explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

594: Period

2022-03-12T16:23:49Z

TheSmartestNoob: Minor grammar correction

{{comic
| number = 594
| date = June 8, 2009
| title = Period
| image = period.png
| titletext = 413 nanohertz, by the way.
}}

==Explanation==
A period also called a {{w|Menstruation|menstrual cycle}}, is a process marked by (among other things) a few days of abdominal cramps occurring roughly once a month for women in the {{w|Age and female fertility|reproductive age}}.

"Period" (''T'') is also the term in mathematics for a measure of the rate at which something happens. It measures the length of time between occurrences. For example, a full moon happens about once every 29.5 days, so its period is 29.5 days. By taking the inverse of this, we can get a different measurement, its {{w|frequency}} (''f'') - the number of times an event happens within a given length of time. This is usually measured in hertz (pronounced the same as "hurts"), which is the number of times something happens in a second. Hertz is abbreviated as Hz, and since f = 1/T, with ''T'' measured in seconds (s), it follows that 1 Hz = 1 s−1.

The woman has her period every 28 days. Since we can calculate the frequency based on the period, we can, indeed, calculate her "uterus-hertz" but she already knew that her "uterus hurts". Yes, this has all been a setup to a terrible pun to make your head hertz. And if she had not been in such terrible pain that she cannot even get up, she would have smacked Cueball for it, which would really hertz{{Citation needed}}. This makes it even more hertzfull by Cueball, to make fun of his girlfriend in such a state.

The woman off-screen is probably [[Megan]] given that she is most often depicted as Cueball's girlfriend, and the fact that he is in her home with her on the couch is a good indicator that they are intimate. (This is not enough to include this comic as one with Megan).

The title text gives the other answer that can be calculated from Cueball's musings, the actual frequency of the woman's period which has a period T = 28 days. 413 nanohertz is the correct frequency [http://www.google.com/search?q=1%2F28+*+1%2Fdays+in+nanohertz as shown here by Google Calculator.]

It can also easily be shown here:
:f = 1/28 days = 1/(28 days × 24 hours/day × 60 minutes/hour × 60 seconds/minute)
::= 1/(2,419,200 s) = 4.1336 × 10−7 s−1
::= 413 × 10−9 Hz = '''413 nHz'''.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is standing with a hand to his chin looking towards a woman off-panel right. In all panels the woman answers off-panel with a small starburst close to the right panels border indicating from where her speak emanates.]
:Woman's voice (off-panel): Ugh. Stupid uterus.
:Cueball: Hey, your period is every 28 days, right?

:[Cueball is standing hands down.]
:Woman's voice (off-panel): Yes, why?
:Cueball: Well, period = T = 1/f.
:Woman's voice (off-panel): So?

:[Cueball holds up a finger in front of him.]
:Cueball: Using this, we can calculate something you already know.
:Woman's voice (off-panel): What?

:[Cueball is standing hands down.]
:Cueball: Your uterus-hertz.
:Woman's voice (off-panel): If I could get up I'd smack you.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Puns]]

524: Party

2022-03-12T09:55:42Z

TheSmartestNoob: Rickrolling influence in 2022

{{comic
| number = 524
| date = December 31, 2008
| title = Party
| image = party.png
| titletext = I wonder what 2008 meme will go bizarrely mainstream in 2009 like rickrolling did in 2007-2008. I accidentally <noun>? Yo, dawg? Place your bets now!
}}

==Explanation==
This [[:Category:New Year|New Year comic]] plays out at what is, probably, a {{w|New Year}} party thrown by [[Danish]]. (The previous New Year day comic in 2007 was also related to a wild party: [[364: Responsible Behavior]]).

In the first panel, we see [[Black Hat]] telling [[Cueball]] that he has hired {{w|Rick Astley}} to show up at a party for a girl. Cueball, assuming Rick Astley is going to perform a live rickroll, asks if that is not so last year.
{{w|Rickrolling}} is where one is redirected to a video of Rick Astley singing "{{w|Never Gonna Give You Up}}" via a weblink purporting to be something else. It was later extended to any situation where the song is used disruptively, such as during a party. It started in 2006 and grew until peaking on April Fool's Day in 2008. Thus at New Years Eve 2008, the meme was getting old. However, Black Hat assures Cueball that Rick Astley is not actually going to sing.

The comic then continued to the now ongoing party and we see the girl in question, [[Danish]], Black Hat's girlfriend, talking with [[Ponytail]] when she notices Rick Astley at her party. Like Cueball, Danish expects Rick Astley is going to sing and rickroll her live. She obviously hates this idea and braces her self for the humiliation of being rickrolled. But she is freaked out when he just stands there starring at her, but without singing. In the end his presence alone causes her to hear the song in her head instead, and finally she flees the room screaming slamming a door behind her. Black Hat has essentially rickrolled her in her own mind, which is far worse than just playing a song for her. But Black Hat could not have done so without the willing assistance from Rick!

So when Ponytail asks Rick Astley "what did you do to her?", he begins by saying "that, my dear" and then slowly [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|puts on sunglasses]] before he answers "Is how I roll." This references both rickrolling and the [http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/115813/origin-of-how-we-i-roll|"that's how I roll"] meme.

Although the identity of the girl Black Hat is pranking is not stated by [[Randall]] (he refers to her as Girl 1 but he has also never given an official name to "Danish" - that is an explain xkcd name), she clearly is Danish, Black Hat's girlfriend. Danish was introduced in the Journal story-line ([[377: Journal 2]]), some time prior to this comic. At first her reaction may no look like Danish, who should play it cool according to the her first appearance! Black Hat, However, is a master and he could know that "not getting Rick rolled" would freak her even more out. Additionally, Danish is seen with Ponytail in [[405: Journal 3]]. And in that comic Black Hat also shows that he can get back at her, after she claimed she was better than him in [[377: Journal 2]]. He also tricks her into blowing her own garage up in [[433: Journal 5]]. So of course he can trick her, and of course she will hate that he has rick rolled her. So not doing it with Rick Astley in her house, would drive her mad, just like Black Hat would love, even if she is his girl friend. This would also not have happened for a normal girl like [[Megan]], whom Danish slightly resembles. Normal people will laugh not cry after being rickrolled.

The title text refers to the fact that rickrolling first appeared in 2007 (on {{w|4chan}}) and became viral for over a year. Giving that this is a New Year comic it is thus relevant to asks what meme will replace Rickrolling in the new year, 2009. Although [[Randall]] makes reference to the "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg Xzibit Yo Dawg]" and "[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-accidentally I accidentally...]" photocaptioning memes, {{w|memebase}} entries suggest the "Keep Calm and Carry On" meme may well have become the most popular (and most enduring, as of 2013) meme of 2009.

As of 2022, Rickrolling is still one of the most relevant memes from that era.{{Citation needed}}

==Transcript==
:Black Hat: And so I hired Rick Astley to show up at her party.
:Cueball: And rickroll her? Isn't that a little...last year?
:Black Hat: Ah, but he's not going to sing.

:Danish: Hey is that Rick Astley?
:Ponytail: I think it is. He just came in.
:Danish: Oh no. Brace yourself.

:Danish: Wait. He's just standing there. Where's the song?
:Danish: He's staring at me.
:Danish: This is a little creepy.

:Danish: What's going on?
:Danish: That's actually ''Rick Astley'' staring at me.
:Danish: What's he doing?
:Danish: Oh God, I keep expecting it, hearing it in my head.

:[Danish pulls at her hair.]
:Danish: Just do it already!
:[Danish runs off stage right.]
:Danish: Aaaaaaaa

:[Danish slams the door leaving Ponytail and Rick Astley]
:Door: Slam

:Ponytail: Mr. Astley?
:Rick Astley: Yes?
:Ponytail: What did you ''do'' to her? What ''was'' that?

:Rick Astley: That, my dear,

:[Rick Astley puts on sunglasses.]

:Rick Astley: Is how '''''I''''' roll.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:New Year]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Danish]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]
[[Category:Rickrolling]]
[[Category:Music]]

419: Forks and Spoons

2022-03-11T02:33:40Z

TheSmartestNoob: Added citation needed

{{comic
| number = 419
| date = May 5, 2008
| title = Forks and Spoons
| image = forks and spoons.png
| titletext = Their biggest mistake was bringing Rachael Ray and Emeril to tour the lab and sign off on the project. That's when Spielberg caught wind of it.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic shows scientists testing a new technology to blend species.

They show that their new technology allows them to cross a {{w|spork}} (an even mix between a spoon and a fork) with a spoon to make a new implement that is three-quarters spoon and one-quarter fork. By blending these new fork-spork hybrids and their results together, the scientists could create any mix between a spoon and a fork. (Obviously, regular genetics cannot apply to non-living items such as metal cutlery).

In the second panel, the amounts of spoon and fork are shown with fractions: the number on the left representing the amount of fork, and the right the amount of spoon. The numbers for the cross product below are arrived at by summing each side and dividing by two: (0+1/2)/2 = 1/4 and (1+1/2)/2 = 3/4.

The breeding scheme between the second and the third panel shows at the top how to create a spork from a spoon and a fork, then how this spork could both be bred with either a spoon (as in panel two) or a fork (as shown in the lower right part).

The {{w|binary}} "fork-spoon spectrum" in between the third and fourth panels shows the complete spectrum of sporks from fork to spoon with some of the intermediate steps labeled, the numbers representing how much fork each contains. Since it is a binary spectrum, only fractions with a denominator that is a power of 2 will be possible, i.e. 2^n with n any integer. So in the middle is a spork with 1/2 fork, in between the spork and the spoon there is only 1/4 fork, and in between that and the spoon only 1/8 fork, and so on. Also 3/4 fork is marked, whereas 3/8, 5/8, and 7/8 fork is only indicated on the ruler by small marks. For instance, they could breed a 3/8 fork-spork by mixing a 1/4 fork-spork with a spork.

The comic begins like standard sci-fi fare, where amoral scientists request funding from mysterious benefactors. The dialogue of "You're toying with powerful forces here" and "We know what we're doing" is a {{tvtropes|TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow|classic trope}}, foreshadowing that things will soon {{tvtropes|GoneHorriblyWrong|go horribly wrong}}. It inevitably leads to the humorous incongruity of a sentient spoon-fork-hybrid on a murderous rampage, which is impossible in real life{{Citation needed}}.

{{w|Rachael Ray}} and {{w|Emeril}}, mentioned in the title text, are celebrity chefs, and {{w|Steven Spielberg}} is a famous movie director. The joke seems to be that if the laboratory hadn't hired the two renowned chefs, Spielberg wouldn't have heard about the project and would not have made a movie about it - in which the two scientists are killed off horribly (it is probably the scientist from the first panel, [[Megan]], and her friend, [[Cueball]], or the actors hired to portray them in the film). The plot in the comic is very similar to the story in Spielberg's ''{{W|Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park}}''.

==Transcript==
:Megan: A spoon crossed with a fork is a spork.
:Off-panel Megan's voice: Our lab has successfully crossed a spork with a spoon. [Diagram showing the fractions of fork and spoon in each item.]
:[Chart showing possible combinations of spoons a forks.]
:Megan, facing audience: With your funding, we could create hybrids in proportions corresponding to ''any binary fraction''.
:[Fork-Spoon Spectrum.]
:Audience member: You're toying with powerful forces here.
:Megan: We know what we're doing.
:Two weeks later:
:[Picture of a destroyed lab, with a scientific poster and lab equipment. Two dead bodies, blood everywhere, and a spoon-fork hybrid hopping away can be seen.]
:''Hop hop hop.''

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Jurassic Park]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics with blood]]

2480: No, The Other One

2021-06-24T02:37:14Z

TheSmartestNoob:

{{comic
| number = 2480
| date = June 23, 2021
| title = No, The Other One
| image = no_the_other_one.png
| titletext = Key West, Virginia is not to be confused with Key, West Virginia.
}}

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

This is a map of the United States, showing cities or towns with the same name as other more famous cities. For example, the map has a dot for a place called Los Angeles in Texas, not to be confused with Los Angeles, California.

Few place names are unique, and there may be {{w|List of the most common U.S. place names|many places with the same name}}. However, names can become associated with specific places on a national level, where the best-known example is usually the biggest or otherwise the most significant. The name of this comic indicates the contextualization required to specify one of the less-famous exemplars of a given name. Someone might say they are from "Los Angeles" and would have to say "no, the other one" since the listener would assume they are from Los Angeles, California.

The [[title text]] references {{w|Key, West Virginia}} and {{w|Key West, Virginia}}, two places that, when spoken aloud, are only distinguishable by the pause (comma) location. Neither are to be confused with {{w|Key West|Key West, Florida}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Place name in comic
! Well-known place
! Notes
|-
| {{w|Albany, Georgia}}
| {{w|Albany,_New_York|Albany, New York}}
| Albany is the capital of New York state.
|-
| {{w|Albany, Minnesota}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Albany, Wyoming}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Alexandria,_Louisiana|Alexandria, Louisiana}}
| {{w|Alexandria,_Virginia|Alexandria, Virginia}}
| Alexandria, VA is known for being George Washington's hometown. It is not named after {{w|Alexandria|Alexandria, Egypt}}.
|-
| {{w|Anchorage, Kentucky}}
| {{w|Anchorage,_Alaska|Anchorage, Alaska}}
| Anchorage is Alaska's most populous city.
|-
| {{w|Atlanta,_Delaware|Atlanta, DE}}
| {{w|Atlanta|Atlanta, Georgia}}
| Atlanta is the capital of Georgia, a center of the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 60's, and a major air transportation hub.
|-
| {{w|Atlanta,_Michigan|Atlanta, MI}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Atlanta,_Idaho|Atlanta, ID}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Atlanta,_Nebraska|Atlanta, NE}}
|
|-
| {{w|Atlanta, Texas|Atlanta, TX}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Atlanta, Wisconsin|Atlanta, WI}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Atlantic City, Wyoming|Atlantic City, WY}}
| {{w|Atlantic City, New Jersey}}
| Atlantic City, NJ is a famous coastal resort town in New Jersey known for its casinos, boardwalk and beaches.
|-
| {{w|Austin, MN}}
| {{w|Austin, Texas}}
| Austin is the capital of the state of Texas, and the 11th largest city (by population) in the US.
|-
| {{w|Baton Rouge, South Carolina|Baton Rouge, SC}}
| {{w|Baton Rouge, Louisiana}}
| Baton Rouge is the capital of the state of Louisiana.
|-
| {{w|Beaumont, California|Beaumont, CA}}
| {{w|Beaumont, Texas|Beaumont, TX}}
| Beaumont is best known for the oil discovery that sparked the Texas oil boom of the early 1900s.
|-
| {{w|Beverly Hills, Illinois|Beverly Hills, IL}}
| {{w|Beverly Hills, California|Beverly Hills, CA}}
| Beverly Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, CA and is home to many celebrities, luxury hotels, and the Rodeo Drive shopping district.
|-
| {{w|Beverly Hills, Texas|Beverly Hills, TX}}
|
|
|-
| {{w|Bloomington, Minnesota | Bloomington, MN}}
| {{w|Bloomington, Indiana | Bloomington, IN}}
| Bloomington is the location of Indiana University.
|-
| Boston, MO
| {{w|Boston|Boston, MA}}
| Boston is the capital of Massachusetts and the scene of several key events of the American Revolution.
|-
| Bowling Green, FL
| {{w|Bowling Green, Kentucky|Bowling Green, KY}}
| Bowling Green, KY is the largest city of this name, and the 3rd most populous city in Kentucky.
|-
| Bowling Green, OH
|
|
|-
| Bridgeport, WV
|
|
|-
| Buffalo, TX
| {{w|Buffalo, New York|Buffalo, NY}}
|
|-
| Buffalo, WY
|
|
|-
| Cambridge, OH
| {{w|Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge, MA}}
| Cambridge, Massachusetts is a city in the Boston metropolitan area known as the home of {{w|Harvard University}} and {{w|Massachusetts Institute of Technology}} among others.
|-
| Cedar Rapids, NE
| {{w|Cedar Rapids, Iowa|Cedar Rapids, IA}}
|
|-
| Charlestown, NY (?)
|
|
|-
| Cleveland, UT
| {{w|Cleveland|Cleveland, OH}}
|
|-
| Columbus, GA
| {{w|Columbus, Ohio|Columbus, OH}}
|
|-
| Dallas, GA
| {{w|Dallas|Dallas, TX}}
|
|-
| Dallas, NC
|
|
|-
| Dallas, OR
|
|
|-
| Dallas, SD
|
|
|-
| Dayton, NV
| {{w|Dayton, Ohio|Dayton, OH}}
|
|-
| Des Moines, NM
| {{w|Des Moines, Iowa|Des Moines, IA}}
|
|-
| Des Moines, WA
|
|
|-
| {{w|Detroit,_Alabama|Detroit, AL}}
| {{w|Detroit|Detroit, MI}}
| Detroit is best known as the center of the U.S. automobile industry.
|-
| Detroit, KS
|
|
|-
| Disney, OK
|
|
|-
| Fayetteville, TN
|
|
|-
| Gettysburg, OH
| {{w|Gettysburg, Pennsylvania|Gettysburg, PA}}
|
|-
| Gettysburg, SD
|
|
|-
| Grand Rapids, MN
| {{w|Grand Rapids|Grand Rapids, MI}}
| The second most populous city in the state of Michigan
|-
| {{w|Houston,_Alaska|Houston, AK}}
| {{w|Houston|Houston, TX}}
| Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth-most populous in the United States.
|-
| {{w|Houston,_Alabama|Houston, AL}}
|
|
|-
| Houston, FL
|
|
|-
| Houston, IN
|
|
|-
| Houston, MO
|
|
|-
| Houston, OH
|
|
|-
| Indianapolis, IA
| {{w|Indianapolis|Indianapolis, IN}}
|
|-
| {{w|Jackson,_Alabama|Jackson, AL}}
| {{w|Jackson,_Mississippi|Jackson, MS}}
| Jackson is the capital of Mississippi, but there are {{w|Jackson|many other}} states with Jacksons. This one is likely particularly notable due to its proximity to Jackson, MS.
|-
| {{w|Jamestown,_California|Jamestown, CA}}
| {{w|Jamestown,_Virginia|Jamestown, VA}}
| Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
|-
| Jamestown, ND
|
|
|-
| Jersey Shore, PA
|
|
|-
| Key West, VA
|
|
|-
| Knoxville, IA
|
|
|-
| Las Vegas, NM
|
|
|-
| {{w|Lincoln,_California|Lincoln, CA}}
| {{w|Lincoln,_Nebraska|Lincoln, NE}}
| Lincoln is the capital of Nebraska.
|-
| Lincoln, IL
|
|
|-
| Lincoln, MT
|
|
|-
| Lincoln, RI
|
|
|-
| Lisbon, ME
|
|
|-
| Lisbon, NH
| {{w|Lisbon,_Portugal|Lisbon, Portugal}}
| Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, in Europe
|-
| Long Beach, NJ
|
|
|-
| Los Angeles, TX
|
|
|-
| {{w|Louisville, Colorado|Louisville, CO}}
| {{w|Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville, KY}}
| Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky
|-
| Manhattan, KS
|
|
|-
| Manhattan, MT
|
|
|-
| Memphis, NE
|
|
|-
| {{w|Mesa,_California|Mesa, CA}}
| {{w|Mesa,_Arizona|Mesa, AZ}}
| Mesa is a suburb of Phoenix, and the largest suburban city by population in the United States.
|-
| Mesa, CO
|
|
|-
| {{w|Miami,_Arizona|Miami, AZ}}
| {{w|Miami|Miami, FL}}
| Miami is the seventh largest city in the United States and a major tourism hub.
|-
| Miami, TX
|
|
|-
| Mountain View, HI
|
|
|-
| {{w|Nashville,_Arkansas|Nashville, AR}}
| {{w|Nashville,_Tennessee|Nashville, TN}}
| Nashville is the capital of Tennessee and a major center for the country music industry.
|-
| New England, ND
|
|
|-
| New Haven, KY
|
|
|-
| New York, TX
|
|
|-
| Newark, DE
|
|
|-
| North Pole, NY
| {{w|North_Pole|North Pole}}
| North pole is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface.
|-
| Oakland, OR
|
|
|-
| Orlando, OK
|
|
|-
| Ottawa, KS
|
|
|-
| Pasadena, MD
| {{w| Pasadena, CA}}
| Pasadena, California is the home of {{w|California Institute of Technology}} and the NASA {{w|Jet Propulsion Laboratory}}
|-
| Pasadena, TX
|
|
|-
| {{w|Peoria,_Arizona|Peoria, AZ}}
| {{w|Peoria, Illinois|Peoria, IL}}
| Peoria is known for being considered an "Average American Town", in the phrase {{w|Will_it_play_in_Peoria%3F|"Will it play in Peoria?"}} It is actually smaller than Peoria, AZ.
|-
| Philadelphia, MS
|
|
|-
| Philadelphia, NY
|
|
|-
| Phoenix, MD (?)
|
|
|-
| Phoenix, OR
|
|
|-
| {{w|Plano,_Illinois|Plano, IL}}
| {{w|Plano,_Texas|Plano, TX}}
| Plano is part of the {{w|Dallas–Fort_Worth_metroplex|Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex}}, and the home of many corporate headquarters.
|-
| {{w|Plymouth,_California|Plymouth, CA}}
| {{w|Plymouth,_Massachusetts|Plymouth, MA}}
| Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Mayflower Pilgrims.
|-
| Plymouth, IN
|
|
|-
| {{w|Portland,_Maine|Portland, ME}}
| {{w|Portland,_Oregon|Portland, OR}}
| Portland, OR was {{w|Portland,_Oregon#Establishment|named after}} Portland, ME
|-
| Princeton, ID
| {{w|Princeton, New Jersey}}
| Princeton, NJ is famous for being the home of the eponymous {{w|Princeton University}} and the {{w|Institute for Advanced Study}}
|-
| Princeton, MA
|
|
|-
| {{w|Richmond, Vermont}}
| {{w|Richmond, Virginia}}
| The Virginian Richmond was named after {{w|Richmond,_London|the suburb of London, UK}} due to an obsevered similarity of the river. London's Richmond was named for the palace built there by Henry VII, itself named after the {{w|Richmond,_North_Yorkshire|market town}} and castle in the north of England that was a childhood home. That was in turn named for the {{w|Richemont,_Seine-Maritime|Normandy}} area from which the noble family came who were gifted this land for their part of the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century. There are more than fifty settlements called Richmond across the world, directly or indirectly taking their names from one or other of the English 'originals'.
|-
| Roswell, GA
|
|
|-
| Saint Louis, MI
|
|
|-
| Saint Louis, OK
|
|
|-
| Salem, CT
|
|
|-
| San Diego, TX
|
|
|-
| Santa Fe, TX
|
|
|-
| Savannah, MO
|
|
|-
| South Bend, TX
|
|
|-
| Texas, NY
| State of Texas
| Located in Mexico township, NY. North of the village of Mexico. No plans for a wall.
|-
| Vienna, ME
|
|
|-
| Washington, NC
|
|
|-
| White House, TN
|
|
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:US maps]]