card game)|Dominion}}.

The title text observes some of the guests supposedly playing a fictional{{Citation needed}} board game, Meta Board Game Party – a board game about board game parties. Because the quoted rule states that arguing in the “breakaway faction” is worth more victory points, it would be optimal strategy for them to do just that, for as long as possible. This seems to be a sarcastic explanation as to why they tried to get the whole group to play some other game and turned the ensuing debate into 45 minutes of bickering.

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

:[Caption above:]
:Board Game Party Schedule

:[A timeline is shown, from about 6PM at the top to about 11PM at the bottom. Events are displayed as white rectangles, labeled as follows:]

:before 6PM: people filter in
:6:00–6:25: small talk
:6:25–6:55: debate which game to play
:6:55: remember that you need to order food
:6:55–7:15: debate where to order from
:7:15: pick a place, order
:7:15–7:40: pick a game and start setting up
:7:40–8:20: explain rules to new people
:8:20: food arrives
:8:20–9:00: eat food
:9:00–9:27: resume setting up
:9:27–9:52: more explanation
:9:52–10:13: restless faction tries to start simpler game
:10:13–10:38: general debate
:10:38–10:57: “It will make sense once you play”
:10:57–11:10: finish setting up
:after 11:10 PM: people head home

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Board games]]

Talk:2486: Board Game Party Schedule

2021-07-08T13:51:38Z

Thaledison:

Talk:2394: Contiguous 41 States

2020-12-07T15:01:16Z

Thaledison: Added note about citation needed for Alaska connecting to Canada referring to comic 2082

Missing contiguous states: Delaware, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.92|172.69.42.92]] 23:57, 4 December 2020 (UTC)
:I knew something was off, but I couldn't pinpoint anything until reading the explanation. That's so weird. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.66|172.69.22.66]] 07:54, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
:: I know. This is really well done! I actually came here expecting how the gag was somehow that it was just a regular map. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.218|162.158.75.218]] 08:06, 6 December 2020 (UTC)
:::I'm from Denmark, but played a game when I was a kid where you should name the states just by seeing the contour and location. It was a very early computer with only limited graphics. Like really early! But I could manage to get all 50, and I'm proud that it has stuck, so I could actually find the 7 states my self. And now that I'm thus better at naming states than most Americans ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:57, 6 December 2020 (UTC)
::::I did manage to find those 7, but I kept looking for the other two, because 41 is 50 minus 9. I double checked a few times before realizing that the other two were Alaska and Hawaii (*^^*) [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 14:47, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

'''Contiguous''' has more specific meaning that "share borders" - it means that you can travel (on land in the case of map) from any point to any point, and there would be no breaks and spaces in the territory. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 09:56, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

I know acting like descriptivism is the objectively correct approach to language is all the rage these days, but I don't think you can describe a linguistic event (a word catching on) as "descriptivist" or "prescriptivist", as the page proposed for "conterguous". That's like referring to an economic occurrence as "normative" or "positive". It's not either of those, it just happens. Descriptivism refers to a quality of linguistics itself, not to language; it means, well, describing language. It doesn't stand for organic growth (or the explicit endorsement thereof, which would actually be prescriptive, and there's nothing wrong with that). So I nixed the reference to it; I think the supplied top-down and bottom-up are apt enough to stand on their own for that tangent. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.92|172.68.206.92]] 12:37, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
:I wondered. "Prescriptive" and "descriptive" identify, I reckon, 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' processes, both are required to allow a language to grow while remaining comprehensible to all its speakers, and, at the time, the idea of linking an absurd "rage" with an absurd word seemed too good to pass on. Thanks for the correction. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.132|172.68.129.132]] 16:18, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

This is like a puzzle with almost fitting pieces, so by carefully removing some states, it results in a fake border, as shown here: https://imgur.com/a/W8RMKMF . [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.40|162.158.134.40]] 15:49, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
: I don't understand. There are borders throughout the map, and a lot of them appear to be messed up, not just that area of the map. Why does this particular vertical line in particular matter to you? Educate me! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.207|162.158.166.207]] 23:27, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

Living in Rhode Island, the smallest state, I thought it was humorous that RI was *not* omitted! Guess that would have been too easy... [[User:Davidhbrown|Davidhbrown]] ([[User talk:Davidhbrown|talk]]) 20:32, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
:Also those small states around there would be the first place people would look. Only Delaware, maybe one of the lesser mentioned states, is missing. But PA missing is huge. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:57, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Randall, you were searching for the word "contagious". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.24|162.158.159.24]] 10:18, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Someone should add a "citation needed" to the alaska bordering with canada sentence near the top of the explanation, with a link to comic 2082.\n I have no idea how to do this, so im putting it here. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.170|162.158.78.170]] 14:04, 6 December 2020 (UTC)
:Added --[[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 15:01, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

The District of Columbia can not become a state without a Constitutional Amendment, which is highly unlikely to happen (since it would require ratification by 3/4 of the states). For this reason, we should remove the "yet" link, despite all of the talk about DC statehood in the news. See also [https://www.heritage.org/report/the-constitution-and-the-district-columbia Heritage Foundation: The Constitution and the District of Columbia]. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 14:30, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

2394: Contiguous 41 States

2020-12-07T15:00:16Z

Thaledison: Added citation needed for Alaska connecting to Canada referring to comic 2082

{{comic
| number = 2394
| date = December 4, 2020
| title = Contiguous 41 States
| image = contiguous_41_states.png
| titletext = Linguists, settling some inscrutable grudge, have been steadily sneaking more backdated synonyms for 'sharing borders' into the dictionary. They've added 'contiguous,' 'coterminous,' 'conterminous,' and next year they're adding 'conterguous.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MISSING STATE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The United States of America is composed of {{w|List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States|50}} states, {{w|Contiguous United States|48 of which are contiguous}} – meaning they share common borders. Two states are separated from the other 48 states, {{w|Alaska}} and {{w|Hawaii}}. Alaska, purchased from Russia in 1867, is separated from the rest of the United States by the country of Canada[[[2082: Mercator Projection|''citation needed'']]]. Hawaii, annexed in 1898, is a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. As these states are not ''contiguous'' to the rest of the 48 states, they may be omitted from maps of the United States. Typically, these 2 states are included in inset maps, separate sections at the bottom of the map.

The United States also includes 5 permanently inhabited territories (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa), which are not contiguous with states. Puerto Rico {{w|2020_Puerto_Rican_status_referendum|may become a state}}. The District of Columbia is not ({{w|Statehood_movement_in_the_District_of_Columbia|yet}}) a state, but is contiguous with the states.

The map in this comic is "Alaska and Hawaii's revenge", with seven additional states removed: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Most of these are accomplished by eliminating a column of states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. Oklahoma and Texas, which are directly south of these, are slid over to the west into the space freed up by deleting New Mexico. The other two deleted states are Pennsylvania and Delaware, with the states to their south and north slid/extended to fill the gap.

The map is also missing {{w|Isle Royale}}, Michigan, the third-largest island in the contiguous U.S. This seems to be a legitimate oversight, as the map includes numerous smaller islands in detail, including Michigan's Beaver Island and North Manitou Island. Even the non-contiguous {{w|Northwest Angle}} of Minnesota is depicted.

The United States did have exactly 41 states for a few days in 1889, from the admission of Montana, the 41st state, on November 8, to the admission of Washington (the state, not DC), the 42nd state, on November 11. However, it was not the same 41 as shown here; for example, Pennsylvania and Delaware were two of the original 13 states (Delaware calls itself the first state, based on date of ratification of the Constitution) and Arizona and Oklahoma did not become states until the early 1900s.

The title text riffs on synonyms for "shared borders", which, according to Randall, linguists are inventing more of (while claiming they already existed) to make life more complicated for modern English users, for obscure reasons.

In fact, 'contiguous', 'coterminous', and 'conterminous' all date from early modern English, early-to-mid 17th century (just after the time of Shakespeare). 'Coterminous' and 'conterminous' are alternate spellings from the same Latin root ('cum' + 'terminus'), whereas 'contiguous' is from a different root (Latin 'contiguus'). Randall, facetiously, accuses linguists of having fabricated this history.

'Conterguous' is a neologism by Randall, though he blames it on linguists, consistent with his claim that they made up all the others. It is a portmanteau of 'CONTERminous' and 'contiGUOUS'. It is etymologically absurd (the prefix 'conter-' is meaningless). Its 'top-down' introduction into the language would simply be for the purpose of messing with people's minds, as Randall suggests. However, should the word catch on with English speakers, perhaps precisely because it is a joke, its 'bottom-up' entry into the language is certainly possible. One could then argue just how much Randall would have to answer for.

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

:[Heading above the panel:]
:The Contiguous 41 States

:[A map of the United States, missing Delaware, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, along with Alaska and Hawaii.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Tired of being left off maps of the US, Alaska and Hawaii begin producing maps with ''other'' states missing, too.

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

Talk:2394: Contiguous 41 States

2020-12-07T14:47:49Z

Thaledison: Fixed signature

Missing contiguous states: Delaware, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.92|172.69.42.92]] 23:57, 4 December 2020 (UTC)
:I knew something was off, but I couldn't pinpoint anything until reading the explanation. That's so weird. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.66|172.69.22.66]] 07:54, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
:: I know. This is really well done! I actually came here expecting how the gag was somehow that it was just a regular map. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.218|162.158.75.218]] 08:06, 6 December 2020 (UTC)
:::I'm from Denmark, but played a game when I was a kid where you should name the states just by seeing the contour and location. It was a very early computer with only limited graphics. Like really early! But I could manage to get all 50, and I'm proud that it has stuck, so I could actually find the 7 states my self. And now that I'm thus better at naming states than most Americans ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:57, 6 December 2020 (UTC)
::::I did manage to find those 7, but I kept looking for the other two, because 41 is 50 minus 9. I double checked a few times before realizing that the other two were Alaska and Hawaii (*^^*) [[User:Thaledison|Erin Anne]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 14:47, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

'''Contiguous''' has more specific meaning that "share borders" - it means that you can travel (on land in the case of map) from any point to any point, and there would be no breaks and spaces in the territory. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 09:56, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

I know acting like descriptivism is the objectively correct approach to language is all the rage these days, but I don't think you can describe a linguistic event (a word catching on) as "descriptivist" or "prescriptivist", as the page proposed for "conterguous". That's like referring to an economic occurrence as "normative" or "positive". It's not either of those, it just happens. Descriptivism refers to a quality of linguistics itself, not to language; it means, well, describing language. It doesn't stand for organic growth (or the explicit endorsement thereof, which would actually be prescriptive, and there's nothing wrong with that). So I nixed the reference to it; I think the supplied top-down and bottom-up are apt enough to stand on their own for that tangent. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.206.92|172.68.206.92]] 12:37, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
:I wondered. "Prescriptive" and "descriptive" identify, I reckon, 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' processes, both are required to allow a language to grow while remaining comprehensible to all its speakers, and, at the time, the idea of linking an absurd "rage" with an absurd word seemed too good to pass on. Thanks for the correction. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.132|172.68.129.132]] 16:18, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

This is like a puzzle with almost fitting pieces, so by carefully removing some states, it results in a fake border, as shown here: https://imgur.com/a/W8RMKMF . [[Special:Contributions/162.158.134.40|162.158.134.40]] 15:49, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
: I don't understand. There are borders throughout the map, and a lot of them appear to be messed up, not just that area of the map. Why does this particular vertical line in particular matter to you? Educate me! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.207|162.158.166.207]] 23:27, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

Living in Rhode Island, the smallest state, I thought it was humorous that RI was *not* omitted! Guess that would have been too easy... [[User:Davidhbrown|Davidhbrown]] ([[User talk:Davidhbrown|talk]]) 20:32, 5 December 2020 (UTC)
:Also those small states around there would be the first place people would look. Only Delaware, maybe one of the lesser mentioned states, is missing. But PA missing is huge. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:57, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Randall, you were searching for the word "contagious". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.24|162.158.159.24]] 10:18, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

Someone should add a "citation needed" to the alaska bordering with canada sentence near the top of the explanation, with a link to comic 2082.\n I have no idea how to do this, so im putting it here. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.170|162.158.78.170]] 14:04, 6 December 2020 (UTC)

The District of Columbia can not become a state without a Constitutional Amendment, which is highly unlikely to happen (since it would require ratification by 3/4 of the states). For this reason, we should remove the "yet" link, despite all of the talk about DC statehood in the news. See also [https://www.heritage.org/report/the-constitution-and-the-district-columbia Heritage Foundation: The Constitution and the District of Columbia]. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 14:30, 7 December 2020 (UTC)

User:Thaledison

2020-10-16T18:02:14Z

Thaledison: Creation

Just your average BS in Computer Engineering working in IT.
A trans woman trying to make it in a weary world.

Talk:2372: Dialect Quiz

2020-10-16T17:58:32Z

Thaledison: Added suggestion about question 9

Fun fact: shallots, scallops, and scallions ran against each other in [[1529: Bracket]]. (This will probably end up in the Trivia tab when one is created.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.10.135|172.69.10.135]] 20:50, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Cosmetology both sounds like "Cosmology" but it's also the fancy word for people who study cosmetics. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.92|172.68.174.92]] 21:22, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
: Aren't stars the people we took cosmetics advice from before there were influencers? Or are they the same thing? Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.102|162.158.155.102]] 00:55, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

I mean the water fountains might as well be gutter pipes
21:49, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

@kswoll: Pretty sure this is a direct parody of the NYTimes quiz here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html

* I agree, this was also tweeted about 3 days earlier by Nate Silver [https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1315348221565206530] - based on [[2371: Election Screen Time]], it's likely that Randall saw that tweet [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.27|162.158.62.27]] 03:29, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

The Google pronunciation question might be a reference to a reference to [https://youtu.be/epj8OzP6z-M?t=177 a scene] from the second-to-last episode of Halt and Catch Fire. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.165|162.158.79.165]] 23:35, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

My guess is it is a reference to Yahoo another search engine that had commercials with high pitched yelp and some might put emphasis on either the "Ya" or the "hoo"

While I agree that most people know what a hammer is, this is not hammer - or rather, may not be considered "standard" hammer. Personally I would call it "Hammer with that thing for pulling nails out", but I could be easily convinced that it has some other name which doesn't include the word "hammer", instead of (presumably correct) {{w|claw hammer}}. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:55, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
:My feeling is that claw hammers are the type of hammer that most people are familiar with, and would consider the archetype of hammer. If you go to {{w|hammer}} the first picture is a claw hammer. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]]
:: Objection, your honor! In German, this would be called a "Zimmermannshammer" (carpenter's hammer, which IS a claw hammer). But the Plato hammer has a simple wedge on the other side. Maybe a German almost never has the need to pull out nails again, /schweinhund/! :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.103|162.158.158.103]] 08:08, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 06:02, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
::: Well, this quiz is about English dialects, so German words aren't very relevant, and that term includes "hammer" as part of it anyway, as with most terms an English speaker would call this type of hammer, as people would indeed recognize it as a type of hammer and understand anyone referring to it as just "hammer" even if they might have a more specific name for the variety of hammer it is. People would not normally use the terms listed here for it.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.109|162.158.74.109]] 08:49, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
* Yeah, I was thinking it was a claw hammer, also. I do have a friend that pronounces the word jen-er-uh, even though I have specifically said the word correctly around him after he has used it. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 00:40, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
:: "genera" is a word. I typed it into Google, marvelled at the incomprehensible phonetic version, and tapped a speaker button. My computer said "Genera" and a box popped up that reads "Learn to pronounce", which I consider to be rude. But after all, I pressed the button. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.225|162.158.158.225]] 00:51, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
::Russian probe sent to Venus? And I'm so confident about that, that I shall not even check before posting. (No idea how it's said in Russian, but the Anglophone versios doesn't differ between anglophonic countries as much as "Moscow" does.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.72|162.158.155.72]] 01:34, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
::Yeah, yeah, so I now know I merged two different Russian space-thingies. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.140|162.158.159.140]] 01:40, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Ok, who’s the joker that put “Citation needed” at the end of “ "Google" is not generally pronounced with a high-pitched yelp on either syllable.[citation needed]”

"Many-legged scaly creature" makes me think of silverfish, centipedes or millipedes, though they have exoskeletons rather than scales, and ''certainly'' don't eat light bulbs. It seems to me that a segmented exoskeleton is reminiscent of scales, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.167|162.158.154.167]] 07:37, 15 October 2020 (UTC)
:Question 8 sounds like a hybrid, to me, with another part coming from a glow worm / firefly question. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.12|141.101.68.12]] 10:19, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

13 seems to be referring to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae these] to me. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.169|173.245.52.169]] 12:30, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Please feel free to edit/condense my rambly explanation of shallots/scallions. Debating removing the second and third detailed paragraphs entirely. I'm from NSW and have seen confusion on recipes posted online so not exactly impartial. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.134|103.22.201.134]] 16:40, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm half remembering in the original Thunderbirds series, an old NASA colleague of Geoff Tracey who 'poses' as an generic ¿Deep South? country-bumpkin/local-yokel (grown up in the area, though obviously smart enough to get into NASA and then later 'retire' to become a trusted International Rescue local agent... or so I may extrapolate) calling Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, with whom he was clearly familiar, "Penn elope" (to "rhyme with antelope"). I shall have to dig up my complete VHS tapes to confirm... and probably spend a couple of days just watching them all, for old times' sake ...but clearly the script called for an uneducated (mis)pronunciation of her name - maybe feigned as part of his act/through habit. So if it aint an actual misconception/affectation by ''someone'', that the scriptwriters (or voice-actor) used, then it needs far more explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.72|162.158.155.72]] 02:43, 16 October 2020 (UTC)
:When I was very very young, I did believe that Penelope rhymed with antelope. But ''The Perilous Perils of Penelope Pitstop'' soon put paid to that. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.52|141.101.98.52]] 10:27, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Re: "genre" - what about the Alex Trebek pronunciation? [[User:QoopyQoopy|QoopyQoopy]] ([[User talk:QoopyQoopy|talk]]) 03:52, 16 October 2020 (UTC)
:Anecdotal, I know, but I've never heard someone pronounce "genre" the same way they pronounce "Alex Trebek".
Also it was only a few months ago I figured out that Scallions weren't Scallops, so they can indeed easily be confused (in discussion, not when actually present, hopefully!) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 06:56, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

In Question 9, "Devil's Marks" may also be a reference to the question about rain on a sunny day in the Harvard study and NYT quiz. One of the answers is "The Devil is beating his wife" [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:58, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2116: .NORM Normal File Format

2019-03-01T20:16:36Z

Thaledison: Microsoft Implements .NORM

Oh man, I don’t know whether to laugh or passive aggressively link people this comic. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:55, 25 February 2019 (UTC)
:''Mumbles about special places in hell for people that deserve links of this comic'' [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.90|162.158.90.90]] 08:11, 26 February 2019 (UTC)
::link it to them? send it in a weird data format, including notification bar of a phone, etc.--[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:34, 26 February 2019 (UTC)
:::I think [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Flag this] needs to be here. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 12:52, 26 February 2019 (UTC)
:::: I will take a photo of the comic on my screen with my phone, send that to my PC, print it out onto paper, take a photo of that (on a wooden table), embed THAT photo into an Excel sheet comment, take a photo of THAT and embed into a Word Document, and send to my customers. They would find nothing untoward about this, based on how they send me error reports...[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.61|162.158.89.61]] 14:54, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

At the moment I'm seeing " https://twitter.com/openelex/status/853977391747801088 " as the title text [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.82|108.162.216.82]] 17:36, 25 February 2019 (UTC)
:That’s because the comic is a link, and clicking on it will take you there. The title text is correct, though. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 17:40, 25 February 2019 (UTC)
:: You prankster Randall. On mobile, we can only see the link **in text** as the title text. Am I to believe this, as another example of human mangling of information into an unreadable form, is an accident? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 19:01, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

Reminds me of [https://thedailywtf.com/articles/Web_0_0x2e_1 Web 0.1 at TheDailyWTF].[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.113|162.158.79.113]] 19:01, 25 February 2019 (UTC)

Why the bloody hell is everyone censoring me???[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.202|108.162.245.202]] 21:47, 25 February 2019 (UTC)
:From the revision history, the only things that look like they could be interpreted as being censored are the "JEWISH SHILL" thing from the (no longer present) "incomplete" tag, which is hate speech, and the "SOON THE TRUTH WILL BE REVEALED" thing that briefly replaced all of the actual content, which is vandalism. Both are considered unacceptable. See also [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1357:_Free_Speech xkcd #1357] [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.22|162.158.214.22]] 03:53, 26 February 2019 (UTC)
::This person seems to have trouble posting their edits (probably unfamiliar with the simultaneous revision merging features which appear when two people edit at the same time) & hence isn't properly submitting their edits in the first place. I too see no evidence of anything but the instances you listed. I think they are ignorant of the proper steps & paranoid enough to believe there's a conspiracy to remove their comments, going on. (Note to user at 108.162.245.202 : Any edits ''or'' censorship show up in each page's edit history (just like Wikipedia). It's pretty easy to see everything that's been written ''or'' removed. Aside from the incidents noted by 162.158.214.22, you haven't had ''anything'' removed; You're not completing the edit process to begin with.)
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:54, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

I'm on my phone but can someone please work this link into the explanation: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_art thanks
:Done. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.173|108.162.246.173]] 01:20, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

The "share" functionality on mobile systems may serve as a rather catch-all protocol. On PC not many apps have this in mind.
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.141.148|172.68.141.148]] 02:43, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

Could someone do a short explanation of what absentee precincts are? A (quick) google search could not answer that question to me, and I think for many who do not deal with the topic whichever absentee precincts refer to will have the same question... --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 08:07, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

I love .NORM files, they compress so well: https://explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1683:_Digital_Data [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.178|162.158.78.178]] 17:42, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

Is this really all that common? Am I the only one who came to explainxkcd because I only half got the joke? Sure, a photo of a screen with data is useless and stupid, but why make a comic about it? This has never happened to me. [[User:Jqavins|Jqavins]] ([[User talk:Jqavins|talk]]) 13:54, 27 February 2019 (UTC)
:It is really all that common. So common, in fact, that the original XKCD comic links to [https://twitter.com/openelex/status/853977391747801088 this]. That is on a government scale. Yes, it’s annoying. [[User:Netherin5|Netherin5]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 14:13, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

One possible legitimate use of this is when you don't trust the recipient from taking your hard work and not giving you credit for it. For an example when one of my previous employers laid me off because of 'financial reasons', there was a possibility that he might continue to send me projects as an independent contractor because he was under staffed. If he had sent me any projects, I was seriously considering sending him a screenshot of the Excel documents showing the work I completed for him to review and only after I get paid, I would submit the work to the web server because I did not trust him taking my work and uploading it himself without paying me for it.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.162|162.158.122.162]] 21:18, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

The title text is not proposing vector JPEG, but vector JPEG *artifacts*; that is to say, converting the artifacts inherent in JPEG into vector form to be included in the SVG.
:Yep, quite agree. The last paragraph misses the point IMHO. Using the terminology of the first half of the paragraph as it currently stands, Randall is proposing a filter that takes a line, caculates that it would run through X, Y and Z at low resolution, then expands the vector definition to include square blocks at those intervals (possibly with half-coloured squares surrounding it). Utterly pointless but it would satisfy both the needs of data users (since the underlying vector information is still there) and the aesthetic sensibilities of screenshot-posters (who expect to see blocky glitches). [[Special:Contributions/141.101.88.10|141.101.88.10]] 09:30, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

I just want to say, in the linked tweet from less then two years ago, there's a guy with a blue check mark whose running for Detroit city clerk to fix stuff like this and wanting to get with the data wonks who posted it to see what else there was. I thought that was hella cool and went to see if he won. The man is now Lt. Governor of Michigan. That's a hell of a two year run for anyone. Well done. -[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.64|172.68.174.64]] 03:52, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

So, 3 days after this went up, Microsoft posted this blog [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2019/02/28/new-to-microsoft-365-in-february-advance-security-and-empower-a-modern-workplace/#excel Add Data to Excel Directly from a Photo]. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 20:16, 1 March 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2063: Carnot Cycle

2019-02-26T18:18:40Z

Thaledison:

The Carnot cycle is a theoretical construct from thermodynamics describing an ideal way to produce work using a temperature differential. The shape of the diagram matches diagrams of said cycle. The different stages in the Carnot cycle are either isentropic or isothermal. 'Isometric', 'Isotonic', and 'Isopropyl' all play on the 'iso' prefix. 'Isometric' also describes the shape of the diagram. 'Isotonic' seems to have something to do with muscles... which I suppose have some relation to engines as well—they both do work.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.218.52|172.69.218.52]] 16:11, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
: Indeed, isotonic and isometric are types of exercises for muscle contraction. Isotonic means that they provide constant force, isometric that they produce no movement in the joints. Maybe the joke is that this are muscle constractions on a expanding phase of a cycle [[Special:Contributions/198.41.226.34|198.41.226.34]] 22:18, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

Did anyone notice that there is a note on the top of XKCD about how to register to vote? [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 17:18, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:Randall often gives some hints to elections, in this case it's the {{w|United States House of Representatives elections, 2018}} on November 6, 2018. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:30, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
::There are other things being voted on, aside from the House of Representatives. One third of the United States Senate is also up for election (as happens every two years), as well as numerous state offices.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.171|173.245.48.171]] 20:35, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

Please read the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ|Editor FAQ]] about tables, this here was a good example where tables should not be used (check the history at this comic for the former layout.) Furthermore we should explain the comic but not the real Carnot Cycle, that's done in the Wiki link or at least it should be done in a separate chapter. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:06, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:I'm sure it doesn't need a full explanation, but because the pairings of the stages are part of the joke, I think it's necessary to explain what each stage is. But just enough to explain the contrast. –[[User:P1h3r1e3d13|P1h3r1e3d13]] ([[User talk:P1h3r1e3d13|talk]]) 18:39, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
::I agree. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:46, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:::Thermodynamics is the hell! I've always hated it. But I entered the essential original terms with a short explanation. And now I feel we should reverse-translate Randalls words to the real thing, or more precise: a similar sentence using accurate words. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:36, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
::::Thermodynamics isn't the hell, it's unexplainable... IMHO real physicists shouldn't stuck on entropy, that's not a measurable value. It's more like... ohh, I don't want to say this here. Nonetheless I tried to give a short description on that ''official'' terms. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:37, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Decline and Fall could also reference Evelyn Waugh - though it is a stand alone novel, his first, not part of a cycle. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 12:13, 25 October 2018 (UTC)

Randall loves tautologies (see comics 703, and 1602) should we mention that "The gas becomes larger due to increasing volume" is a tautology?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.90|162.158.186.90]] 19:08, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

'''Inflation is probably wrong explained'''

One section before dark energy is mentioned, in Cosmology this energy causes the ''cosmic inflation''. I'm sure Randall talks about this. But maybe we just should mention both. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:12, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:The ''cosmic inflation'' is badly presented at Wikipedia. There was a Nobel Prize in 2011 exactly about this, but it's hard to find this at the corresponding Wiki articles. That's because I'm linking an article from National Geographic. Nonetheless, as a physicist I'm sure not the Nobel Prize but the conclusions will be proven as over-interpreted, but that's not part of the actual explanation here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

Is there a pun in the title text on token-ring (Tolkien ring) networks? [[User:Mlv|Mlv]] ([[User talk:Mlv|talk]]) 18:39, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:Nice idea, but I don't see that because there is no IBM here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:40, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

Wagner Ring Cycle probably refers to a part of the Five-Minute Comics: Part 1 in which Cueball and Bach are running away from Wagner, who is on his ring cycle. {{unsigned ip|172.68.211.10}}

'''Decline and fall'''

Current explanations for this reference don't seem to adequately explain why it would be a stage in a four-part cycle. Actually, the first thing which comes to mind is the [https://bycommonconsent.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/pridecycle.gif four-stage pride cycle] (repentance, prosperity, pride, destruction, repentance ''et cetera''), which is often referenced when analysing the plot of the Book of Mormon (though I don't see why it would be limited to that context). However, the precise term "decline and fall" doesn't seem to be used in the diagrams that first come up in a search for that (though it would be a fitting description for the destruction stage), and I don't know how well known that device is outside of LDS circles, so I'm not sure if that's being directly referenced.

The other thing which comes up is the [http://biology-igcse.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/0/7/15070316/408075.jpg?380 lag, growth, stagnation, decline] model which is often used for describing the development of a bacterial culture, though I've also been taught a remarkably similar model in the context of popularity over time of seaside resorts (with the addition of a possible rejuvenation stage), so it's not limited to biology. Although while it is a four-stage model with a "decline" stage, it's not inherently a cycle.

I suspect those might not the only things that have "decline and fall" as one of four parts ("cyclic", in either sense, or otherwise).

-- HarJIT [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.234|141.101.107.234]] 14:21, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

'''Title Text'''

The Name Carnot-Tolkien-Wagner Cycle is similar to other hyphenated names used for scientific hypotheses. For example, there's the Bose-Einstein condensate and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox ({{w|Wormhole|further examples in this article}}). [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 18:18, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2063: Carnot Cycle

2019-02-26T18:18:09Z

Thaledison: Added suggestion about possible reference in title text.

The Carnot cycle is a theoretical construct from thermodynamics describing an ideal way to produce work using a temperature differential. The shape of the diagram matches diagrams of said cycle. The different stages in the Carnot cycle are either isentropic or isothermal. 'Isometric', 'Isotonic', and 'Isopropyl' all play on the 'iso' prefix. 'Isometric' also describes the shape of the diagram. 'Isotonic' seems to have something to do with muscles... which I suppose have some relation to engines as well—they both do work.
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.218.52|172.69.218.52]] 16:11, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
: Indeed, isotonic and isometric are types of exercises for muscle contraction. Isotonic means that they provide constant force, isometric that they produce no movement in the joints. Maybe the joke is that this are muscle constractions on a expanding phase of a cycle [[Special:Contributions/198.41.226.34|198.41.226.34]] 22:18, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

Did anyone notice that there is a note on the top of XKCD about how to register to vote? [[User:Zachweix|Zachweix]] ([[User talk:Zachweix|talk]]) 17:18, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:Randall often gives some hints to elections, in this case it's the {{w|United States House of Representatives elections, 2018}} on November 6, 2018. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:30, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
::There are other things being voted on, aside from the House of Representatives. One third of the United States Senate is also up for election (as happens every two years), as well as numerous state offices.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.171|173.245.48.171]] 20:35, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

Please read the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ|Editor FAQ]] about tables, this here was a good example where tables should not be used (check the history at this comic for the former layout.) Furthermore we should explain the comic but not the real Carnot Cycle, that's done in the Wiki link or at least it should be done in a separate chapter. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:06, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:I'm sure it doesn't need a full explanation, but because the pairings of the stages are part of the joke, I think it's necessary to explain what each stage is. But just enough to explain the contrast. –[[User:P1h3r1e3d13|P1h3r1e3d13]] ([[User talk:P1h3r1e3d13|talk]]) 18:39, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
::I agree. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:46, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:::Thermodynamics is the hell! I've always hated it. But I entered the essential original terms with a short explanation. And now I feel we should reverse-translate Randalls words to the real thing, or more precise: a similar sentence using accurate words. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:36, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
::::Thermodynamics isn't the hell, it's unexplainable... IMHO real physicists shouldn't stuck on entropy, that's not a measurable value. It's more like... ohh, I don't want to say this here. Nonetheless I tried to give a short description on that ''official'' terms. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 00:37, 28 October 2018 (UTC)

Decline and Fall could also reference Evelyn Waugh - though it is a stand alone novel, his first, not part of a cycle. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 12:13, 25 October 2018 (UTC)

Randall loves tautologies (see comics 703, and 1602) should we mention that "The gas becomes larger due to increasing volume" is a tautology?[[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.90|162.158.186.90]] 19:08, 29 October 2018 (UTC)

'''Inflation is probably wrong explained'''

One section before dark energy is mentioned, in Cosmology this energy causes the ''cosmic inflation''. I'm sure Randall talks about this. But maybe we just should mention both. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:12, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:The ''cosmic inflation'' is badly presented at Wikipedia. There was a Nobel Prize in 2011 exactly about this, but it's hard to find this at the corresponding Wiki articles. That's because I'm linking an article from National Geographic. Nonetheless, as a physicist I'm sure not the Nobel Prize but the conclusions will be proven as over-interpreted, but that's not part of the actual explanation here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:34, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

Is there a pun in the title text on token-ring (Tolkien ring) networks? [[User:Mlv|Mlv]] ([[User talk:Mlv|talk]]) 18:39, 24 October 2018 (UTC)
:Nice idea, but I don't see that because there is no IBM here. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:40, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

Wagner Ring Cycle probably refers to a part of the Five-Minute Comics: Part 1 in which Cueball and Bach are running away from Wagner, who is on his ring cycle. {{unsigned ip|172.68.211.10}}

'''Decline and fall'''

Current explanations for this reference don't seem to adequately explain why it would be a stage in a four-part cycle. Actually, the first thing which comes to mind is the [https://bycommonconsent.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/pridecycle.gif four-stage pride cycle] (repentance, prosperity, pride, destruction, repentance ''et cetera''), which is often referenced when analysing the plot of the Book of Mormon (though I don't see why it would be limited to that context). However, the precise term "decline and fall" doesn't seem to be used in the diagrams that first come up in a search for that (though it would be a fitting description for the destruction stage), and I don't know how well known that device is outside of LDS circles, so I'm not sure if that's being directly referenced.

The other thing which comes up is the [http://biology-igcse.weebly.com/uploads/1/5/0/7/15070316/408075.jpg?380 lag, growth, stagnation, decline] model which is often used for describing the development of a bacterial culture, though I've also been taught a remarkably similar model in the context of popularity over time of seaside resorts (with the addition of a possible rejuvenation stage), so it's not limited to biology. Although while it is a four-stage model with a "decline" stage, it's not inherently a cycle.

I suspect those might not the only things that have "decline and fall" as one of four parts ("cyclic", in either sense, or otherwise).

-- HarJIT [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.234|141.101.107.234]] 14:21, 27 October 2018 (UTC)

'''Title Text'''
The Name Carnot-Tolkien-Wagner Cycle is similar to other hyphenated names used for scientific hypotheses. For example, there's the Bose-Einstein condensate and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox ({{w|Wormhole|further examples in this article}}). [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 18:18, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

Talk:2076: Horror Movies 2

2018-11-27T18:05:08Z

Thaledison: Added link in comments

I always assumed Jonas died too, but apparently the author wrote sequels and he didn't die [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.190|108.162.216.190]] 15:38, 23 November 2018 (UTC)
: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BackFromTheDead (it's actually rather Not Quite Dead, but the linked article has better info and links the other one.) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.128|162.158.88.128]] 18:26, 23 November 2018 (UTC)
: It feels like this: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathByNewberyMedal should be linked somewhere. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 18:05, 27 November 2018 (UTC)

In my opinion, tragic stories should be about something real that we can learn from. Other tragic media only serve to desensitize us to tragic realities. The proper response to something tragic is to prevent it in the future. You can't do that with a horror movie. I think people are responding to our culture's distance from the extreme tragic realities of the world: some part of our brain is craving to handle tragic things in a world where such stories are all hidden in some way. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.150|172.68.65.150]] 20:49, 23 November 2018 (UTC)

:There is quite a lot horror movies where the tragic part can totally be prevented if they just didn't do that obvious stupid thing they did, like going to the basement ... also, alternative explanation would be that people like tragic and horror movies because compared to that, their own tragedies don't look so serious. However, I might be bad person to explain ; I don't watch horror movies, I watch fantasy movies like Dracula or sci-fi like Frankenstein ... there are several movies where I was rooting for the monster. Ok, in some of them EVERYONE was rooting for the monster, but still. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:15, 23 November 2018 (UTC)
It should say Jonah [sic], not Jonas [sic]. The [sic] implies you did NOT correct it (so: the one quoting should not be blamed for the error). While, in this situation, you did correct the original error. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.38.40|162.158.38.40]] 07:19, 25 November 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1786: Trash

2018-09-25T16:42:05Z

Thaledison:

I put in an explanation, but I'm on a mobile device, so someone will need to fix all the spacing, and necessary links, and probably fix a bunch of other stuff too. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 07:26, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

Yucca Mountain is a nuclear waste storage. [[User:Sten|'''STEN''']] ([[User talk:Sten|talk]]) 07:33, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps one should mention that Narnia is a retelling of the Christian tradition. Aslan created all 'dimensions' or worlds including ours and is the allegorical Jesus. Narnia is a wonderful world for children, at least most of the time, when there are no witches, where they can have fun and are able to prove more noble than in the real world. Both makes dumping trash in Narnia quite sacrilegious. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.115|162.158.89.115]] 08:07, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
:I have mentioned some of it. But I do not think it is especially important for this comic, only for the fact that Aslan is God everywhere, and since Narnia is a dead world today, then Aslan could be in a different world that Blacl Hat taps into. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:50, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

Presumerably also the whole comic is a reference/cynical look at human's history of dumping things in the sea and so on? ( see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_debris for example) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.162|141.101.107.162]] 11:25, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
:Added some on this especially regarding the nuclear waste --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:50, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

Is Black Hat getting his furniture from Beret Guy's new shop? The wiki itself says that this seems like something that would happen. Comic [[1772: Startup Opportunity]].
[[User:SteelStarling|SteelStarling]] ([[User talk:SteelStarling|talk]]) 15:10, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
:Yeah but probably rather this shop: [[1533: Antique Factory]] ;) The wiki says what the users can agree upon. I wrote most of the current explanation. (And then someone else was so nice to copy edit all my spelling mistakes - not a native English speaker!) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:45, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

If we dumped radioactive waste into Narnia, wouldn't Narnia receive much less waste per unit time, than we are inserting? Therefore the nuclear waste problem would be much less severe than on Earth? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.70|162.158.59.70]] 23:31, 16 January 2017 (UTC)
:Well for some isotopes the half life is billions of year (Uranium for instance) so that kind of waste would not wither away in Narnia which only reaches an age of a few thousand years... So they would sum up even though they came in over a longer period. And most importantly, it was not their problem but ours. Just like 1st world problems are exported to 3rd world countries... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:24, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

Actually, subduction zone tectonic deposition of nuclear waste is a very promising form of nuclear waste disposal that would be considered oceanic disposal, which is why no one's been able to try it yet. Additionally, I'd like to point out that oceanic disposal of nuclear waste isn't really a current issue, since it's been banned by a number of treaties, and nuclear power plants are monitored closely enough that it doesn't really happen anymore. {{unsigned ip|162.158.122.108}}

Anyone else think that this is pretty derivative of this SMBC comic? Similar themes of Narnia and the nuclear waste: [http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3513 Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]. {{unsigned ip|129.59.122.25}}
:Yes, added it to the explanation. Thanks ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:21, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

The first two panels read naturally with "Narnia" as a metaphor for a culture's sacred narratives, and "garbage chute" as a metaphor for the exploitation of those narratives by sociopathic individuals/corporations/subcultures (in the person of Black Hat). Then per the Narnia Wiki ( http://narnia.wikia.com/wiki/Cat ), the name of the "large cat" is Ginger, whose Narnia-fate is to become soulless; transparently a reference to a "ginger"-haired American politician "He Who Must Not Be Named". [[User:John Sidles|John Sidles]] ([[User talk:John Sidles|talk]]) 11:02, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
:Could be, but more probably Aslan is referenced as cat. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.164|162.158.88.164]] 09:57, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

Do we need a Narnia category? There are quite a few references to the books now... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:18, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

The Pevensies went to Narnia because Aslan wanted them to know him better there so that they could learn to know him here. Edward and Eustace both learned to be much better people there. If half his furniture has portals, then it seems to me that Aslan is *really* trying hard to reach Black Hat! {{unsigned ip|162.158.179.214}}

The explanation refers to The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe as being the first Narnia book. However, it is only arguably so. As I understand it, it was the first one written, but as it turned into a series, C.S. Lewis wrote another book to be book 1 of the series, The Magician's Nephew, as I recall, making this actually the second book of the series. But Book 1 seems often skipped, especially in adaptations (such as the BBC miniseries series of the 80s and the more recent movies), so Wardrobe is the best known and Book 1 seems often overlooked. Nevertheless, it IS the first book now, and has been for decades. - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.21|162.158.62.21]] 03:33, 20 January 2017 (UTC) I finally signed up! This comment is mine. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 03:54, 13 June 2017 (UTC)
:When reading, 'The Magician's Nephew' feels like it fits more naturally as the sixth book (which is when it was published), even though its events predate 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'. A similar thing happens with the fifth published book 'The Horse and His Boy', which has events that take place within the time jump in the last chapter of 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 16:38, 25 September 2018 (UTC)
::Also, I used to collect copies of this series. Most of the copies I have have the book number on them, and the first time I saw a collection with 'The Magician's Nephew' as the first book was in the mid-late 1990s.

Talk:1786: Trash

2018-09-25T16:38:45Z

Thaledison:

Talk:1989: IMHO

2018-05-04T17:26:27Z

Thaledison:

I mean, the dress is b&w if you have one of the forms of colorblindness. Although, what colors ''is'' it? [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:33, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
: The gold/black part is 61522F hex and the white/blue part is 8190B2 hex. [[User:Grabadora304|Grabadora304]] ([[User talk:Grabadora304|talk]]) 16:55, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
Currently adding transcript. [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:38, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:Did top row. Feel free to format it differently. [[User:SilverMagpie|SilverMagpie]] ([[User talk:SilverMagpie|talk]]) 16:42, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
::''Screams in edit conflicts.'' [[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:53, 4 May 2018 (UTC)
:::Okay, I've normalized the formatting to what seems to be the standard: uniform indent with ":".[[User:Chbs|Chbs]] ([[User talk:Chbs|talk]]) 16:57, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

AFAIK In normal (British) usage the phrase is "In my humble opinion" and I have heard it said, when someone prefaces their contribution with IMHO it is rarely humble but is definitely an opinion. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 16:47, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

No lie, I had a manager who used to refer to the database language as Squeal. As in a high-pitched animal sound. We had an in-house database tool called PiggySQL. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:26, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Talk:1864: City Nicknames

2017-07-17T13:48:43Z

Thaledison:

For some reason I'm reminded of [https://xkcd.com/1759/ this comic]. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 11:41, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

"Urban Orb" may refer to Boston, aka "The Hub". {{unsigned ip|108.162.219.220}}

Los Vegas may be sin city, but I'm pretty sure that Las Vegas is quickly becoming Skin City [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 13:01, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

My only guess as to "The Walled Garden": In the video game series ''{{w|Mass Effect}}'', the name of the homeworld of the Quarian species, [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rannoch Rannoch], translates to "walled garden". Not something I really associated with xkcd, admittedly. [[User:PvOberstein|PvOberstein]] ([[User talk:PvOberstein|talk]]) 13:19, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

A guess at "Hamtown" instead of Hamburg would be "Hogtown", a common nickname for Toronto, Canada {{unsigned|Harebenj}}

The Mobius Strip is also a district in the fictional [http://perplexcitywiki.com/wiki/Mobius_Strip Perplex City]. I'm sure I've seen it used in some cyberpunk-ish novel as well, but can't identify it off the top of my head. - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.76|141.101.98.76]] 13:46, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

Well Folk might be a variation on Wee Folk. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 13:48, 17 July 2017 (UTC)

1513: Code Quality

2016-06-17T18:39:41Z

Thaledison: /* Trivia */

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

==Explanation==
This comic is about the apprehension of asking for help from an expert who is a friend. Often we fear that we will be judged and they will think less of us, which is what occurs in this comic.

[[Ponytail]] is about to look at some {{w|source code}} [[Cueball]] has written, and he is warning her that he is self-taught so his code probably won't be written the way she is used to.

In spite of Ponytail's initial (polite) optimism, she comments in three increasingly harsh similes.

First, she suggests that reading his code is like being in a house built by a child, using a small axe to put together what he thought was a house based on a picture. She is saying that the code shows a lack of command of the language being programmed. This is like the common expression "if the only tool you have is a hammer, you'll treat everything as if it were a nail". New programmers make use the same techniques repeatedly, making them fit for situations that they are not intended for.

Second, she suggests that it looks like a salad recipe, written by a corporate lawyer on a phone with autocorrect that only corrected things to formulas from Microsoft Excel. She is saying that the code is verbose and the corrections that were done are illogical. This presumably relates to the developer not being an expert in their craft, and fixing the problems as they come up instead of reexamining the problem and solving it in a better way.

Third, she describes it as a transcript of a couple arguing at {{w|IKEA}}, which was then randomly edited until the computer compiled it with no errors. She is saying that the intent of the code is unclear due to the seemingly random use of the language. This is very similar to an infinite amount of monkeys bashing away on typewriters for an infinite amount of time eventually producing the complete works of Shakespeare. (A couple's argument may be even less coherent at Ikea than at the average store, since Ikea products have idiosyncratic names that are difficult to pronounce or transcribe for anyone who doesn't speak Swedish.) This might happen if the code was written so bad that it does not compile, and people edited the code until it compiles so they can see what the code accomplishes. That Cueball's code is in this bad a shape indicates he really hasn't learned the programming language; he just happens to have a program that works in some shape or fashion.

Finally, Cueball makes the rather weak assurance that he will read "a style guide", which articulates the intended use of the language. It seems clear from Ponytail's commentary that his {{w|Software quality|code quality}} would benefit from far more training in computer programming.

The title text refers to {{w|emoji}}. Ponytail's comment implies that some of Cueball's variables contained emoji, perhaps in an effort to capture the emotional content of the arguments which show through the requirements document.

The comic has a sequel in [[1695: Code Quality 2]].

===emoji===
Many crying-face emoji are possible if variables can include full Unicode (e.g., 😢,😭,😂,😪,😥,😰,😿,😹). In some programming languages it would be impossible to use them in variable names, as the symbols would break the language's syntax rules. Exceptions to this include {{w|Go (programming language)|Go}}, {{w|Swift (programming language)|Swift}}, and {{w|Java (programming language)|Java}} ([http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-3.html#jls-3.8], [http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Character.html#isUnicodeIdentifierPart%28int%29]), but most languages with compilers that support Unicode characters can include this kind of emoji, even for languages that predate Unicode like {{w|C++}} and {{w|Lisp_(programming_language)|Lisp}}

===Programming Style===
Although few programming languages require a perfectly rigid style, so long as the code is syntactically accurate, most programmers follow some sort of {{w|Programming style|style}} to make the code easier to read. This includes indenting lines to show levels and using descriptive variable identifiers with special capitalization, (e.g., {{w|camelCase}}, capitalizing each word except for the first in a sentence, or {{w|snake_case}}, separating lowercase words with underscores).

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

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

:[Ponytail sits at desk, Cueball stand behind her.]
:Ponytail: It's like a salad recipe written by a corporate lawyer using a phone autocorrect that only knew Excel formulas.

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

==Trivia==
*Emoji can be simulated using {{w|ASCII}} characters, and but their roots are mostly separate from ASCII {{w|emoticon}}s. Most languages will allow variable names to include underscores, so some sad face ASCII emoticon will be legal variable names, such as <code>T_T</code>, <code>p_q</code>, <code>ioi</code> etc., but such things rarely show up in software variables. Many more can be made possible using [http://hexascii.com/sad-emoticons/ UTF-8 characters].

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

Talk:1642: Gravitational Waves

2016-02-11T23:51:26Z

Thaledison:

"Local group" refers to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group. Lonely singles (black holes?) meeting on a galactic scale would produce another gravitational event. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.223|162.158.90.223]] 21:39, 11 February 2016 (UTC) Christoph Berg

Should we add a Trivia section regarding the fact that this comic was posted outside the normal M-W-F schedule? [[User:Edo|Edo]] ([[User talk:Edo|talk]]) 23:03, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

Should there be some kind of mention of the possibility (or lack thereof) of artificial gravity waves being used for long-distance communicaiton? --[[User:Joshupetersen|Joshupetersen]] ([[User talk:Joshupetersen|talk]]) 23:41, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

I'm not sure everyone knows what the solar mass symbol looks like. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 23:51, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:1639: To Taste

2016-02-05T14:02:49Z

Thaledison:

Seasoning is not an intermediate process which can't be repaired/re-done. you're left with an edible dish before and after. You add seasoning in small incremental steps, and the quality of the dish, or appropriateness of the taste improves monotonically, and additively. On the other hand, baking something for 5 minutes, and then another 5 minutes isn't the same as baking it for 10 minutes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.78|162.158.49.78]] 09:54, 5 February 2016 (UTC)
: Yeah, but a beginner should be given an idea of what a basic incremental step is supposed to be, based on the number of servings in the recipe. One pinch? One (tea/table)spoon? One cup? One jug? One crate? - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.70.23|141.101.70.23]] 11:38, 5 February 2016 (UTC)
: Usually when it's said ''to taste'', which I guess corresponds to the Italian ''quanto basta'', it's referring to small amounts, so a beginner could just add a pinch per time until he finds the flavor is good. Whenever it's unnecessary, recipes shouldn't be specific; you don't have to grill a steak for exactly 5 or 10 minutes, just until it has the color and looks of a steak you think you may like; if you boil pasta, you taste a bit once a minute until the texture is good. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.249|188.114.102.249]] 12:25, 5 February 2016 (UTC)
::: The joke is that this kind of knowledge is implied in recipes, it isn't spelled out. Which can be a problem for beginners. And good luck trying that approach when baking spiced bread. Or manufacturing soufflé. ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.138|162.158.114.138]] 13:15, 5 February 2016 (UTC)
::: Luckily, there are pastas which specify how long you are supposed to cook them on the package. Especially useful in case of those "fast" ones. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 13:57, 5 February 2016 (UTC)
: "Appropriateness" increases "monotonically" ... until it decreases again. :D [[Special:Contributions/162.158.114.138|162.158.114.138]] 13:15, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

I can't tell if Randall is reading too many cookbooks or if he just has... Too many cooks[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.54|108.162.221.54]] 13:46, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

Maybe he obtained enough sugar so his sample size would be sufficient for scientific experimentation on what to taste means.[[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 14:02, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

Talk:456: Cautionary

2016-01-26T17:59:40Z

Thaledison:

Isn't 'Talk to your kids about...' from a famous Unilever ad? [[Special:Contributions/101.174.52.183|101.174.52.183]] 09:47, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Is this Megan? Her hair seems awfully curly and it says she's his cousin. Is there an official transcript? [[User:Theo|Theo]] ([[User talk:Theo|talk]]) 20:46, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
:Official transcripts, if they do exist, do not contain names in general. These names are just an invention by some communities like this wiki. So, if you have a better stick figure which would match her, talk about this.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 21:16, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
::She is clearly not Megan. I propose to call her ''cousin''. [[User:Xhfz|Xhfz]] ([[User talk:Xhfz|talk]]) 22:20, 13 October 2013 (UTC)
::There exists an official transcript for each comic, available to see in the page's source code. According to a comment in [[1037:_Umwelt]], Randall does apparently not type those, but is seemingly done by Davean, his friend maintaining the server. (Note: this is just a guess) [[User:Vgr|Vgr]] ([[User talk:Vgr|talk]]) 11:22, 22 October 2013 (UTC)
::I don't think that this is Megan either. I propose to call her Alice, though, in reference to cryptography. [[User:Official.xian|Official.xian]] ([[User talk:Official.xian|talk]]) 19:46, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

::I think we're all forgetting something very important here: It's a true story, therefore she has a real name. If we really wanted her correct name, we'd be pestering Randall for it. Anonymous 23:26, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
:::And since it's a true story Cueball here's probably meant to be Randall himself. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:57, 14 November 2014 (UTC)
::::And the hair not reminiscent of Megan.[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.25|173.245.55.25]] 17:26, 18 March 2015 (UTC)
:::::Then why has nobody fixed it to say Cousin instead of Megan?... [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.166|173.245.54.166]] 19:42, 3 April 2015 (UTC)
::::::Done. I'm not sure abiut the hyperlinks though, if they're supposed to be on every reference to curball then someone shoulf add those. [[User:Bbruzzo|Bbruzzo]] ([[User talk:Bbruzzo|talk]]) 15:28, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

The last paragraph is taking quite a leap. While she has obviously learned over the 3 months, we have no idea if she is actually building her kernel in a critical and meaningful way. Does not fit with actual comic. [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 19:28, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

The part where it says man pages use simple unambiguous language made me laugh[[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:59, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

1628: Magnus

2016-01-11T18:57:56Z

Thaledison: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1628
| date = January 11, 2016
| title = Magnus
| image = magnus.png
| titletext = In the latest round, 9-year-old Muhammad Ali beat 10-year-old JFK at air hockey, while Secretariat lost the hot-dog-eating crown to 12-year-old Ken Jennings. Meanwhile, in a huge upset, 11-year-old Martha Stewart knocked out the adult Ronda Rousey.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] shows [[Megan]] an {{w|mobile app|app}}, [http://magnuscarlsen.com/playmagnus Play Magnus] ([https://itunes.apple.com/app/play-magnus/id808138395?mt=8 iOS], [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.mw.playmagnus Android]) which claims to simulate playing {{w|chess}} against {{w|Magnus Carlsen}} at various ages. Magnus is a {{w|chess grandmaster}} who was ranked no. 1 in the world when this comic was released.

The idea behind the app is that as Magnus grows up he becomes better at chess and thus it become exceedingly difficult to beat him as he gets older. But it claims to do so with an unlikely precision which Randall is mocking; e.g. that Cueball could have beaten Magnus when he was 8½-year-old, but not a half-year later.

Taking the mocking a step further, Megan wants such an app for other sports {{w|tennis}} and {{w|Swimming (sport)|swimming}}, where skill couldn't imaginably be simulated via an app at all. She wants to compare herself to an 8-year-old {{W|Serena Williams}}, a top-ranked professional tennis player. Or to a 6-year-old {{W|Michael Phelps}}, the {{w|List_of_multiple_Olympic_medalists#List_of_most_Olympic_medals_over_career|most decorated Olympian competitor}} of all time.

Cueball expands beyond sport, wishing to determine if he could cook better than an 11-year-old {{W|Martha Stewart}} (author of several cookbooks). Megan wonders if she'd have won an election against a 12-year old JFK ({{W|John F. Kennedy}}, the 35th American President). Obviously, cooking and politics were skills acquired later in life for both figures.

Cueball and Megan continue speculating about their wished-for app simulating what random celebrities (or animals) could do at certain ages, even beyond the skills that made them famous. They finally end up comparing 8-year-old Magnus's swimming skill against 9-year-old Martha's (he wins). But they'd both lose a {{w|hot dog}}-{{w|Competitive eating|eating contest}} against the championship race horse {{W|Secretariat (horse)|Secretariat}}. At this point even Megan realizes (with considerable understatement) their project "has gotten weird".

The title text extends the point to even greater absurdity, e.g. the ludicrous prospect of a young Martha Stewart knocking an adult {{W|Ronda Rousey}} unconscious, or 9-year-old {{W|Muhammad Ali}} beating a 10-year-old JFK in {{w|air hockey}}. The horse also gets re-mentioned in the title text, losing in a hot dog eating contest against 11-year-old {{W|Ken Jennings}}. Ronda Rousey is an Olympic bronze medalist judoka and MMA fighter; when this comic was released Ronda Rousey had just lost to {{w|Holly Holm}} in a major upset. Muhammad Ali is one of the all-time great boxers. At the time of this comic Ken Jennings is the record-holder for his winning streak on ''{{W|Jeopardy!}}''.

Chess was previously compared to {{w|basketball}} in [[1392: Dominant Players]], which also mentioned Magnus. This is the tenth [[:Category:Chess|comic about chess]] on {{xkcd}}.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball walks from the right towards Megan while holding up his smartphone.]
:Cueball: Magnus Carlsen has an app where you can play chess against a simulated version of him at different ages.
:Cueball: I can beat the 8½-year-old, but lose to him at 9.

:[While Megan talks to Cueball he lifts his hand to his chin, while holding the smartphone down.]
:Megan: I want that, but for other games. Can I beat 8-year-old Serena Williams at Tennis? Swim laps faster than a 6-year-olf Michael Phelps?
:Cueball: We should make a simulator.

:[Cueball walks out left and Megan follows him. He must have pocketed his phone as it is not in his hand.]
:Cueball: ...Why limit it to games? Can I cook a better chicken than 11-year-old Martha Stewart?
:Megan: Win an election against 12-year-old JFK?

:[At the top frame of this panel there is a small frame with a caption. Below lies Megan on the floor to the left in front of her laptop, while Cueball sits on the floor to the right facing her in front of his own laptop. Between them are some heavy books.]
:Soon...
:[Cueball and Megan sitting at laptops in the bottom of the panel.]
:Megan: Looks like 8-year-old Magnus Carlsen can swim faster than 9-year-old Martha Stewart.
:Cueball: But they both lose a hot-dog-eating contest to 2-year-old Secretariat.
:Megan: This project has gotten weird.

==Trivia==
The app they are talking about is called [http://magnuscarlsen.com/playmagnus Play Magnus].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Chess]]
[[Category:Sport]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Talk:730: Circuit Diagram

2015-10-05T17:19:49Z

Thaledison:

So, is the arena a new kind of comparator or something? '''[[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]]'''[[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>[talk]</tt>]] 13:28, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

11:13, 10 April 2013 (UTC)11:13, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[[User:Jh6p|Jh6p]] ([[User talk:Jh6p|talk]])
The 3 liter capacitor could also be a ball approximately 6 inches in diameter if the seams on the ball were similar to the seams on a basketball. Perhaps a volleyball?

: "A squirrel. What it does as a circuit element is unsure."
Perhaps an allusion to a {{w|Squirrel-cage rotor|squirrel cage}}?
[[User:Wwoods|Wwoods]] ([[User talk:Wwoods|talk]]) 18:51, 22 April 2013 (UTC)

: The shape of the squirrel's tail reminds me of a {{w|hysteresis}} curve, although this is admittedly a bit of a stretch. —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 16:02, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

The 'to scale' motor would be about half a mile wide. Powering the rabbit on Gaia's vibrator (also included)? --[[User:StarChaser Tyger|StarChaser Tyger]] ([[User talk:StarChaser Tyger|talk]]) 08:40, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

I beg to differ on the flux capacitor thing, as cool as it sounds. Since it is right above the I-90 notation, it is more likely a fork in the road (notice the road stripes indicating that you can pass at any point in the fork). [[Special:Contributions/97.87.12.114|97.87.12.114]] 02:15, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
: Oh, I'm pretty sure it's a flux capacitor. Compare some of [http://www.google.com/search?q=flux+capacitor&tbm=isch these images]. Yes, there are several road references in this comic, but an electronic reference (especially to a ''fictional'' electronic component!) makes more sense. Also I've never seen a Y-shaped highway intersection that looked quite like that (and especially not on an interstate). —[[User:Scs|Scs]] ([[User talk:Scs|talk]]) 14:52, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

I have wasted 4 hours on the puzzle, and after wasting 9 pages of A5 paper, the resistance of that terrible resistor mess worked out to be exactly 25265/33783 ohm, or about 0.74786135 ohm. --KopaLeo [[Special:Contributions/199.48.226.89|199.48.226.89]] 15:16, 27 June 2013 (UTC)

I think that the "fishing float" might actually be a picture of an ordinary push switch (similar to foot switches used on standard lamps). [[Special:Contributions/87.194.171.29|87.194.171.29]] 16:12, 10 July 2013 (UTC)

Isn't the "YES" resistor a reference to the anecdote of how John Lennon and Yoko Ono met? That's what I thought when I saw it, but then, I kinda like The Beatles a bit. [[Special:Contributions/200.70.22.74|200.70.22.74]] 12:27, 16 September 2013 (UTC)

I think the attempt to explain every single piece of the comic is rather silly. The humor largely draws from the absurdity of the diagram, and that can probably be summarized without going into detail about the possible references of each individual component. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.130.180|199.27.130.180]] 03:22, 26 November 2013 (UTC)
: I disagree. The joke works on multiple levels, both the absurdity of the circuit, and the smaller parts of which it is comprised. [[User:Hydroksyde|Hydroksyde]] ([[User talk:Hydroksyde|talk]]) 02:40, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

I concur with KopaLeo - I got the same answer for the resistance of the grid of resistors - about 0.748 when rounded. What a problem!
--techdude
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.65|108.162.215.65]] 20:45, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

I feel like I should point out that putting a ground connection in holy water probably creates {{w|Holy Ground}} [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.197|108.162.212.197]] 11:36, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

To center of Sun could possibly be another map reference. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.202|108.162.250.202]] 01:08, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

The 'moral rectifier' seems like it's built of diodes which prevent current flow to the left, which might mean it's making the current 'more right'? with right being a synonym for moral?
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.18|108.162.212.18]] 00:15, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

;3L capacitor

The capacitor reminded me of a time I asked my dad why desktop PCs (the kind we could afford at the time were 200-500 W) couldn't have capacitors to protect them from 1-second or shorter power interruptions without the cost of a UPS. He said such a capacitor would have to be as wide and tall as a 2L pop bottle. (He didn't say how much it would weigh.) [[User:Promethean|Promethean]] ([[User talk:Promethean|talk]]) 04:38, 9 September 2014 (UTC)

Where did the claim that the EKG is atrial fibrillation come from? At best it it hard to tell without a time scale what the ventricular rate is, but there is no evidence of extra P waves between QRS complexes that I see. If the diagnosis is made based on the absence of P & T waves, keep in mind that some recording conditions make those (especially T) hard to see. In an {{w|Einthoven's triangle}} arrangement, they might not show up at all above the noise. If we had a time scale that let us calculate ventricular rate, we might be able to conclude {{w|supraventricular tachycardia}}, but I'm hesitant to make a strong claim that this is abnormal at all given that it's hand drawn and we have no scale.[[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 21:07, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Does this really belong in Category:Charts? I'm moving it to Category:Maps instead. [[User:gijobarts|gijobarts]] ([[User Talk:gijobarts|talk]]) 21:38, 19 February 2015 (UTC)

Are we really explaining "vibrator" as "a motor with an off-center weight attached to it"? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.91.97|141.101.91.97]] 06:51, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

I just spent 3 hours trying to work out the resistor nest. I was unsuccessful. [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 05:32, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

I did an LTSpice simulation or the resistor mess. It looks like the 25265/33783 ohm answer above is correct. It drew 1.3371463 amps from a one volt source. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.133}}

Based on Randall's promotion of international standards (such as ISO 8601), it seems odd that he's using the US zigzag symbol for a resistor, rather than the IEC rectangular one. [[User:Walale12|Walale12]] ([[User talk:Walale12|talk]]) 21:37, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Looking at the label "Tear Collector" I think it refers to the heartbeat below it, not the symbol above, suggesting that a heart (or heart break) is a likely source of tears. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.44}}

I'm not sure why the rat's nest of resistors is considered such a difficult problem. I would like to respectfully point out that by far the easiest way to solve it is by assuming a constant current through the network. You can then assign a name to each of the nodes, set one of the end nodes to 0V, and solve by KCL. Granted, there are 13 unknowns and 14 equations, but it still took less than 30 minutes to complete since they are all 1st order! archerator [[User:Archerator|Archerator]] ([[User talk:Archerator|talk]]) 04:57, 30 August 2015 (UTC)

120×72 @ 537,847: the coil symbol next to "Take off shirt while wiring this part. Ooh, yeah, I like that." is similar in appearance to chest hair in stylized comic strips. [[User:Thaledison|Thaledison]] ([[User talk:Thaledison|talk]]) 17:19, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-10T18:18:35Z

Thaledison: First stab at a more complete Fourth Column

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

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

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

The idea behind the map is that if you know this and the relevant movies, you can use it to determine where you are by comparing your knowledge of the movies with the sceneries you can see from where you stand. This is what the heading above the map clearly states.

Below this are given the two groups of people who will have most use for this sheet: First there are the "GeoGuessrs." {{w|GeoGuessr}} is a game using {{w|Google Street View}} images, which drops the player in a random location and challenges them to work out where they are. (This game was already referenced in [[1214: Geoguessr]]). Secondly there are the "Crash-landed astronauts."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Trivia==

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

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

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

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-10T17:17:49Z

Thaledison: /* Table */

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

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

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

The idea behind the map is that if you know this and the relevant movies, you can use it to determine where you are by comparing your knowledge of the movies with the sceneries you can see from where you stand. This is what the heading above the map clearly states.

Below this are given the two groups of people who will have most use for this sheet: First there are the "GeoGuessrs." {{w|GeoGuessr}} is a game using {{w|Google Street View}} images, which drops the player in a random location and challenges them to work out where they are. (This game was already referenced in [[1214: Geoguessr]]). Secondly there are the "Crash-landed astronauts."

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

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

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

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Movie Title
! Setting for Movie
! Actual Filming Location(s)
! Section on map
! Notes
|-
| {{w|The Goonies}}
|
| Cannon Beach, and Astoria, OR
|
|
|-
| {{w|Twilight (2008 film)| Twilight}}
| Forks, WA
| Portland, OR
| rowspan="2" | {{w|Washington (state)|WA}}, {{w|Oregon|OR}} and most northern part of {{w|California|CA}} except for the part taken up by The Goonies.
| Same sections as 50 Shades of Grey
|-
| {{w|Fifty Shades of Grey (film)|50 Shades of Grey}}
| Seattle, WA
| Vancouver, BC
| Same sections as Twilight which is clear from this fact: The Fifty series was originally a {{w|fan fiction}} version of Twilight, but then developed into three full novels.
|-
| {{w|Zodiac (film)|Zodiac}}
| San Francisco Bay Area
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Rock (film)|The Rock}}
| {{w|Alcatraz Island}}
| {{W|Alcatraz Island}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dances with Wolves}}
| Fort Sedgwick, CO
| South Dakota and Wyoming
| rowspan= "2" |
|
|-
| {{w|Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers}}
| Planet Klendathu
| Hell's Half Acre, WY
|
|-
| {{w|Napoleon Dynamite|Napoleon Dynamite}}
| Preston, Idaho
| Preston, Idaho
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Sandlot|The Sandlot}}
| Suburban Los Angeles
| Salt Lake City, Utah
|
|
|-
| {{w|Wild Wild West|Wild Wild West}}
| The southwest area
| Tuscon, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Pierce, Idaho
|
|
|-
| {{w|Top Gun|Top Gun}}
| NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| Nevada, NAS Miramar, San Diego, CA
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Part of Independence Day}}
| Grand Canyon & Area 51
| Utah / Nevada
|
|-
| {{w|Sideways|That movie about wine & talking}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
| {{w|Santa Ynez Valley}}
|
| He clearly means ''Sideways''. Mapped area does not include the Santa Ynez Valley wine country, but instead shows the {{w|Central_Valley_(California)|California Central Valley}}.
|-
| {{w|List of most expensive films|Every movie with a big budget...}}
|
|Hollywood, CA
|
|
|-
| {{w|Brokeback Mountain|Brokeback Mountain}}
| Wyoming
| Southern Alberta
|
|
|-
| {{w|Oregon Trail (video_game)|Oregon Trail}}
| {{w|Platte River|Platte}}, {{w|Snake River|Snake}}, and {{w|Columbia River|Columbia}} river valleys
|Video Game, not a film
|
| Could also refer to the film ''{{w|The Oregon Trail (1936 film)|The Oregon Trail}}''.
|-
| {{w|Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|Roadrunner cartoons}}
| {{w|Southern Arizona}}
|Animated, not filmed
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}} but with desert in the background
|
|
|
| If it were filmed in Las Vegas ...
|-
| {{w|Tombstone (film)|Tombstone}}
| {{w|Tombstone, Arizona|Tombstone, AZ}}
| Arizona
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|The Mask of Zorro|The Mask of Zorro}}
| California
| Mexico
|
|-
| {{w|No Country for Old Men (film)|No Country for Old Men}}
| (West) Texas
| Texas, New Mexico
|
|
|-
| {{w|Fargo (film)|Fargo}}
| Fargo ND, Brainerd MN, Minneapolis MN
| Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, Hallock MN, Bathgate, ND
|
|
|-
| {{w|Interstellar (film)|Interstellar}} (Earth parts)
| {{w|Northeast_megalopolis|BosWash}} (converted to farmland), probably near former NYC
| Alberta
| rowspan="3" |
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Star Trek (film)|Star Trek (2009)}} (Earth parts)
| Iowa
| Iowa
| "Earth Parts"
|-
| {{w|Field of Dreams|Field of Dreams}}
|
| Dyersville, IA
|
|-
| {{w|The Music Man (1962 film)|The Music Man}}
| River City, IA
| Warner Bros Studio, Burbank, CA
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz}}
| Kansas, Oz
|
|
| The Judy Garland version, presumably. The earth parts.
|-
| {{w|Twister (1996 film)|Twister}}
| Oklahoma
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|True Grit (1969 film)|True Grit}}
| Arkansas
|New Mexico
|
| Obviously the {{w|True Grit (2010 film)|2010 version}}
|-
| {{w|Office Space|Office Space}}
|
| Austin, TX
| rowspan="3" |
|
|-
| {{w|Dazed and Confused (film)|Dazed and Confused}}
| Austin, TX
|
|
|-
| {{w|Kill Bill|Kill Bill}}
| El Paso, TX
|
|-
| {{w|The Blues Brothers (film)|Blues Brothers}}
| Chicago
| Chicago and Milwaukee
|
|
|-
| {{w|8 Mile (film)|8 Mile}}
| Wayne County, Michigan
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|A Christmas Story|A Christmas Story}}
| Hammond, IN
| Cleveland, OH
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|Jack & Diane|That song about Jack and Diane}}
|
| Lake Monroe, IN
| "In the Heartland"
|-
| Anything by {{w|Mark Twain}}
| Hannibal, MO
|
|
| The mapped area doesn't quite include Twain's home town of Hannibal, MO.
|-
| {{w|Walk the Line|Walk the Line}}
| Tennessee
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|Big Fish|Big Fish}}
|
| Wetumpka and Montgomery, AL
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|O Brother, Where Art Thou?|O Brother Where Art Thou}}
| Parchman Farm, MS
| Canton, MS; Florence, SC
|
|-
| {{w|Duck Dynasty|Duck Dynasty}}
| {{w|West Monroe, Louisiana|West Monroe, LA}}
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Princess and the Frog|Princess and the Frog}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|All Dogs Go to Heaven|All Dogs go to Heaven}}
| New Orleans
|Animated, not filmed
|
|-
| {{w|Beasts of the Southern Wild|Beasts of the Southern Wild}}
| Louisiana
| Montegut, LA
|
|
|-
| {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day}}
| {{w|Punxsutawney,_Pennsylvania|Punxsutawney, PA}}, {{w|Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh}}
| Woodstock, IL
|
|
|-
| {{w|Dirty Dancing|Dirty Dancing}}
| {{w|Catskill Mountains|Catskill Mountains}}
| {{w|Mountain_Lake_(Virginia)|Mountain Lake, VA}} and {{w|Lake_Lure,_North_Carolina|Lake Lure, NC}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|October Sky|October Sky}}
| Coalwood, WV
| East Tennessee
|
|
|-
| {{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}
| Tara, near {{w|Jonesboro, Georgia|Jonesboro, GA}}
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|Forrest Gump|Forrest Gump}}
| Alabama
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Truman Show|The Truman Show}}
| Los Angeles area
| {{w|Seaside, Florida|Seaside, FL}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Adaptation (film)|Adaptation}}
| Everglades, FL and surrounding areas
|
|
| Very loosely based on the book "The Orchid Thief" by Susan Orlean, which chronicles the lifestyle of orchid thief and dealer John Laroche. The movie is about a screenwriter who struggles to adapt the book into a movie, turning himself into a main character in his own story.
|-
| {{w|Miami Vice|Miami Vice}}
| Miami
|
|
| Or the {{w|Miami Vice (film)|film}}
|-
| {{w|Super Troopers|Super Troopers}}
| Vermont, NY ("Somewhere near the border")
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|My Side of the Mountain|My Side of the Mountain (book)}}
| Adirondack Mountains, NY
| Catskill mountains, near Delhi, NY
|
| The area shown on the map includes the Adirondacks, as well as the Tug Hill Plateau and the Finger Lakes. The Catskills appear to be excluded.
|-
| {{w|War of the Worlds (2005 film)|War of the Worlds (2005)}}
| Massachusetts
| California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia
|
| Also referenced in [[556: Alternative Energy Revolution]]
|-
| {{w|Signs (film)|Signs}}
| {{w|Doylestown, Pennsylvania|Doylestown, PA}}
|
| rowspan="2" |
|
|-
| {{w|The Village (2004 film)|The Village}}
| Covington, PA
| {{w|Chadds Ford Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Chadds Ford, PA}}
|
|-
| [Generic City]
| Washington DC, Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia
| N/A
|
|
|-
| {{w|Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact}}
| Atlantic Coast
|
|
| The Mega-tsunami
|-
| {{w|Pet Semetary|Pet Semetary}}
| Ludlow, Maine
|Hancock, Maine
|
|
|-
| {{w|What About Bob?|What about Bob}}
|Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
|Smith Mountain Lake, VA
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Departed|The Departed}}
| Boston, MA
| Boston & New York
|
|
|-
| {{w|Jaws (film)|Jaws}}
| Amity Island (stand-in for Martha's Vineyard)
|
|
|
|-
| {{w|The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October}}
| Atlantic Ocean
|
|
|
|}

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

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

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

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

==Trivia==

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

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

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

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-08T17:45:48Z

Thaledison: /* Map */

1509: Scenery Cheat Sheet

2015-04-08T17:31:39Z

Thaledison: The bridge jump scene was filmed off the incomplete 794, the U.S. Bank Center (former First Wisconsin Building) is visible in the background