explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3214: Electric Vehicles

2026-03-03T05:02:50Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */ sorry, i couldn't stand the spelling on non-rechargeable.

{{comic
| number = 3214
| date = March 2, 2026
| title = Electric Vehicles
| image = electric_vehicles_2x.png
| imagesize = 209x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Now that I've finally gotten an electric vehicle, I'm never going back to an acoustic one.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by an EV WITH A NON-RECHARGEABLE BOT-TERY. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

The title text is relating electric vehicles to electric instruments, which are contrasted with acoustic guitars. In the case of guitars, this doesn't refer to how they're powered, but how their sound is transmitted from the strings and amplified. There's no such thing as an acoustic vehicle, though sound ''can'' be used to [https://hackaday.com/2025/02/21/acoustic-engine-harnesses-the-power-of-sound/ generate propulsion] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je7eLZS6GG0 on a small scale][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCnxsoXtlmY in a variety of ways.]

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Cueball is standing on the left, and Megan and White Hat are standing to his right.]

:Cueball: I would never get an electric vehicle.
:Cueball: Sure, they sound great, but what do you do if the battery runs out of charge?

:[Caption below the image:]
:I felt pretty silly when someone finally explained to me that EVs are rechargeable.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]

Talk:3214: Electric Vehicles

2026-03-03T03:41:10Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

How's the transcript, guys? --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:41, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

3214: Electric Vehicles

2026-03-03T03:40:50Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Transcript */

562: Parking

2026-02-19T07:23:29Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 562
| date = March 30, 2009
| title = Parking
| image = parking.png
| titletext = Police reported three dozen cheerful bystanders, yet no one claims to have seen who did it.
}}

==Explanation==
There are few things so annoying as finding, when a parking lot is full, that someone has parked so carelessly as to take up two spaces. Even worse, it may have been intentional; they decided to exchange the risk of someone accidentally scratching their car for the risk of someone doing it on purpose, see [[1030: Keyed]]. However, there are also non-violent ways to tackle the problem;{{Citation needed}} [http://www.threadless.com/product/187/I_Park_Like_an_Idiot politely leave a note] (original link defunct, archive [https://web.archive.org/web/20120719122829/http://www.threadless.com/product/187/I_Park_Like_an_Idiot here]), or, if possible, just move their car (whether to its proper alignment or to an impound lot).

Of course, [[Black Hat]] takes the road less traveled, apparently involving a {{w|cutting torch}} and what looks to be a {{w|circular saw}}. The offending portion of the parked car is sliced off (entirely without surgical precision) and neatly slotted into the remainder of the space. It is now legally parked, but will never become a functional car again.{{Citation needed}} But at least Black Hat finally has space for his own car!

This comic may be the one referenced in [[496: Secretary: Part 3]], where it is shown that Black Hat '...completely disassembled a car' because 'It was parked across two spaces.', or this is the second time that a car has been in the way of him parking, so he has taken matters into his own hands.

The title text indicates that a large crowd watched Black Hat at work but refused to identify him, presumably because they feel that the car owner got what he deserved, or possibly know enough of Black Hat's reputation to not betray him.

==Transcript==
:[Black Hat is in a car driving around a parking lot.]

:[Black Hat's car pulls up next to a red car, that's parked over a line at an angle that blocks two spaces.]

:[Black Hat gets out of his car.]
:''SLAM''

:[Black Hat is now holding a blow torch and a rotary saw, He's also wearing goggles and fuel tanks on his back. The blow torch is lit.]
:''Fwoosh''

:[The badly parked car has been cut in half along a diagonal, and the half of the car that was in the second slot has been moved into the same slot as the rest of the car. Black Hat's car occupies the newly freed space.]

==Trivia==
Black Hat, in the fourth panel, is also seen in the "Your Ad Here" screen.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Sabotage]]
[[Category:Comics with a Spanish translation]]

3209: Plums

2026-02-19T05:58:56Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 3209
| date = February 18, 2026
| title = Plums
| image = plums_2x.png
| imagesize = 251x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My icebox plum trap easily captured William Carlos Williams. It took much less work than the infinite looping network of diverging paths I had to build in that yellow wood to ensnare Robert Frost.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a rebellious icebox. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This is a reference to the poem [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56159/this-is-just-to-say This Is Just to Say], where the narrator is apologizing for eating the plums in the icebox. In this comic, the joke is that Cueball cannot resist eating the plums from the icebox as a reference to the poem.

The title-text is a joke about trapping poets with references to their own poems, referencing another well-known poem, [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken The Road Not Taken] by Robert Frost.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Cueball sitting at a desk with a laptop on it looking backward towards the source of speech off-screen.]
:Out of view: I got you the ingredients for dinner tonight.
:Out of view: Oh, and the plums in the fridge drawer are for my yogurt tomorrow; you should just leave them.
:Out of view: Be back later!
:Cueball, thinking: Oh no.
:Caption: Help. It actually happened. I shouldn't, but how can I not!?
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

3209: Plums

2026-02-19T04:53:17Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3209
| date = February 18, 2026
| title = Plums
| image = plums_2x.png
| imagesize = 251x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My icebox plum trap easily captured William Carlos Williams. It took much less work than the infinite looping network of diverging paths I had to build in that yellow wood to ensnare Robert Frost.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a rebellious icebox. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This is a reference to the poem [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56159/this-is-just-to-say This Is Just to Say], where the narrator is apologizing for eating the plums in the icebox. In this comic, the joke is that Cueball cannot resist eating the plums from the icebox as a reference to the poem.

The title-text is a joke about trapping poets with references to their own poems, referencing another well-known poem, [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken The Road Not Taken] by Robert Frost.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:Out of view: I got you the ingredients for dinner tonight.
:Out of view: Oh, and the plums in the fridge drawer are for my yogurt tomorrow; you should just leave them.
:Out of view: Be back later!
:Cueball, thinking: Oh no.
:Caption: Help. It actually happened. I shouldn't, but how can I not!?
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]

3209: Plums

2026-02-19T04:31:18Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3209
| date = February 18, 2026
| title = Plums
| image = plums_2x.png
| imagesize = 251x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My icebox plum trap easily captured William Carlos Williams. It took much less work than the infinite looping network of diverging paths I had to build in that yellow wood to ensnare Robert Frost.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This is a reference to the poem [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56159/this-is-just-to-say This Is Just to Say], where the narrator is apologizing for eating the plums in the icebox. In this comic, the joke is that Cueball cannot resist eating the plums from the icebox as a reference to the poem.

The title-text is a joke about trapping poets with references to their own poems, referencing another well-known poem, [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken The Road Not Taken] by Robert Frost.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:Out of view: I got you the ingredients for dinner tonight.
:Out of view: Oh, and the plums in the fridge drawer are for my yogurt tomorrow; you should just leave them.
:Out of view: Be back later!
:Cueball, thinking: Oh no.
:Caption: Help. It actually happened. I shouldn't, but how can I not!?
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

3209: Plums

2026-02-19T04:30:55Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3209
| date = February 18, 2026
| title = Plums
| image = plums_2x.png
| imagesize = 251x409px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = My icebox plum trap easily captured William Carlos Williams. It took much less work than the infinite looping network of diverging paths I had to build in that yellow wood to ensnare Robert Frost.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This is a reference to the poem [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56159/this-is-just-to-say This Is Just to Say], where the narrator is apologizing for eating the plums in the icebox. In this comic, the joke is that Cueball cannot resist eating the plums from the icebox as a reference to the poem.
The title-text is a joke about trapping poets with references to their own poems, referencing another well-known poem, [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-taken The Road Not Taken] by Robert Frost.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:Out of view: I got you the ingredients for dinner tonight.
:Out of view: Oh, and the plums in the fridge drawer are for my yogurt tomorrow; you should just leave them.
:Out of view: Be back later!
:Cueball, thinking: Oh no.
:Caption: Help. It actually happened. I shouldn't, but how can I not!?
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:3125: Snake-in-the-Box Problem

2026-02-17T04:04:22Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

The math problem in question is https://oeis.org/A099155 [[User:Mei|Mei]] ([[User talk:Mei|talk]]) 21:57, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

why is d>8 unsolved? stevethenoob 21:59, 6 August 2025 (UTC)
:Computational power, I guess, although I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that for N=9 snake=196. [[Special:Contributions/94.73.52.245|94.73.52.245]] 23:18, 6 August 2025 (UTC)
:It's not that hard to imagine: if you were to try a brute force search it would take time that's exponential in the path length, which itself is exponential in d. There are evidently methods to do it slightly better, but not enough to make solving d=9 feasible yet. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 10:03, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
:To give an impression of the rate at which these get solved: d=6 was solved in 1988, d=7 in 1996, d=8 in 2014. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 10:32, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
:Computational power is right. Time complexity is *super*-exponential - even the number of *nodes* increases exponentially as increasing N by 1 doubles the nodes. And time complexity doesn't increase linearly with the number of nodes - if we imagine a brute force algorithm there's 2^n nodes and each node has n-1 options, so we're looking at a multiple of exponential time. Current lower bound for N=9 is 190. [[User:GorillaWarfare|GorillaWarfare]] ([[User talk:GorillaWarfare|talk]]) 06:57, 10 August 2025 (UTC)

I would argue that computer science has one as well with the China room problem. [[User:Ctinsman|Ctinsman]] ([[User talk:Ctinsman|talk]]) 22:14, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

: Humans aren't cute animals (mostly), so I propose a variant of the problem called the Chinese Red Panda Room [[Special:Contributions/177.12.49.23|177.12.49.23]] 22:38, 6 August 2025 (UTC)

Interesting. Just a few days ago I was investigating a very similar idea (looking at a path that transitioned between adjacent ''faces'' of a polyhedron, which was effectively going from vertex to connected vertex upon that chosen polyhedron's ''dual''), but for the opposite reason, i.e. looking for the paths that actually maximised proximity (along the path) between neighbouring faces (upon the polyhedra), so that it actually minimised the search back/forth along the path-chain to establish what value the adjacent polyhedron faces (beyond the ones automatically at ±1 positions on the chain) inherited.
 As to solving this one (basically disallowing visiting of any nodes adjacent to prior visits ''other'' than the single one that the +1 position of the chain has to first go to), I've got a basic idea of how I'd N-dimensionally space-search the possible routes (after all, visiting any given node at {0,1} value for dimensions [a, b, c, ...] rules out now visiting all of [!a, b, c, ...], [a, !b, c, ...], [a, b, !c, ...], etc, ''except'' whichever one of these was chosen for the next step of onward travel), for valid foldings across the appropriate N-polytype cuboidal analogue. Though I suspect that the exponental (or greater!) growth in the potential search-trees you'd use would be the sticking point. No point in setting off an exhaustive algorithm if it seemed likely to take three years to check just 1% of possibilities, and no doubt more dedicated analysis than my own brute-forcing method has already hit other problems in trying a more nuanced extrapolation between each level of added dimensionality, which is where the unsolved nature of this starts to bite.
 But also think it'd be far more interesting to investigate the possibilities in the N>3-Dimensional extensions of non-cubic platonic solids, like the {{w|600-cell}} and beyond, and establish what allowable lengths of traversal ''they'' would allow, under similar stipulations.
 Great! I love getting things like this to think about. If I can spare the time needed... [[Special:Contributions/82.132.245.59|82.132.245.59]] 22:22, 6 August 2025 (UTC)
: I think you've been nerd-sniped. [[Special:Contributions/177.12.49.23|177.12.49.23]] 22:42, 6 August 2025 (UTC)
::So far, I've personally got as far as:
::*For any given number of dimensions, N, there are always N adjacent points (point, zero dimensions, zero neighbours; line, one dimension, one neighbour; square, two dimension, two neighbours, etc).
::*In total, there are 2N points (0d=1, 1d=2, 2d=4, etc)
::*A maximum possible length, L, has a ''lower'' lower limit of starting at any particular vortex and only taking directions that are perpendicular to all prior directions (for a cube, only go by x, y and z directions once), and this would be eaual to N.
::*But that's overly-lazy, as you're ruling out (as you gain enough dimensions) revisiting a dimensional plane, even though you're allowed to revisit a point on that plane that's shifted by at least ''two'' other dimensions of offset. e.g. the top right of a cube's facing face when you started at the bottom left of it (went 'deep' to the rear face, took two steps from the rear-lower-left to rear-upper-right then back).
::*For the first step, you have N choices from your starting position. You take one and cannot later visit any of the ones you did not choose to go to. For the second step onwards, you have N-1 basic choices (every direction but backwards to the prior step) and should choose one and rule out ever visiting the rest.
::*This gives a new (at least for N>2) lower limit to L whereby the sum of starting, taken and not-taken nodes that you count can be added to by new steps until you would end up with have a total greater than 2N. (Line: start on one (of two), choice of one (taken), two points 'marked', only two points possible; Square: start on one (of four), two choices, take one, reserve one, three points 'marked', still the fourth point available for L=2, but then five points would be marked (the untaken-from-start being the only non-backwards choice) so can't go further.
::*But this is also wasteful as (in increasingly higher dimensions) there's nothing to stop an unvisited neighbour of a past step from being a(n enforced) unvisited neighbour from a later step, as you 'choose' to go only to a valid further point. So clever "near-neighbour" backtracking can reduce the number of ''freshly'' eaten-up points and thus maintain more future points for more steps.
::**Noting that past-step no-go-neighbours that can possibly 'fold into' the current-step's not-going-neighbours list only become such after ''at least'' two intervening steps (for 'square-based' hypercubic domains, whereas triangle-based hypernets (e.g. tetra-, octa- and icosohedrons, in 3-space) happen after just one step, and pentagon-based ones (dodecahedrons in 3-space) can't take advantage of this in less than three. (This seems to share some of the mathematics with the 'classical' rabbit-population problem, whereby new offspring only become viable breeding population after a step or two since their generation.)
::*Optimally, in fact, you should aim to double-back in such a way as leave yourself with ''all but one'' onward neighbour unavailable (thus only eating up potential points at a rate of one per step, at that point).
::*Heading vaguely back 'towards' past snake-lengths, in higher-dimensional hypernets, seems like the best(/longest) space-filling strategy. It's a bit like coil-built pottery, but with more undulations (and dimensions) to it. But with care to make sure you don't burrow yourself into a dead-end with ''no'' viable onward choices while still having maybe half of the potential visitable/neighbourable points untouched, or avoiding filling 'voids' to guaranteeing accessing a majority of the potential future visits, but unwisely not exploiting all the phase-space of vertices optimally.
::**I can mentally visualise doing this successfully in 3-, 4- and 5-cube situations, elegantly enough (it's like , but N>=6 versions get increasingly hard to do in my head with certainty. After I've slept on it, I might have to break out the pencil and paper.
::So, yeah, I've set a lower-limit to L, for various Ns, and can construct a ''possible'' upper-limit to L, but I haven't even checked these L(N)s vs. the values stated in the comic. Or what progress (and more advanced logical reasoning) has already been made in the field. I suspect I'm just reinventing the (hyper-)wheel, of course, rather than have the key to the problem that everyone else had failed to spot, but that's not the point. If I get even half way close to what the 'professionals' in this field have managed, I'll be smug and self-satisfied enough for myself. And, anyway, I've explained myself enough tolet any ''other'' similarly-minded nerd the ability to get at least as far as I've got with this problem. Which is as good an outcome, as far as I'm concerned, as getting this done entirely on my own. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.244.41|82.132.244.41]] 00:33, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
::: I'm still having trouble getting hold of long enough snakes. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:31, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
::: I've got the 50 length one for 7D, lets see if I can go further :) --[[User:Darth Vader|Darth Vader]] ([[User talk:Darth Vader|talk]]) 13:25, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

Psychology is way ahead of y'all, they've been putting actual mice in weird boxes for ''decades''. [[Special:Contributions/177.12.49.23|177.12.49.23]] 22:45, 6 August 2025 (UTC)
:Psychology might have been putting animals in boxes for decades, but zoology has been doing it for centuries! [[Special:Contributions/97.118.209.207|97.118.209.207]] 00:36, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
::Gastronomy has been doing it for as long as people have been storing food. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:41, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
:: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/284912743/--[[Special:Contributions/2001:4450:8178:2200:D1C2:8DED:F6FE:E93C|2001:4450:8178:2200:D1C2:8DED:F6FE:E93C]] 04:01, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
:::That link doesn't work. When I remove the -- at the end it goes to some kind of math game. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:58, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

Reading (just) the [comments] of the underlying research suggests that 98 is the longest found snake. Perhaps that means a longer one has not been explicitly eliminated (making 8 also not solved to some extent) [[Special:Contributions/2A02:A45B:8867:0:BED8:F2BA:838E:765|2A02:A45B:8867:0:BED8:F2BA:838E:765]] 22:52, 6 August 2025 (UTC)
:a(8)=98 was proven by: Östergård, P.R.J., Pettersson, V.H. Exhaustive Search for Snake-in-the-Box Codes. Graphs and Combinatorics 31, 1019–1028 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00373-014-1423-3
:[[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 09:46, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

I suppose Randall doesn't consider [[beetles]] cute, or else [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Investigations#Wittgenstein's_beetle philosophy of language] would be included. [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 23:15, 6 August 2025 (UTC)
: that's a great example [[Special:Contributions/177.12.49.23|177.12.49.23]] 01:46, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
: very nice one, reminds me of the story of the bug (moth) and debugging in computer science {{unsigned ip|88.129.22.189|07:46, 1 September 2025}}

In simultaneous interpreting, humans are the cute animal in the box. {{unsigned|DrInterpreter|07:35, 7 August 2025 (UTC)}}

I don't believe an explanation of the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment is necessary to understand this comic. However, people keep editing the page to include an incorrect description of the experiment, by saying the cat is either dead or alive and you don't know which until you open the box. That's wrong and misses the point of quantum superposition. The cat is not dead or alive, it's literally both, due to its fate being linked to radioactive decay, a process that is subject to quantum superposition. Since it does seem inevitable that someone will keep editing this to add an explanation, I've added one myself. [[Special:Contributions/177.12.49.23|177.12.49.23]] 10:29, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

The link in the mail newsletter lead to "http://https//xkcd.com/3125/", not sure if that's worth documenting here. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 13:07, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

Not a chemistry grad student, but is it possible that Randall intended "lure campus squirrels into laundry hampers in the hope that it ''sparks'' inspiration" as a humorous method of investigating the triboelectric effect? [[Special:Contributions/129.222.87.163|129.222.87.163]] 13:25, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

n=2: Snakes on a plane. [[Special:Contributions/64.201.132.210|64.201.132.210]] 16:47, 7 August 2025 (UTC)
:it makes so much sense and i hate that fact. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:04, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

the comic number 3125 is 5^5 [[Special:Contributions/96.77.127.105|96.77.127.105]] 18:26, 7 August 2025 (UTC)

Conclusion: we better have no snakes in the world {{unsigned ip|102.117.215.0|08:21, 8 August 2025 (UTC)}}

In the middle of the tree "wrong" examples, is the vertex leading from head to tail also a "wrong" vertex and should be coloured red? [[User:IIVQ|IIVQ]] ([[User talk:IIVQ|talk]]) 06:01, 9 August 2025 (UTC)

I suspect the squirrel fur + hamper + spark implies something electrochemical, though I haven't quite made the connection between the animal and the box. {{unsigned ip|88.129.22.189|07:46, 1 September 2025}}

I've found a length-373 snake in 10 dimensions. The previous record of 370 as listed on Wikipedia dates to 2012.

I started working on Snake-in-the-Box in August after xkcd #3125 introduced me to the problem. I'm grateful to Randall Munroe for calling it to my attention. I intend to keep working on it.

I described my results in a paper available at https://zenodo.org/records/17344872 which includes C code anyone can compile and run to validate the length-373 snake. doi:10.5281/zenodo.17344872

If you know anyone working in graph theory who can advise me on how to get my results recognized in a trusted forum (or who would even just like to compare notes about the Snake-in-the-Box problem), please let me know. My email address is
in my paper.
[[User:Tom239|Tom239]] ([[User talk:Tom239|talk]]) 19:46, 14 October 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3113: Fix This Sign

2026-02-16T07:12:17Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

I'm not certain, but this feels like Black Hat's doing (who's doing this for the irritation factor, not the money). [[Special:Contributions/2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:9DCE:6FD1:E813:D91B|2001:1C02:1A9D:9700:9DCE:6FD1:E813:D91B]] 20:15, 9 July 2025 (UTC)
:He could easily be doing it for both. Putting up this sign and then not fixing it when people actually pay sounds like the stunt he would pull. [[Special:Contributions/2601:647:8500:1E09:8424:D57A:75C9:D207|2601:647:8500:1E09:8424:D57A:75C9:D207]] 20:38, 9 July 2025 (UTC)
:The caption says "my," so it seems this would be Randall.--[[Special:Contributions/2600:100F:B13F:CB34:0:1E:BAC1:7001|2600:100F:B13F:CB34:0:1E:BAC1:7001]] 22:02, 9 July 2025 (UTC)

What happens when everything is bought? Does the sign just stay up? Does it reset after a while? Is it removed? [[Special:Contributions/2601:647:8500:1E09:8424:D57A:75C9:D207|2601:647:8500:1E09:8424:D57A:75C9:D207]] 20:40, 9 July 2025 (UTC)

the s and the i in "SIGN" are also too close to each other [[User:An user who has no account yet|An user who has no account yet]] ([[User talk:An user who has no account yet|talk]]) 22:00, 9 July 2025 (UTC)

This feels like a continuation of My Hobby, or perhaps a sequel series. Also, how do we know that the prices aren't typos? The true value could be WAY more expensive. [[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 00:18, 10 July 2025 (UTC)

This business model is reminiscent of ''their.™'' from SMBC https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/their which would suggest that once the fixes have all been bought the sign is simply replaced with a worse one. [[Special:Contributions/169.150.208.130|169.150.208.130]] 04:22, 10 July 2025 (UTC)

Where can we donate to fix the explainxkcd server? Also, those are not donations, as you get clear value for it. $1000: Change "Do(a)nate" to "Pay us". --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 05:22, 10 July 2025 (UTC)

My limited experience with the printing industry is that the graphic designers are not the object but the subject of the verb 'extorting' because they will bill you a lot for trivial changes even if it's to fix tgeir own mistakes. [[Special:Contributions/109.37.229.249|109.37.229.249]] 11:06, 10 July 2025 (UTC)
:"Tgeir"... Can I PayPal you $50? --[[Special:Contributions/174.174.4.79|174.174.4.79]] 14:06, 10 July 2025 (UTC)

Shouldn't fixing the typo be the most expensive? You don't even need to be a graphic designer, lots of ordinary people should be bothered by it. Surely it's more annoying than non-centered text. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:19, 10 July 2025 (UTC)
: Most to least annoying: Typo/column alignment (equal); text size; use of exclamation point; excessive whitespace; rotation/centring (equal); kerning. I'm also bothered by how far past the posts the sides of the sign extend. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:37, 10 July 2025 (UTC)
:: Honestly, I think Randall missed a trick - the posts are equidistant from their respective sides of the sign. Putting one post closer to its edge than the other would be yet another design annoyance that might prompt pedants such as I to pay up!

I think Randall is also trying to get pedantics upset by using the term "forward slashes" instead of just "slashes" - Just like a mouse doesn't have a "left click" button, only a "click" or "right click"
:I definitely use "left click" when talking to the less-informed users. Also, pedantic of me, but you mean "pedants", not "pedantics". [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 15:08, 12 July 2025 (UTC)
::I'm sure you've also come across situations where you've said "And now you left-click on that...", and the person you're trying to help goes "which one's Left Click?". ;)
::PS. "pedant" ''is'' the third-person present active indicative plural of the Latin singular "pedō" (to 'give feet'/'prop up'), which I think is interestng. :P [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 20:42, 12 July 2025 (UTC)
:I had some time when I have to call slash and backslash by ‘丿-slash’ and ‘乀-slash’ (See {{w|Chinese character strokes#Basic strokes}}). [[User:物灵|物灵]] ([[User talk:物灵|talk]]) 08:46, 13 July 2025 (UTC)
: Pedanticically, it doesn't have a "right click" either - it (usually) has a left button and a right button, which can be assigned to a primary click and a secondary click. If, like me, you have your mouse configured left handed, then the right button ''is'' the (primary) "click", and the left button is the secondary. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 08:18, 14 July 2025 (UTC)

Donate to fix mkdocstrings!!! https://mkdocstrings.github.io/insiders/ (this is just a stupid joke, mkdocstrings is AWESOME!!!)
:it's currently nonexistent. shame. sounds like it couldve been a lifesaver.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 07:12, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

[[Special:Contributions/76.143.181.203|76.143.181.203]] 15:04, 28 September 2025 (UTC)

3192: Planetary Alignment

2026-02-16T07:07:01Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Transcript */ looks complete.

{{comic
| number = 3192
| date = January 9, 2026
| title = Planetary Alignment
| image = planetary_alignment_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x327px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = We're going to need to modify the surface to mount it on the test stand. Which ocean basin do you like the least?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by SLARTIBARTFAST, CARVER OF FJORDS. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This is the third in a [[:Category:Home Inspections|series of comics]] about [[Ponytail]] inspecting Earth as if it were the client [[Cueball]]'s house.

[[Ponytail]] (presumably a planetary mechanic, which is not a real thing) appears to have been inspecting a planet, which seems to be the Earth, as if it were a vehicle. She is informing [[Cueball]] of the results, as if he were the owner of the planet.

According to her, the planet needs to be re-aligned, as the {{w|Earth's magnetic field|magnetic}} and {{w|Earth's rotation|rotational}} axes of the planet are 400 miles (640 km) offset from each other. She claims that this could create a number of problems with the planet, such as unbalanced magnetic fields. This is presented in the same casual manner as a car mechanic might regarding {{w|wheel alignment}}, or perhaps even the {{w|tire balance}}. Earth's magnetic alignment does change (both {{w|Geomagnetic pole#Movement|gradually drifting}} and {{w|Geomagnetic reversal|relatively sudden reversals}}), but not for any reasons that can be compared to typical vehicle maintenance issues.

Ponytail mentions radiation anomalies over the South Atlantic ocean. This is a real phenomenon, known as the {{w|South Atlantic Anomaly}}, where satellites experience increased malfunctions because solar radiation is higher than average, due to the alignment of the magnetic field, as well as {{w|Large low-shear-velocity provinces|a massive rock structure underneath Africa}}.

In the final panel, Ponytail says that they will provide a loaner planet while Earth is in the shop. This is typically done with vehicles, not planets,{{Citation needed}} but perhaps this particular shop has a [https://www.clivebanks.co.uk/THHGTTG/THHGTTGradio3.htm very large back room]. Ponytail then asks if a gas giant is okay, as they are out of solid surface planets. This is likely alluding to the practice of car dealerships offering replacements or loaner vehicles that are very different from those brought in for service, which can greatly frustrate and inconvenience the customer.

The title text continues the mechanic metaphor, stating that they (the shop) will have to modify Earth to fit it on the test stand, asking Cueball which ocean basin he likes the least, implying that they intend to remove or alter one of the Earth's oceans to mount it for adjustment and retesting.

This is the second comic in recent history with the word "Alignment" in the title, with [[3177: Chessboard Alignment]] being the first.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is approaching from off-screen, holding a clipboard and some sort of handheld apparatus. She is talking to Cueball, standing to the right.]
:Ponytail: The inspection revealed a few problems.
:Ponytail: Looks like your planet needs an alignment.
:Cueball: Oh?

:[Close up of Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: Yeah, your magnetic axis is 400 miles off-center from your rotational one.
:Cueball (off-panel): Is that bad?

:[The view zooms back out, showing Ponytail holding her equipment, with Cueball holding a hand to his face, as if thinking.]
:Ponytail: The unbalanced magnetic field could cause radiation anomalies over the South Atlantic. Have you noticed any spacecraft equipment failures in that area?
:Cueball: There '''''have''''' been a few, actually.

:[The final panel shows the same as the third, apart from Cueball's gestures.]
:Ponytail: We can give you a loaner while yours is in the shop. Is a gas giant OK?
:Cueball: I'd '''''really''''' prefer a solid surface.
:Ponytail: Sorry, it's all we have. But it'll just be for a few days.

{{comic discussion}}
<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Home Inspections]]

Talk:3206: Installation

2026-02-12T03:19:58Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

This is what hiking trails should BE! [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 02:47, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

no. it would be better with [https://xkcd.com/3147/ waterslides.] (/j) --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:19, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3206: Installation

2026-02-12T03:19:06Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

This is what hiking trails should BE! [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 02:47, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

no. it would be better with [xkcd.com/3147/ waterslides.] (/j) --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:19, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3206: Installation

2026-02-12T03:18:48Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

This is what hiking trails should BE! [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 02:47, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

no. waterslides would be better with [xkcd.com/3147/ waterslides.] (/j) --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:18, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3206: Installation

2026-02-12T03:18:21Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

This is what hiking trails should BE! [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 02:47, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
no. waterslides would be better with [xkcd.com/3147/ waterslides.] (/j) --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:18, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

3206: Installation

2026-02-12T03:14:05Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3206
| date = February 11, 2026
| title = Installation
| image = installation_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x272px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Do YOU remember the skylight being this big?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a house like carpet. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic refers to wall-to-wall carpeting, which usually is carpeting that runs from wall to wall. Usually, the carpeting is on the ''inside''{{citation needed}} of the house where it is installed. However, in this example, Megan and Cueball are installing it on the ''outside'' of the house, walking the entirety of the earth's circumference until the finally finish installing it on the other side of their house. This method would be impractical{{citation needed}}, since it would both cross over oceans and use 40,008 to 40,075 kilometers of carpet, depending on where the house is and where it is facing.

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

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

Talk:437: SUV

2026-02-11T07:07:52Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

Im not sure this strip even needs an explanation [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]]) 21:46, 11 July 2014 (UTC)
:yeah it did--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 07:07, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

Hey what's M, P and D stand for? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.187|108.162.250.187]] 17:43, 1 July 2015 (UTC)
:God question. The first price without a letter should be petrol/gasoline. M should be {{w|Methanol fuel|Methanol fuel}} used in some racing cars. P could be {{w|Propane|Propane}}. D must be {{w|Diesel fuel|Diesel fuel}} which is more expensive than petrol.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:24, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

:: M and P mean 89 and 91 or 92 octane. Officially, each chain has their own brand names for each grade, but they all settled on M names (Medium, Midrange, etc.) pretty quickly, and P names (Premium, Pro-Tech, etc.) beat out H names (Hi-Test) by the early 90s. So, now they can all advertise their prices with signs with M and P.

:: The D is always for diesel (and in America, there's only one kind of diesel at non-truck pumps instead of the two found in some parts of the world).

:: By the way, mid-range gas is almost entirely a scam. It sort of made sense in the 70s, when cars that needed more than 88 octane were allowed to use leader gas for a few years after cars using 87 octane. But once that exception expired, its only purpose has been idiots who think "my $50000 BMW can't possibly use the same gas as my crappy old VW, so I'd better spend a bit more". [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.69|162.158.255.69]] 04:34, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

::: Actually, higher octane gasses are less susceptible to knocking. I have an older 2004 Subaru Baja manual, and 89 octane gas actually helps the car make more efficient starts. Knocking isn't good for the engine, and it occurrs more at 87. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.24|173.245.54.24]]

P is probably Premium gasoline. {{unsigned ip|141.101.98.164}}

Not sure about the last bit regarding SUV and skateboard carrying capacity. That would be like saying a scooter or bicycle is a poor choice because they can't carry mattresses. I believe the point of an electric skateboard is to transport the person, not cargo. You could feasibly rent a truck for cargo. [[User:Flewk|flewk]] ([[User talk:Flewk|talk]]) 17:43, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

$4 gas... that's strangely nostalgic seeing that... Not that I'd want it back, of course!--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.243|108.162.237.243]] 15:19, 16 August 2016 (UTC)

User talk:Utdtutyabthsc

2026-02-11T03:15:28Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Incomplete */

==DO NOT USE AI==
Hi, and welcome. Please don't use AI in your contributions as they are often incorrect. I will go though all your contributions and fix them, but please refrain for using AI in the future, or you may end up being blocked. Thanks! [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 11:24, 29 November 2025 (UTC)
:OH - very sorry! i'll try to use normal ones from now on! --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 20:24, 2 December 2025 (UTC)
::Normal ones? [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 16:23, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
:::i mean normal edits. sorry, haven't checked this place in a while. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 06:54, 22 December 2025 (UTC)

== Incomplete ==

Regarding {{diff|405228|this}}, they often ''don't'' give a reason, because the template is there from page creation (historically to encourage it being filled in), when ''everything'' needs doing to it (that isn't there automatically) and the BOT doesn't know what to suggest (nor should it). ... As to why they hang around, it just takes someone (like yourself) to see that it no longer needs fiddling about with any more. (Though it's very possible that the person who removes the Incomplete tag essentially 'bumps' it in the attention of someone else who now realises that it needs a whole lot more editing... It happens!) As long as it's not under a week old (or not had some recent tweaking going on, that one was last edited 27/Jan, which suggests it hadn't), feel free to just remove the tag. No need to be surprised that it's still there, it just means that nobody else has noticed it (and thought it time to be removed) before you. Of course, be a bit more cautious is if it's still rather 'active', although the Incomplete tag, these days, isn't really the "quick, it needs an edit!" thing as much as a friendly marker that anyone who checks every week or so can enjoy (because there's usually a nice inside-joke embedded in it). [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 21:00, 9 February 2026 (UTC)

So, the incomplete tags in something older than a week usually mean either a. it really is incomplete or b. no-one's bothered to check them, or c. they haven't been checked for quite a bit and recently they realised they needed a lot more editing? got it, thanks for the helpful info! i'll try to keep this in mind later on. (sorry for the late reply, the message was sent at 1 am where i live...) --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:21, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

:Sort of. And just choose almost any comic (back to around [[1600]] or so, at least) and look in the page history at its creation, and then (as you follow the changes from there on up) someone may well have edited the "by a BOT" bit into the joke version, along with ''or instead of'' their first manual edit (it's like a "First!" bragging rights, but more imaginative). The time it takes for the template to be removed is variable, but (if you care to run through the diffs between versions), you'll see that it probably lasts a little longer than you might expect when the Explanation is more or less bashed into shape, but then there's almost always post-Incomplete edits going on and I don't think you'll find many pages where the state of the page when the Incomplete is removed is completely unchanged from then on.
:The {{template|Incomplete transcript}}, on the other hand, is rather easier to consider resolved. Give or take minor corrections/reformattings, and the occasional ''really complicated'' (or even dynamic/evolving) comic, you can generally see when the Template section covers everything of note. Even when there's still not a good Explanation for why it's funny and/or smart. But that also gets added by the current BOT (it doesn't have a "created by a SOMETHING OTHER THAN A BOT" joke in it, which is another reason why it isn't left around longer than it more or less needs to be) with absolutely no information about what might still be incomplete about it... except for the initial "everything!", of course... [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 14:24, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

so, mostly incomplete TRANSCRIPTS don't usually have this joke, and incomplete EXPLANATIONS are sort-of like a "F1RST P0ST!!" but less annoying? And there's many edits even after a page is marked as complete, and even being marked is a bit longer than it should be, but transcripts are easier to complete? Got it! i'll try to keep this inside-joke safe in the explanations but complete the transcripts. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:15, 11 February 2026 (UTC)

User:Utdtutyabthsc

2026-02-10T06:02:39Z

Utdtutyabthsc: Created page with "What am i doing here? ----"

What am i doing here?
----

Talk:3205: Carbon Dating

2026-02-10T06:00:52Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

F10st p0st! [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.156|185.36.194.156]] 04:45, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

First explanation! Hopefully it's fine... (also, nice TCMP reference.)--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 06:00, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3205: Carbon Dating

2026-02-10T06:00:37Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

F10st p0st! [[Special:Contributions/185.36.194.156|185.36.194.156]] 04:45, 10 February 2026 (UTC)
First explanation! Hopefully it's fine... (also, nice TCMP reference.)--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 06:00, 10 February 2026 (UTC)

3205: Carbon Dating

2026-02-10T05:59:10Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3205
| date = February 9, 2026
| title = Carbon Dating
| image = carbon_dating_2x.png
| imagesize = 250x348px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = This dating is corroborated by the presence of stone tools at the site, rather than earlier and less effective helium ones.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently by a WOODEN PICKAXE. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
Carbon dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. This method is commonly used by archeologists and is invaluable in terms of predicting the time an piece of organic matter came from, like fossils.
The punchline of this omic stems from the fact that carbon in the universe was created in the first round of stars fusing elements, and thus a cosmologist wrongly{{citation needed}} assumes that the skeleton mentioned is from that era.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Ponytail, standing, is pointing at a blackboard containing a drawing of a skull and some bones/bone fragments, as well as a graph and some lines of text. She is speaking to Cueball and Megan, who are standing beside her.]
:Ponytail: The high carbon content of the skeleton indicates that the individual lived less than 13.6 billion years ago, after the first round of stellar nucleosynthesis.
:[Caption below the panel:]
:Cosmologist carbon dating

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Cosmology]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

User talk:Utdtutyabthsc

2026-02-10T03:21:09Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Incomplete */

3197: Cost Savings

2026-02-09T09:05:15Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */ I don't know why this is still here. It doesn't give a reason that it's incomplete, and it's long and detailed enough to be considered complete.

{{comic
| number = 3197
| date = January 21, 2026
| title = Cost Savings
| image = cost_savings_2x.png
| imagesize = 303x461px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Unfortunately, my scheme to trick NASA has now taken over a decade longer than planned and has run way over budget.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic depicts a ridiculous scheme, concocted by [[Cueball]], to dupe various representatives at NASA into doing a menial task for him. Specifically, he wants them to build an ordinary shed in his yard. The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) is not associated with {{w|Spruce Goose|hobbyist carpentry}} and certainly cannot be conventionally ordered to build a shed on a needy citizen's property.{{Citation needed}} Thus, Cueball tries to circumvent the expected barriers to this outcome by masking his true intentions with a long-winded cost-cutting presentation about a proposed satellite launch. Initially, it appears he is suggesting various ways to mitigate the cost/hassle of launching a satellite into orbit. This starts with a lower orbit, which requires less fuel to reach and can bring significant savings per the rocketry equation. Lower orbits can bring challenges due to satellite crowding and (in the extreme case) atmospheric drag.

Cueball then suggests replacing the satellite with an "aerial platform" (most likely a plane that flies around with the equipment, but weather balloons, blimps, or even helicopters might count). While any atmospheric flight will require some recurring effort to steer and/or repeatedly launch the vehicle, this can cost less than a space launch and communication infrastructure needed to manage a satellite. The trade-off is that an aerial platform cannot stay up for years, like a satellite, and cannot see as much of the surface at a given time.

Cueball then suggest reducing the monitoring payload by moving some equipment to a ground location that receives data from the mobile equipment. Such a change might allow the platform to be a drone or balloon, either of which could go further with less weight. Cueball's last, unfinished sentence might be continued as "Additional savings could be achieved by reusing available property instead of buying land. In fact, I have identified a property with room for a structure which would not require any expense apart from construction." Depending on Cueball's level of focus on cost reduction, the end of this reasoning might even lead to "Ditch the satellite idea and just build a shed in my yard".

The title text expands on this theme by implying that Cueball has been attempting this scheme (which may have required extensive effort and connections for the NASA project team to even hear the initial red-herring proposal) for long enough that it mirrors the setbacks a team would experience if they were actually intending to send a satellite into orbit. The {{w|Timeline of the James Webb Space Telescope|James Webb Telescope}} is one such mission which was very delayed, as already mentioned in prior comics, notably [[2014: JWST Delays]].

By taking "over a decade longer than planned", the actual time taken to (not yet) achieve his goal is far longer than would normally be expected to just build a shed without NASA's complicity, perhaps barring some particularly intransigent {{w|Zoning in the United States|zoning laws}}. The actual delay is unknown, but must have been significant. Likewise, the personal costs incurred by Cueball (at a minimum, time and travel) have probably far exceeded what most sheds (and their construction) require, even if the end-goal is a 'free' shed, paid for entirely by NASA.

And this is only during the period that NASA ''hasn't'' signed up for the project, having probably committed no more than an hour or three of meeting time for its review board. There is a saying that "if you buy a hammer it costs 6 dollars, but if the US government buys a hammer it costs 600 dollars", highlighting the implied costs of extensive bureaucracy. If NASA was ever interested enough to assign a budget, it would presumably be delayed by steps such as shed design, environmental review, contractor selection and team reallocation, sending the construction costs and timetable even further off.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Cueball is standing in front of a framed graph on a wall, pointing at it with a short stick. The graph is a bar graph with steadily decreasing bar heights. Hairy and Megan, seated, are looking on from behind a desk.]
:Cueball: By lowering the planned satellite orbit, we can reduce the size of the launch vehicle required.
:Cueball: We can reduce costs further by eliminating the satellite entirely in favor of an aerial platform.
:Cueball: Some equipment could be moved to a ground-based facility, reducing required aircraft time.
:Cueball: Additional savings could be...

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I'm trying to get NASA to build a shed in my backyard.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Space]]

3203: Binary Star

2026-02-05T15:42:13Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3203
| date = February 4, 2026
| title = Binary Star
| image = binary_star_2x.png
| imagesize = 353x365px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The discovery of a fully typographical star system comes with a big asterisk.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Binary star|Binary star systems}}, where two stars orbit each other, are common throughout the universe. In some cases, these are different types of stars, such as a {{w|neutron star}} orbiting a {{w|Main Sequence|main sequence star}}. Here, however, the comic depicts a system consisting of a real celestial object (a main sequence star), and a star which has a stylised five-pointed shape in which stars are often drawn, called a pentagram.

Pointed stars do not actually exist as astronomical bodies.{{cn}} Stars seen in the night sky can sometimes appear as though they have spikes coming out of them, but these are just optical illusions caused by the {{w|diffraction spike}} effect.

The title text puns on the * symbol (an {{w|asterisk}} - meaning little star), which is sometimes called a star, and is often used to indicate footnotes in text. A "big asterisk" is used as a metaphor for a rather large caveat or significant reservations about the statement being made, suggesting that such qualifications would form a long footnote. This could be interpreted as meaning that the existence of the "typographical star system" is significantly doubtful. Alternatively, it could be read as meaning that the "big asterisk" is a physically very large (astronomical scale) punctuation symbol, which forms part of a system composed of other bodies in the form of typography.

Drawing a star as a {{w|pentagram}}, as shown in the comic, is referenced in [[1029: Drawing Stars]].

The orbital paths shown are anomalous. The "main sequence star" follows a path that's nearly circular, while the five-pointed star follows an elliptical path, and they're at different locations along their paths. If the two stars were the most massive objects in their system by a significant margin, approximating a two-body system, their paths should be the same shape (albeit at different sizes, if their masses differ) and their locations along those paths should be in phase. This implies that there's at least one other massive object in the system, which isn't shown. The much smaller path of the main sequence star suggests that it's in a (relatively) close orbit with the other massive object, with the five-pointed star being much less massive than either, and essentially orbiting them at a greater distance.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Graphical depiction of a binary star system. The orbits are shown with dashed lines. One star is revolving circularly close to the center of mass and is shown as a filled circle. The other has a very elliptic orbit further out. It is currently close to its furthest point from the other star. This star is depicted as a pentagram.]
:[Caption below the image:]
:Space news: astronomers have found the first known system with a main-sequence star orbited by a five-pointed one.
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]

3195: International Station

2026-02-04T06:37:58Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */ This looks detailed enough to be complete.

{{comic
| number = 3195
| date = January 16, 2026
| title = International Station
| image = international_station_2x.png
| imagesize = 265x250px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Welcome to the International Space Station Exclamation Point!
}}

==Explanation==

This comic plays on different meanings of the word 'space': firstly as the invisible character between words, and secondly as in the void between astronomical bodies. In this case, it is claimed that the word 'space' was never meant to be part of the name of the {{w|International Space Station}}, but was included as a word due to a transcription error.

The presumption is therefore that someone thought it necessary to say the name as "International [space] Station," perhaps to quash any misconception that the intended name might be "InternationalStation" (however capitalised). Someone else would have written this down as "International Space Station". The resulting accidental name was then accepted, due to it being apt or inconvenient to change.

The title text furthers the joke by transcribing the exclamation mark at the end of the phrase. The word 'point' can sometimes be used to refer to a specific location within a wider space, such as a {{w|Meeting point|muster point}}. The "International Space Station Exclamation Point", then, may sound like it refers to a named location in the International Space Station (the "Exclamation Point") that is specifically intended for making exclamations (such as the one in the title text). (Turning a punctuation mark into a voiced part of a statement in this way is similar to [[3143: Question Mark]]; there were also multiple examples of strings with punctuation (literal and otherwise) and spelling easy to misconvey in [[1963: Namespace Land Rush]], though none of them used either spaces or "space"s.)

Similar problems to these can occur when customers order signboards. They sometimes come with unintended quotation marks, because the customer writes the signage text with quotation marks, with the expectation that the signmaker will ignore them. Or they may give the order verbally, resulting in similar problems as seen in the comic. Or [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7702913.stm even more comprehensive failures] may occur.

While the ISS had other names during its design, such as Space Station Freedom or Alpha, it does not appear that NASA or Roscosmos literally originally referred to it as just International Station. The Russian name for it is "Международная Kосмическая Cтанция" (MKC) or "Mezhdunaródnaya Kosmícheskaya Stántsiya", which translates as "International Space Station" using the cosmic, non-punctuation meaning of "space".

ISS Expedition 74 and {{w|SpaceX Crew-11}} were in headlines from 8–15 January 2026, when NASA and SpaceX {{w|List of accidents and incidents involving the International Space Station#2026|returned some crew members to Earth}} ahead of schedule, because of an unspecified medical concern.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail is talking to Cueball. They seem to be floating in a weightless environment, surrounded by a wrench, a book, two sheets of paper and some debris. Whereas Ponytail is almost depicted like she is sitting on her knees leaning forward, Cueball is floating with his head down towards her and his legs up in the air away from her.]
:Ponytail: You know, NASA and Roscosmos actually originally named it the '''''International Station''''', but a translation issue led someone to accidentally transcribe the formatting.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Language]]

964: Dorm Poster

2026-01-30T05:13:23Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */ not sure why this was still here.

{{comic
| number = 964
| date = October 14, 2011
| title = Dorm Poster
| image = dorm poster.png
| titletext = I was going to record an album with that cover under the name "PINK FTFY", so it'd come after them on the store CD rack. But at this point music stores are just rooms where CDs are set out to age before they're thrown away, so probably nobody would see it.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, Cueball, as a student, moves into a dorm. There is a poster on the wall with the album artwork, by {{w|Hipgnosis}}, for {{w|Pink Floyd|Pink Floyd's}} album {{w|The Dark Side of the Moon}}. It shows a beam of light passing through a {{w|dispersive prism}} and separating into a rainbow. This is a fairly common poster to have on a wall, particularly for someone in their late teens to early twenties, and is generally seen as a cliché. After thinking a bit, the new student makes a poster that uses a lens to reverse the rainbow into another prism, likely to mess with his new roommate. This idea actually isn't very innovative, because the original backside of the album contained the reverse rainbow and prism (but not the lens). The setup with two prisms was used by Isaac Newton to prove that white light is composed of different colors of light.

In the title text, Randall makes the joke that by recording a record under the name "PINK FTFY", the name of his band would come immediately after Pink Floyd alphabetically, so the album would be to the right of Pink Floyd's album for Dark Side of the Moon, allowing for the same image seen in the back of the dorm room to be on the shelves of the record store. Since the cover of his album would be catching the light from Pink Floyd's album and forming white light once again, Randall would be "fixing" the cover of Dark Side of the Moon. However [[Randall]] makes the crack that no one would see the joke, because of the fact that most music is bought and downloaded online, which has significantly decreased the traffic to record stores in recent years - catastrophically so at the time of this comic's publication, before the popularity of vinyl rebounded in the late 2010s.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball finds his dorm room. He is standing with a paper in his hand in front of a door labeled "117".]
:Paper: 117

:[View into the dorm room. The left half is already occupied, and a roommate has filled his side with the normal accoutrements of dorm life. There is a Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" poster hanging on the far wall, offset and only on the roommate's side.]

:[Cueball has a bit of a ponder.]

:[Cueball leaves for a bit.]

:[Cueball returns with an item.]

:[View into the dorm room. Cueball is moving in, and has placed a second Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" poster modified with a lens in the rainbow's path. The poster is placed upside down on Cueball's side of the far wall to catch the rainbow, feed it back into the prism, and turn it back into a narrow stream of white light.]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:3131: Cesium

2026-01-21T09:45:52Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

I think that's called a recipe for disaster. NOTE: I am also 104.225.172.143. [[Special:Contributions/138.43.101.123|138.43.101.123]] 14:36, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: No, ''I'' am 104.225.172.143! [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:09, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I'm 104.225.172.143, and so's my wife! [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.228|92.23.2.228]] 20:42, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:::I also chose this guy's wife. [[Special:Contributions/2600:1014:B130:F85B:54C8:CB88:DB33:11D0|2600:1014:B130:F85B:54C8:CB88:DB33:11D0]]
::::I'm also. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 09:45, 21 January 2026 (UTC)

My best recipe comes with a Notice to Mariners [[User:Hcs|Hcs]] ([[User talk:Hcs|talk]]) 14:45, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

I added a transcript. Hopefully it's okay. [[Special:Contributions/104.225.172.143|104.225.172.143]] 14:54, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

A gram of gold runs on the order of ~$100 USD as of writing; a gram of cs-137 looks to be in the millions~billions range. --[[Special:Contributions/158.91.163.9|158.91.163.9]] 14:55, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

: Nope. [https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2024/mcs2024-cesium.pdf It's 99 dollars]. [[Special:Contributions/191.57.16.100|191.57.16.100]] 20:40, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I think you're quoting the price for Caesium metal in general, which is probably almost entirely Caesium 133; Caesium 137 is a synthetic isotope which could easily be a million times more expensive than the natural stuff, gram for gram. [[Special:Contributions/80.41.70.128|80.41.70.128]] 22:37, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
::: You're right, my bad. I couldn't find a quote for Cs137, but considering it's produced from uranium, it probably is very expensive. As for the shrimp thing, I doubt anything close to a gram of Cesium ended up in the shipment. It's probably a component from a measuring device. [[Special:Contributions/177.12.48.45|177.12.48.45]] 09:57, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:Caesium contamination usually is caused by nuclear accidents (or atmospheric nuclear weapon tests) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium-137#Environmental_contamination. It is unlikely that someone acquired pure Cs-137 and then "accidentally" contaminated the shrimp with that. --[[Special:Contributions/134.102.219.31|134.102.219.31]] 15:31, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: Cs137 can be found for approximately 20 USD per µCi, which equals 0.0000000115g. That means 1g would cost 1,739,130,435 USD. The good news is that same gram would be worth 20 USD in another 795.7 years. Although it wouldn't be all Cs-137 anymore, nor exactly a gram. [[Special:Contributions/77.173.137.243|77.173.137.243]] 21:19, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
::So, what you're saying is... not a good investment for the future, with a 99.99999885ish% depreciation (''before'' any effects of monetary inflation), on top of me also having to become somewhere roughly around 8.5 centuries old. I suppose the latter ''might'' be a plus, if you can guarantee it, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement for your scheme. ;) [[Special:Contributions/84.43.20.118|84.43.20.118]] 22:04, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

Bothering the NSA shouldn't be hard, just write some of their secrets on a cake (with frosting is optional) and post it online. [[Special:Contributions/212.101.26.209|212.101.26.209]] 14:57, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: I feel like the writing on the cake is not part of its recipe. I think a more fitting way to get their attention would be "accidentally" poisoning the president with your cooking. --
[[Special:Contributions/128.31.34.92|128.31.34.92]] 22:09, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
:If it gets worse, simply expressing disagreement with a certain person could get the NSA on your case. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 02:10, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

What would IMO do, revoke your math license? [[Special:Contributions/216.73.162.10|216.73.162.10]] 15:22, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: They have numerous penalties at their disposal. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:27, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: I imagined the reason the IMO would get involved would be because the recipe created some interesting mathematical problem that could be used for the next competition. For example, something like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct3lCfgJV_A this video], where a grocery order taken too literally creates a seemingly harmless Diophantine equation whose smallest positive solutions are on the order of 10^80. [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 15:56, 20 August 2025 (UTC)
: A cook on Air Force 1 "accidentally" contaminates Trump's fast food with cesium. The assassination attempt fails and US retaliates by invading Canada/Panama/Greenland (roll 1d3). IMO bans the US team, like they banned Russia in 2022. Thus a single cooking "accident" can get the attention of IAEA, IATA, IMO, and NSA. --[[Special:Contributions/128.31.34.92|128.31.34.92]] 22:21, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

Maybe The IATA could get involved if your ruined recipe caused food poisoning on a commercial airliner that then resulted in an in-air emergency (whole flight deck passed out). {{unsigned ip|170.85.70.249|17:32, 20 August 2025 (UTC)}}
:Or if you create a column of dense toxic fumes that spreads over a wide area (on the level of a volcano eruption). On the other hand, I wonder what could bring the attention of the IMO when Terryology seemingly couldn't.--[[Special:Contributions/94.73.52.245|94.73.52.245]] 18:56, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

The criticality accident in 1999 at the Tokaimura nuclear facility seems like a good example of messing up a recipe in a way that draws considerable attention. {{w|Tokaimura nuclear accidents}} [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:1B]] 19:11, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

1. Randall creates a new way to cook airplane food that is either cheap enough or expensive enough to significantly affect airline ticket pricing. 2. Randall's recipe poisons a Math Olympiad team. 3. The coach of the team turns out to be an undercover spy. [[Special:Contributions/24.53.184.90|24.53.184.90]] 23:47, 20 August 2025 (UTC)

{{w|IATA}} is an international trade association for airlines. It's not particularly involved in air safety, except as a sideline; the {{w|International Civil Aviation Organization}} is much more involved that way. However, IATA used to be directly concerned with recipes. In the 1950s, the IATA airlines agreed on international standards for meals, under which economy class passengers would only be provided with sandwiches. However, airlines such as SAS and Swissair provided their passengers with more and better sandwiches than U.S. airlines such as Pan Am and TWA were willing to provide. Eventually IATA issued a rule that sandwiches were to be cold, simple, unadorned, and inexpensive, feature “a substantial and visible” chunk of bread, and could not include materials normally regarded as expensive or luxurious, such as smoked salmon, oysters, caviar, lobster, game, asparagus, or pate de foie gras. Providing better sandwiches than those IATA allowed could result in a fine. (The rule was later revoked to allow economy class passengers to receive hot meals.) So at one point, it was possible to mess up a sandwich recipe by adding expensive ingredients that would incur the wrath of IATA. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 00:43, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

The explanation "... if the recipe is used in major airports, and the recipe is contaminated with a drug, the pilots that eat could experience vision loss or other problems, and if this recipe is widely used and normal people won't notice much besides minor side effects, then this could attract the attention of of the IATA" does not make sense. If a recipe caused vision loss when pilots ate the food, it would also cause vision loss for non-pilots. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 00:49, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

The phrase "messing up a recipe" means whatever Randall intended it to mean. The fact that some people may use the phrase to mean to make something at home does not mean that such a definition was intended by Randall. I don't think I have ever heard "messing up a recipe" mean anything other than ruining the preparation of the food. [[User:Inquirer|Inquirer]] ([[User talk:Inquirer|talk]]) 02:55, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:Someone who ''creates'' recipes could make a mistake, publish a bad recipe, and cause problems. If a recipe left food unsafe, for example: not cooked enough to kill bacteria, left at room temperature for an unsafe time, etc. Tell people to find wild mushrooms, and that the red mushrooms with white spots are extra tasty. :-) [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:37, 21 August 2025 (UTC)

:If Randall ever made a recipe for lava cake, one of the problems would how you keep it from melting the plate. [[Special:Contributions/107.77.205.64|107.77.205.64]] 18:23, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

Is it possible this comic was inspired by the [https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-advises-public-not-eat-sell-or-serve-certain-imported-frozen-shrimp-indonesian-firm recent FDA recall on certain Indonesian frozen shrimp]? [[Special:Contributions/174.21.93.112|174.21.93.112]] 03:33, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:That's noted, with that specific link, in the second sentence of the Explanation here. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:41, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
::Ack, apologies. I may be a little stupid. [[Special:Contributions/174.21.93.112|174.21.93.112]]

68 Bq/kg of Cs-137 is about 93 billions Cs-137 atoms in 1 kg of shrimp, that is about 1,5 picomole or 213 picograms. On the other hand one BED (banana equivalent dose) is ~15 Bq per piece, so eating a half pound package of this shrimp will irradiate you in the same amount as eating one banana, in terms of number of decays, but much less in terms of biological dose: potassium-40 in bananas emit beta radiation which is much more harmful when coming from ingested material than beta and gamma, roughly equally emitted by Cs-137. So this recall is on the level of emptying a reservoir after two guys pissed into it. Security theater. -- [[Special:Contributions/2620:1F7:2C04:7C44:0:0:31:3A|2620:1F7:2C04:7C44:0:0:31:3A]] 14:12, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
: Or the Dutch boy at the [deleted] dike. With the assault by Our ([https://www.dude-n-dude.com/2025/08/06/amoebas-lorica-meme-ories-68-introducing-humility/ USNA]) Government on such business-insensitive excesses as food safety, we should be grateful that the FDA is, at least for now, still capable of functioning at this level. [[Special:Contributions/2605:59C8:160:DB08:5C9D:407E:3E50:C822|2605:59C8:160:DB08:5C9D:407E:3E50:C822]] 15:08, 21 August 2025 (UTC)
:The advisory does say that the danger is very low. I think this is one of those "abundance of caution" things. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:35, 22 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I mean, you can't assume each individual shrimp was mixed with the same amount of cesium. Maybe some of it got a super dose and is actually harmful. Since the general public doesn't carry around geiger counters to restaurants, I say the recall is warranted.
::: Reminds me of the tale of [https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/n3sfi6/til_in_1911_physicist_george_de_hevesy_suspected/ George de Hevesy] who effectively ''did'' take a geiger counter to the (boarding house) dining table... But, then, he was suspecting that something would be found. Different times! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.60|82.132.236.60]] 15:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)
:: I think the fact that there is any cs137 in the shrimp at all is concerning. Where is it coming from? Did someone dump spent nuclear fuel near a fishery? How much and for how long? [[Special:Contributions/177.12.48.45|177.12.48.45]] 14:45, 23 August 2025 (UTC)
::: Not read the incident report, maybe it says there. But it's quite possible that some stage of processing uses a radiation source to scan the load of shrimp for unwanted debris (pass it under the emitter, if any significant bits of metal/dirt is in the supply, it'll cause a notable fluctuation in the detector beneath), ''or'' perhaps to asses the mass distribution (if the water content is enough to moderate the source-to-detector signal in a relatable manner, it could accurately estimate the quantity of shrimp passing by continuously, where weighing is less practical/accurate given the volume and continuous movement; ''or'' it might even track the average ''size'' of shrimp, for grading purposes). They do use small amounts of isotopes for that kind of thing. Amerecium is famouspy used in smoke-detectors/alarms, and other radionuclides (chosen for their particular mix of alpha/beta/gamma radiation, availability and sufficient half-life to match the product use-span.
::: Now imagine what if, perhaps ironically, the emitter capsule vibrated loose (or was dropped, in the midst of a swap-out of an 'old' one, and for some reason the person wldoing it didn't feel the need to emergency-stop the line) and got into the supply chain, either fragmenting or leaching out (as heat and cold, and perhaps mechanical pressures, further prepared the shrimp-load, now with added debris). [[Special:Contributions/82.132.236.60|82.132.236.60]] 15:40, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

Mooseberry fudge cake batter could very easily get the attention of the International Air Transport Association and possibly the NSA. As well as the Pottsylvania espionage community. [[User:Lordpishky|Lordpishky]] ([[User talk:Lordpishky|talk]]) 06:27, 23 August 2025 (UTC)

Currently the explanation seems kind of centered on the idea that recipe only means a cooking recipe. "Recipe" used to mean to take, as in a prescription - a physician's instructions to a pharmacist/chemist. (This wiki entry recently said that recipe outside of cookery was a metaphor/extension - it isn't.) Recipe as cookery came later. If you look up recipe in the dictionary, cookery is just a special case.[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recipe Merriam Webster - recipe]

"Recipe - 1580s, "medical prescription, a formula for the composing of a remedy written by a physician," from French récipé (15c.), from Latin recipe "take!" (this or that ingredient), ... It was the word written by physicians at the head of prescriptions. Figurative meaning "a prescribed formula" is from 1640s. Meaning "instructions for preparing a particular food" is recorded by 1716." Rx is a holdover from Recipe.
[https://www.etymonline.com/word/recipe etymonline - recipe]

Cookery is only some of the every-day chemistry we do. Mixing chlorine bleach and various substances (ammonia, acids like vinegar, alcohol) can have nasty results.

Messing up a prescription, a chemical formula or chemical/nuclear ingredients is well within the literal definition of messing up a recipe, and gives more latitude for coming up with things that might draw attention from those organizations. [[Special:Contributions/2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:98|2600:387:4:803:0:0:0:98]] 18:10, 26 August 2025 (UTC)

Sqround or tricylinder-shaped cakes or bread can attract the IMO's attention. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C11:B800:34F9:178:1B57:97B3|2001:4C4E:1C11:B800:34F9:178:1B57:97B3]] 08:26, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

Talk:2857: Rebuttals

2026-01-19T07:10:49Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

Ok, so...
#"...new evidence" (yes, possibly we can start with "...evidence", but let's start with the first contrarianism).
#"...inconvenient..." (so there's something we're saying is ''wrong'' with that new evidence?)
#"...led researchers to ignore..." (maybe could fold in with the inconvenience, but arguably ''ignoring'' is a 'third way' step in sidelining it, not even disagreeing)
#"...the prevailing consensus..." (another layer of implied position-taking where there ''is'' something to disagree with)
#"...the backlash against..." (to which others firmly took up the contrary)
#"It's become conventional wisdom that..." (and this is a counter-contrary perspective)
#"However..." ("...and ''I'', for one, think that they're wrong about the whole thing!")
...well, by a very quick and dirty deconstruction. But, then again, I fully expect to be shown wrong in my delayering! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 00:31, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
:Wouldn't the inconvenient new evidence be the justification for the backlash against the prevailing concensus, not the reason why the new evidence is ignored? I'm not going to try to explain this comic, I'm lost already. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:46, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
::It was the backlash that ignored the new evidence. The new evidence wasn't adopted by the 'backlashers', as I read it, so couldn't be their justification. (Or at least that's how the conventional wisdom interprets it, which of course could be wrong!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.23|162.158.34.23]] 00:56, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
:::I agree, and the first couple of paragraphs of the explanation are currently wrong in suggesting that the "prevailing consensus" is the one to which the researchers ignoring evidence ascribe. Instead we have a position that most scientists accept to be true and have done for some time ("prevailing consensus"), but this has inspired a revolt that is implied to be more emotively-driven than facts-based ("backlash") leading to revolt-inspired research ("has led researchers") uncovering evidence ("new evidence") which did not fit the revolting researchers' preconceived ideas ("inconvenient") and has therefore not been properly taken into account ("ignored"); however, this description of the situation is one that is generally assumed to be true, without critical thought or despite proof to the contrary ("conventional wisdom"), and Cueball is about to tell us why ("however..."). In truth, Cueball could be about to rebut any one of those things, but it is heavily implied to be the "conventional wisdom" that is in his view wrong, so there may actually be no prevailing consensus, or no real backlash, or no real research done because of that backlash, or no new evidence, or proof that that evidence could actually be useful to counter the prevailing consensus, or (and this again is most likely IMHO) it is wrong for people to assume that that the evidence was ever ignored. Therefore Cueball is about to support the revolting researchers, but only in rebutting the mainstream rebuttal accusing the rebutting researchers of failing to rebut contradictory evidence...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.223.169|172.69.223.169]] 10:05, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

I impressed myself by correctly remembering that the author of "Structure of Scientific Revolution" was Thomas Kuhn. It was assigned reading in a philosophy of science class I took over 40 years ago, but I haven't had to think about it much since then. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:43, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

[[File:The more rematic mainvisionist dogstream.png|thumb|ChatGPT: "Here is an image depicting the concept of a 'more rematic mainvisionist dogstream.'"]]
...why is there a file of a chatgpt image of "ematic mainvisionist dogstream"?--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 07:10, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Looking for a way to depict the Title Text: "The mainstream dogma sparked a wave of dogmatic revisionism, and this revisionist mainstream dogmatism has now given way to a more rematic mainvisionist dogstream." Too garish? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.142|172.69.79.142]] 00:52, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not typing color codes, but I figured it would make more sense to coordinate the color by compound word, not roots. So "dogma" would be one color, "mainstream" would be another, etc. And then "dogstream" would be two-tone. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.11|172.70.178.11]] 09:47, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
::On that topic, I think the description for "rematic" should be changed to more clearly reflect the combination of "revisionist" and "dogmatic"; I don't think it implies any relation to "remake", "remix", "refurbish" or "recycle", even if the ultimate meaning is similar (and I'm not sure that's the case anyway). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.161|162.158.90.161]] 17:27, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

A simple explanation of "rematic mainvisionist dogstream" is that they are created by taking "re" from revisionist and replacing the "dog" from dogmatic which replaces the "main" from mainstream which then replaces the "re" of revisionist. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 19:25, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

That's an excellent explanation, yet I'm still not sure I understand the comic. There may be just too many layers of meta. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:22, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Unclothed evidence would certainly be inconvenient, to say no more, in the puritanical Church of Scientific Dogma. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.40|172.70.210.40]] 17:39, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2857: Rebuttals

2026-01-19T07:10:00Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

Ok, so...
#"...new evidence" (yes, possibly we can start with "...evidence", but let's start with the first contrarianism).
#"...inconvenient..." (so there's something we're saying is ''wrong'' with that new evidence?)
#"...led researchers to ignore..." (maybe could fold in with the inconvenience, but arguably ''ignoring'' is a 'third way' step in sidelining it, not even disagreeing)
#"...the prevailing consensus..." (another layer of implied position-taking where there ''is'' something to disagree with)
#"...the backlash against..." (to which others firmly took up the contrary)
#"It's become conventional wisdom that..." (and this is a counter-contrary perspective)
#"However..." ("...and ''I'', for one, think that they're wrong about the whole thing!")
...well, by a very quick and dirty deconstruction. But, then again, I fully expect to be shown wrong in my delayering! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.25|162.158.74.25]] 00:31, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
:Wouldn't the inconvenient new evidence be the justification for the backlash against the prevailing concensus, not the reason why the new evidence is ignored? I'm not going to try to explain this comic, I'm lost already. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:46, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
::It was the backlash that ignored the new evidence. The new evidence wasn't adopted by the 'backlashers', as I read it, so couldn't be their justification. (Or at least that's how the conventional wisdom interprets it, which of course could be wrong!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.23|162.158.34.23]] 00:56, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
:::I agree, and the first couple of paragraphs of the explanation are currently wrong in suggesting that the "prevailing consensus" is the one to which the researchers ignoring evidence ascribe. Instead we have a position that most scientists accept to be true and have done for some time ("prevailing consensus"), but this has inspired a revolt that is implied to be more emotively-driven than facts-based ("backlash") leading to revolt-inspired research ("has led researchers") uncovering evidence ("new evidence") which did not fit the revolting researchers' preconceived ideas ("inconvenient") and has therefore not been properly taken into account ("ignored"); however, this description of the situation is one that is generally assumed to be true, without critical thought or despite proof to the contrary ("conventional wisdom"), and Cueball is about to tell us why ("however..."). In truth, Cueball could be about to rebut any one of those things, but it is heavily implied to be the "conventional wisdom" that is in his view wrong, so there may actually be no prevailing consensus, or no real backlash, or no real research done because of that backlash, or no new evidence, or proof that that evidence could actually be useful to counter the prevailing consensus, or (and this again is most likely IMHO) it is wrong for people to assume that that the evidence was ever ignored. Therefore Cueball is about to support the revolting researchers, but only in rebutting the mainstream rebuttal accusing the rebutting researchers of failing to rebut contradictory evidence...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.223.169|172.69.223.169]] 10:05, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

I impressed myself by correctly remembering that the author of "Structure of Scientific Revolution" was Thomas Kuhn. It was assigned reading in a philosophy of science class I took over 40 years ago, but I haven't had to think about it much since then. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:43, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

[[File:The more rematic mainvisionist dogstream.png|thumb|ChatGPT: "Here is an image depicting the concept of a 'more rematic mainvisionist dogstream.'"]]
...why?--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 07:10, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

Looking for a way to depict the Title Text: "The mainstream dogma sparked a wave of dogmatic revisionism, and this revisionist mainstream dogmatism has now given way to a more rematic mainvisionist dogstream." Too garish? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.142|172.69.79.142]] 00:52, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not typing color codes, but I figured it would make more sense to coordinate the color by compound word, not roots. So "dogma" would be one color, "mainstream" would be another, etc. And then "dogstream" would be two-tone. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.11|172.70.178.11]] 09:47, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
::On that topic, I think the description for "rematic" should be changed to more clearly reflect the combination of "revisionist" and "dogmatic"; I don't think it implies any relation to "remake", "remix", "refurbish" or "recycle", even if the ultimate meaning is similar (and I'm not sure that's the case anyway). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.161|162.158.90.161]] 17:27, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

A simple explanation of "rematic mainvisionist dogstream" is that they are created by taking "re" from revisionist and replacing the "dog" from dogmatic which replaces the "main" from mainstream which then replaces the "re" of revisionist. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 19:25, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

That's an excellent explanation, yet I'm still not sure I understand the comic. There may be just too many layers of meta. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:22, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

Unclothed evidence would certainly be inconvenient, to say no more, in the puritanical Church of Scientific Dogma. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.40|172.70.210.40]] 17:39, 21 November 2023 (UTC)

3181: Jumping Frog Radius

2026-01-19T07:07:02Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */ This looks detailed enough to be complete.

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

==Explanation==

The {{w|Schwarzschild radius}} is essentially the size of a {{w|black hole}} -- the maximum distance from the center where gravity is so strong that light can't escape. It is part of a solution to {{w|Einstein's field equations}}. It is usually calculated as
:''r''s = (2*''G*M'') / ''c''2
where ''G'' is the {{w|gravitational constant}}, ''M'' is the mass of the object, and ''c'' is the {{w|speed of light}}.
If ''M'' were the mass of the {{w|Earth}}, it would give the Schwarzschild radius for the Earth, which is about 9 mm. (If all of Earth's mass were compressed into a sphere of a bit less than 2 cm in diameter, it would become a black hole.)

The comic suggests a more useful radius: the ''Jumping Frog radius'' ''r''jf, which is the size of a "planet" such that its gravity keeps a champion {{w|Frog jumping contest|jumping}} {{w|The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County|frog}} from being able to achieve {{w|escape velocity}}. Thus [[Randall]] has instead of ''c'', the 299,792,458 m/s speed of light, used a much smaller value of 4.5 m/s, to represent the maximum speed of a jumping frog. It is possible that Randall got that value from [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5661154_Explosive_Jumping_Extreme_Morphological_and_Physiological_Specializations_of_Australian_Rocket_Frogs_Litoria_nasuta this paper], which on page 179 puts an upper limit on the maximum velocity of adult Australian {{w|striped rocket frog}}s at 4.52 m/s. (The frog is shown making a "ribbit" sound, which is made by {{w|Pacific tree frog}}s and their relatives in North America and not by rocket frogs, but it's [https://www.imdb.com/list/ls052470723/ widely attributed to frogs all over the world].)

The drawing to the right of the formula shows a planet with exactly the radius ''r''jf. Thus the frog can jump really high compared to the planet's size (in this case about as high as the planet's radius), before it falls back down. This implies that the frog is jumping at somewhat less than the 4.5 m/s needed to escape.

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

If you were to take a frog off the earth and put it in a tiny frog space suit, which somehow did not unduly inhibit its movement, it could jump off any number of the smaller bodies in the solar system. However, few of these bodies are small/low-mass enough for a frog to escape them, ''and'' large enough and close enough for us to observe them and accurately estimate their escape velocities. (The diameter of asteroid {{w|4942 Munroe}} is known to be about 3.45 km, but its shape and mass are unknown. Its surface has an [https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=2004942 exceptionally high albedo of 0.936], which suggests that the surface is mostly some kind of ice. If we assume that asteroid Munroe is spherical and entirely composed of water ice, with a density close to 1 g/cm3, its mass is 2.16 × 1010 kg, and its escape velocity is 0.041 m/s. If instead it's a solid sphere of meteoric iron/nickel with a density of about 8 g/cm3, its mass is 1.72 × 1011 kg, and its escape velocity is 0.115 m/s. In either case, Space Frog would have no trouble jumping away from Munroe.) Some examples:

{| class="wikitable"
!Celestial Body!!Escape Velocity (m/s)!!Frog Escape?!!Notes
|-
|Deimos||5.6||X||The smaller of Mars's two moons
|-
|Ersa||ca. 1||✓||Minor moon of Jupiter
|-
|Halley's Comet||ca. 2||✓||Notable comet, orbiting the sun every 76 years
|}

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

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

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

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

Talk:3182: Telescope Types

2026-01-19T03:11:42Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

no vampire jokes 🥀 ([[1791]]) [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 00:08, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

Got down some preliminary descriptions of each telescope type used [[Special:Contributions/185.132.133.218|185.132.133.218]] 01:44, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

insert that one mickey mouse meme with the caption "what a fucking narcissist"
[[User:Yaokuan ITB|Yaokuan ITB]] ([[User talk:Yaokuan ITB|talk]]) 02:33, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

abnormally low joke-to-real ratio for this format of comic! [[Special:Contributions/2601:241:8002:3E0:C0A2:9DA:ED39:D13F|2601:241:8002:3E0:C0A2:9DA:ED39:D13F]] 03:21, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
:I noticed that... I think this might've originally been 'look at all these cool telescope types', but then he realized he had to put some sort of joke somewhere. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 03:27, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

Can someone make a category for The Core (2003)? It's been mentioned often enough. [[Special:Contributions/83.245.251.49|83.245.251.49]] 09:22, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
:Can you list 4 more comics then I will make the category. I think that is about the limit for when to make a new category. I know there are a few more but is it only 2-3more? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:00, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
::All I can think of is [[673: The Sun]]. --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 15:09, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
:::Also mentioned in the title text of [[2858: Thanksgiving Arguments]]. --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 15:24, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
:: The [[:Category: The Core|The Core]] category was already created, nearly two years ago. This comic is the 7th reference --[[User:Deebster|Deebster]] ([[User talk:Deebster|talk]]) 23:54, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

> This would not […] end well for the drinker.

Would it though? ''Drinking'' elemental mercury, while not great on nutritional value, should be mostly safe (and I'm using that word quite loosely). The most danger would be while drinking and expelling it, when there's a danger of inhaling mercury vapors, right? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 10:29, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
: ... Agreed. Elemental mercury is dangerous when inhaled, not when drinked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning [[Special:Contributions/109.81.171.81|109.81.171.81]] 21:12, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
:: (it's ''..when drunk.'') ;) [[Special:Contributions/88.65.244.212|88.65.244.212]] 00:42, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
It wouldn't take much work to make the "Real?" column all contain only "yes" [[Special:Contributions/136.32.133.124|136.32.133.124]] 12:05, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

As all others are refractors or reflectors, can cardboard tube be considered a diffractor? As it is the only thing that it does.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 15:43, 18 December 2025 (UTC)
:Well, all the others do it as well. Even more so, as they have more objects in the light path. --[[Special:Contributions/88.65.244.212|88.65.244.212]] 00:42, 26 December 2025 (UTC)
> Children may sometimes use tubes [...]

It's not just children. I've seen "viewing tubes" in at least a couple of places, hard-mounted metal tubes that point at particular points of interest. I'm not finding any good references, but here's a photo showing some at the top of a nearby mountain: https://maps.app.goo.gl/wwnYJ1zEQEXzjyJS8 [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 18:07, 18 December 2025 (UTC)

Is the joke with "Geological" that it's looking at something 'far away' from actual Geology? {{unsigned ip|64.203.66.182|17:14, 19 December 2025}}

I flunked out of freshman physics, so apologies in advance if this is very stupid, but looking at the designs, and the “reflector” and “refractor” columns, I was wondering if it might make sense to combine the two, have a telescope with a refracting lens at one end and a concave mirror at the other (and presumably a secondary mirror) that would allow for a shorter overall length tube for the telescope. [[User:John|John]] ([[User talk:John|talk]]) 04:42, 27 December 2025 (UTC)
:Various designs mix lenses and mirrors (if only at the eyepiece end, as a final adjustable focusing element). But very large lenses have their own issues, e.g.:
:* they tend to produce spectral abberations that require careful relensing to mitigate;
:* the lens-material will absorb some small amounts of light during passage, especially for rays passing through the considerably thicker bits (whether concave, convex or meniscus) ...any absorption by a chosen material of mirror surface is constant;
:*shaping/polishing has to be done equally well on both sides, and can't easily be re-additive of material (only continually grinding it down, as needed);
:* it can't be physically supported (or even flexed, to adjust) all across one side, like a mirror;
:* necessarily huge chunks of optically-refractive material are ''heavy'', compared to many kinds of similarly proportioned mirrors;
:...and a few other issues that you might imagine. You can mitigate/mix these in all kinds of ways, but "a huge primary mirror" at the back end often has various advantages over "a huge (pre-?)primary lens" at the front end, varying a bit depending upon actual intended configuration and use. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.191|82.132.239.191]] 15:30, 27 December 2025 (UTC)
:One important bit about huge lenses: convex lenses (which you would need for a really big primary reflector) would be *very* thick which causes all kinds of problems when you cast them and then cool them down. The resulting stress makes it impossible to manufacture good lenses above a certain size. There are really big lenses, e.g. for lighthouses but those don't need good image quality so Fresnel lenses can be used to make them much thinner. Good quality composite lenses are at the very least much harder (not confident enough to say "impossible") to produce than composite mirrors. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 12:12, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

i do not have any idea what the title text means.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:11, 19 January 2026 (UTC)

3191: Superstition

2026-01-16T04:11:22Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */ It is long and detailed enough to be complete

{{comic
| number = 3191
| date = January 7, 2026
| title = Superstition
| image = superstition_2x.png
| imagesize = 275x393px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It's important to teach yourself to feel responsible for random events, because with great responsibility comes great power. That's what my wise Uncle Ben told me right before he died; he might still be alive today if only I'd said rabbit rabbit that year!
}}

==Explanation==

This comic references the {{w|superstition}}, which is known to have existed as far back as 1909, of saying "{{w|rabbit rabbit rabbit|rabbit rabbit}}" on the first day of a month in order to have good luck. There are many superstitions about actions that either cause bad luck (e.g. "step on a crack, break your mother's back", walking under a {{w|Ladder#Society and culture|ladder}}, breaking a {{w|List of bad luck signs|mirror}}, letting a {{w|Black cat#Superstition, folklore, bringer of good or bad luck|black cat}} cross your path) or protect against bad luck (e.g. carrying a {{w|rabbit's foot}}, {{w|Spilling salt|throwing salt over your shoulder}} after spilling some, {{w|knocking on wood}} after saying something).

When asked to explain what a superstition is, [[Cueball]] replies that they're "a way to train yourself to feel like any bad thing that happens is your fault". This suggests that, not only does [[Cueball]] not actually believe in the power of superstitions, but sees them as psychologically harmful. After all, believing that bad fortune can be prevented by taking certain actions implies that any bad outcome might have been prevented if you'd taken the right actions. Logically, of course, there's no connection between taking superstitious actions and bad things (or for that matter, good things) that subsequently happen, but superstitions condition us to believe that there is a connection. What's worse, there are so many different superstitions, across so many different cultures, that even keeping track of them, let alone following all of them, is wildly unrealistic, so there's always something you did, or failed to do, on which you can blame any bad outcome. The danger is that a person might personally blame themselves for things that they had no actual control over at all.

The title text refers to the {{w|Spider-Man}} mythology, in which (in most versions) Peter Parker's "{{w|Uncle Ben}}" famously tells him that "with great power comes great responsibility". Peter initially takes this lesson to heart, as he receives his superpowers but fails to stop a criminal when he has the chance, and his Uncle Ben dies as a result.

This text flips that message, claiming that Uncle Ben instead told him that "with responsibility comes great power". This inverts the actual lesson, and suggests that, by simply taking responsibility (even for things over which you have no control), you'll gain power over the outcomes. This is a pretty good summary of what superstitions teach, but can't really be justified rationally. Nonetheless, Cueball appears to believe this lesson, claiming that his uncle died after he failed to say "rabbit rabbit", and implied that {{w|Post hoc ergo propter hoc|the death, therefore, could have been prevented if he'd followed the superstition.}} In this version of the story, it's not clear whether Peter actually had no opportunity to prevent his uncle's death, and is effectively looking for ways to blame himself, or whether he ''could'' have taken real action, but chooses to focus on superstition, rather than ways in which he could have made a real difference.

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

:[Blondie, Cueball and a child (Hairy) are walking from left to right. The child is turning towards Cueball.]
:Cueball: Oops, I forgot to say "rabbit rabbit" on January first!
:Hairy: Why do you do that?
:Cueball: Just a superstition.
:Hairy: What's a superstition?
:Cueball: It's a way to train yourself to feel like any bad thing that happens is your fault.

==Trivia==

* On January 7th, 2026, both the 1x and 2x version of this comic had no anti-aliasing applied (1-bit black and white). It was fixed later that day.
* Mentioning "rabbits" is also considered ''bad'' luck {{w|Isle of Portland#Rabbits|in some traditions}}.
* The [[header text]] briefly disappeared when this comic was released.
* Coincidentally, the day this comic was released, Minecraft, a video game Randall has played, released new textures and animations for rabbits and baby rabbits. These updates make them look almost as cute as Randall thinks they are!
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

1212: Interstellar Memes

2026-01-15T04:58:10Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1212
| date = May 15, 2013
| title = Interstellar Memes
| image = interstellar memes.png
| titletext = The strongest incentive we have to develop faster-than-light travel is that it would let us apologize in advance.
}}
A [http://xkcd.com/1212/large/ larger version] of this picture can be found by clicking the comic on xkcd.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Need to add the missing explanations for memes.}}

[[Randall]] highlights various memes from popular culture. A {{w|meme}} is a phenomenon, often in this scenario in the form of a movie quote, a musical reference, a catchphrase or other notable saying that spreads quickly by word-of-mouth. Memes become popular because people hear about them and repeat them to others. Randall points out that if the assumed intelligent life from other star systems were listening to the things we said, then they would just now be hearing and popularizing memes started years ago on earth. The delay is due to the time that it takes for expressions of the meme to travel (presumably via radio waves) to distant star systems.

Our solar system, from where the electromagnetic waves are emitted, is located just left of the center of the picture. The other star systems are arranged roughly according to their distance from the sun, while their size corresponds to the size of the star compared with that of the Sun. The meme for Sirius is a pun; it refers to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in which Bellatrix Lestrange kills Sirius Black. Radio waves travel at the {{w|speed of light}}. The title text jokes that these memes are so annoying that it would give us further incentive to develop the technology to travel {{w|faster than light}}, just simply to be able to outrun the radio waves, reach a distant star system, and apologize in advance to the "residents" about the memes, before the memes arrive.

In [https://what-if.xkcd.com/47/ What If #47: Alien Astronomers], Randall points out that Earth entertainment television and radio signals were never broadcast with sufficient intensity to be detectable at the majority of interstellar distances making it unlikely that aliens are picking up our memes and links back to this comic.

===Table with memes===
The table below lists all the memes described, and the star at which the comics states those memes should be heard by the time when the comic was released in 2013. The year of the meme plus the number of light years to the star should end up close to 2013.

Most end up within the range 2011-2013 which may indicate the meme became popular one or two years later (on Earth or at the distant star system.) Two memes reach the targets in 2014. Some of those errors may be caused by the inaccuracy of the distances.

The ''The Spanish Inquisition'' from Monty Python would have reached its destination in 2006. Because they're still watching ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' in 2013 it must be very popular or maybe it took seven years to decipher that {{w|British humour}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Meme !! Star !! Origin !! Year !! Distance to star !! Sum year !! Explanation
|-
| Yabba dabba doo! || {{w|Castor (star)|Castor}} || ''{{w|The Flintstones}}'' || 1960 || 51 ± 3 ly || 2011 ± 3 ||The catchphrase used by ''{{W|Fred Flintstone}}'' in the series ''{{W|The Flintstones}}'' whenever something good happens (like a work shift ending).
|-
| You've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" || {{w|Lambda Aurigae}} || ''{{w|Dirty Harry}}'' || 1971 || 41.2 ± 0.1 ly || 2012 || The famous line from the scene in ''Dirty Harry'' where the titular Harry forces a criminal to surrender by threatening him with an empty gun.
|-
| {{w|Where's the beef|Where's the beef?}} || {{w|HR 1614}} || Slogan for {{w|Wendy's}} || 1984 || 28 ly || 2012 || Catchy slogan used in many Wendy's commercials that caught on and became a meme in its own right.
|-
| And now for something completely different. || {{w|Capella (star)|Capella}}|| ''{{w|Monty Python's Flying Circus}}'' || 1969 || 42 ly || 2011 || "And now for something completely different" was previously used in U.K. magazine shows like ''Tonight'', but its use in Monty Python's material means it has come to be associated with them.
|-
| Here's lookin' at you, kid. || {{w|Kappa Reticuli}} || ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}'' || 1942 || 70 ly || 2012 || "Here's looking at you, kid" is a line spoken by Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 film Casablanca.
|-
| My spoon is too big! || {{w|Kapteyn's Star}} || ''{{w|Rejected}}'' || 2000 || 12 ly || 2012 || The first line of Don Hertzfeldt's surreal animation ''Rejected'', released in 2000. In the story of ''Rejected'', this was meant to be an ad bumper for an educational channel.
|-
| May the force be with you. || {{w|Delta Trianguli}} || ''{{w|Star Wars}}''|| 1977 || 35 ly || 2012 || This is a phrase used a lot in the Star Wars franchise. It is a benediction used to bid a hopeful farewell, mostly by/to/between those who are aligned to the {{w|Jedi}} creed.
|-
| Peanut butter jelly time! || {{w|Luyten's Star}} || [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/peanut-butter-jelly-time an Internet meme] || 2002 || 12 ly || 2014 || "Peanut Butter & Jelly" was the only single by the Buckwheat Boyz, which became popular as a meme when paired with an animated dancing banana.
|-
| Rosebud. || {{w|Alpha Hydri}} || ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' || 1941 || 71 ly || 2012 || In the opening scene of Citizen Kane, the eponymous Mr. Kane dies, saying "Rosebud" as his last words. The rest of the movie focuses on the people in his life trying to determine what the meaning of this word was.
|-
| Oh my god, {{w|They killed Kenny|they killed Kenny!}} – You bastards! || {{w|AD Leonis}} || ''{{w|South Park}}'' || 1997 || 15.9 ± 0.2 ly || 2013 || This is usually said whenever the character Kenny from South Park is killed. This is a recurring reference, as Kenny dies in every episode of South Park. In its most referenced form, another of the child characters then swears at the antagonists, fate and/or {{tvtropes|BreakingTheFourthWall|the writer's of the show}}, whichever party may be responsible, but this may be toned down in later depictions.
|-
| ...God kills a kitten! – A what? || {{w|Procyon}} || {{w|Every time you masturbate... God kills a kitten|an Internet meme}} || 2002 || 11.5 ly || 2013 || The full catchphrase is "Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten". The reply for this meme notes that kittens aren't on any other planets{{Citation needed}}, so the other person is confused about what a kitten is.
|-
| I ''still'' can't believe Bellatrix– – Dude, get over it. || {{w|Sirius}} || ''{{w|Harry Potter}}'' ({{w|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix|book 5}}) || 2003 || 8.6 ly || 2012 || In the Battle of the {{w|Ministry of Magic|Department of Mysteries}}, {{w|Bellatrix Lestrange}} fires a spell at {{w|Sirius Black}}, {{w|Harry Potter (character)|Harry's}} {{w|Godparent|godfather}}. This spell knocks Sirius backward through an archway which is a physical doorway into the {{w|Afterlife|afterlife}} such that, when Sirius fell through it, he left the realm of the living and died. The star Sirius is obviously upset about this, as Sirius Black was named after him.
|-
| Ninjas fight ''all the time!'' || {{w|Epsilon Eridani}} || {{w|The Official Ninja Webpage}} || 2002 || 10 ly || 2012 || {{w|Ninja}} is the Japanese word for {{w|spy}}. In the 16th century, Japanese spycraft was codified into a profession, and spies had a significant influence on feudal intrigue during the {{w|Sengoku period|Japanese warring states period}}. These spies inspired a lot of literature, some fantastical, which over time developed into a popular stock character and a rich array of associated tropes. The Official Ninja Webpage is a satire website written from the perspective of a teenage American boy who is obsessed with the stock character and its associated tropes. One of these tropes, as written on the front page of the website, is that "Ninjas fight ALL the time."
|-
| {{w|D'oh!}} || {{w|HR 753}} || ''{{w|The Simpsons}}'' || 1989 || 23 ly || 2012 || This is what {{w|Homer Simpson| Homer Simpson}}, the father figure of {{w|The Simpsons}}The Simpsons, exclaims whenever he's annoyed.
|-
| {{w|The Spanish Inquisition (Monty Python)|''Nobody'' expects the Spanish Inquisition!}} || {{w|Beta Virginis}} || ''{{w|Monty Python's Flying Circus}}'' || 1970 || 35,6 ly || 2006 || Monty Python was an absurdist sketch show. In a particular episode, a character in a scene (a meeting between a mill-owner and his workers) complained about being asked some questions by saying they "did not expect a {{w|Spanish Inquisition}}", a superlative that was common at the time the sketch aired. At this point, several characters dressed in the uniforms of the Spanish Inquisition burst into the scene declaring that "nobody expects the Spanish inquisition", diverting the original sketch's direction. At the very end of the episode, a different character in a different (courtroom) sketch says that they "didn't expected the Spanish Inquisition" and everyone turns towards the door in expectation. The remainder of the episode follows the Spanish Inquisition rushing to the scene, and barely starting to 'surprise' everyone there before time runs out.
|-
| {{w|All your base are belong to us}}. || {{w|Tau Ceti}} || ''{{w|Zero Wing}}'' || 2001 || 11.9 ly || 2013 || This is a meme resulting from a mistranslated line in the game ''Zero Wing''. The correct translation was "We have taken all of your bases."
|-
| Take me to your leader! – No, Steve. || {{w|Beta Cassiopeiae|Caph}} || {{w|Take me to your leader (phrase)}} || 1957 || 55 ly || 2012 || "Take me to your leader" is a stock phrase attributed to aliens in 1950s science fiction during first contact. The first recorded instance is a New Yorker cartoon where aliens ask this question to a horse, illustrating the weirdness of aliens being able to communicate the phrase but not understanding the structure of society. Later usage was more sincere, with both humans and aliens asking each other to take them to their leaders. Since people near Caph would be aliens, one could ask them to take you to their leader. However, because the aliens on Caph are saying the meme to each other, the second speaker is personally familiar with the one making the request, apparently named Steve, which makes the request pointless. So the second speaker refuses the request because it is not important.
|-
| Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He ''waits.'' || {{w|Wolf 359}} || {{w|Chuck Norris facts}} || 2005 || 7.8 ly || 2013 || {{w|Chuck Norris}} is an American movie star, typically taking on roles where he would perform implausible feats of physical prowess. People online started making lists of many other implausible or impossible feats that Chuck Norris was supposedly capable of, including this one. Normal humans have a physiological need for {{w|sleep}}, with sleep deprivation having many negative health effects. That Chuck Norris does not sleep but instead waits implies a superhuman resistance to insomnia, while simultaneously explaining his inaction as a form of {{w|theodicy}}.
|-
| ♬ Numa numa ♪ || {{w|Lalande 21185}} || {{w|Dragostea Din Tei|Numa Numa song}} || 2004 || 8.3 ly || 2012 || "Numa numa" is part of the lyrics of the chorus of a Romanian-language europop song {{w|Dragostea Din Tei}}. A webcam recording of {{w|Gary Brolsma}} enthousiastically singing along with the song was uploaded to youtube and widely shared.
|-
| I can haz? || {{w|WISE 1049-5319|Luhman 16}} || {{w|Lolcats}} || 2006 || 6.6 ± 0.5 ly || 2013 || An early image macro meme format was captioning pictures of cats, as alluded to in xkcd [[262]]. One popular image featured an overweight Scottish Fold cat with the caption "I can haz cheezburger?", implying the cat is overweight because it likes eating cheeseburgers.
|-
| ''Internets!'' || {{w|Luyten 726-8|Gliese 65}} || {{w|George W. Bush}} [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/internets Internet meme] || 2004 || 8.7 || 2013|| The word 'Internets' is an incorrect pluralisation of the word, popularised by former US president George Bush, in his response to a question asked by an audience member about the moral state of media in the US, during a debate at Washington University in 2000. His response is as follows: "''[…] We can have filters on Internets where public money is spent […] so if kids get on the Internet, there is not going to be pornography or violence coming in.''" This was majorly overlooked until he made the same mistake during the presidential debate against US Senator John Kerry in 2004. He repeated this as follows: "''I hear there's rumors on the, uh, Internets [pause] that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period.''"
|-
| Look at the tiny dancing Earth mammals! || {{w|Gliese 1}} || {{w|Hampster Dance}} and/or {{w|Dancing Baby}} || 1998 || 14 ly || 2012 || Hampster Dance was a website featuring a set of tiled animated {{w|GIF}}s of cartoon hamsters dancing. The Dancing Baby is an animated GIF of a computer generated human baby dancing in a {{w|cha-cha}} style. Gliese 1 is not familiar with hamsters and human species, but since they are both mammals it refers to one or both as "tiny dancing Earth mammals". It is unclear how Gliese 1 knows that they are mammals, or what mammals are.
|-
| ''Wasssuup!?!'' || {{w|Van Maanen's star}} || {{w|Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)|Budweiser Beer}} advertising campaign || 1999 || 14 ly || 2013 || A compounded way of saying "What's up", a common greeting, with the compounded version being more common in 1990s' African American Vernacular English. In the commercial, two friends are lounging and watching a sports game, calling each other using an analog wired telephone. Using these telephones, multiple people in the same household could pick up phones connected to the same in-home telephone network and all participate in the conversation. Several other friends use this function to join the call and say "Wassuupp!?!" at each other in an escalatingly large group and then hang up to go back to doing their own thing.
|-
| Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker. || {{w|Beta Hydri}} || ''{{w|Die Hard}}'' || 1988 || 24 ly || 2012 || This line gained notoriety for being censored in subsequent releases as "Yippie-ki-yay, Mr. Falcon".
|-
| I pity the fool! || {{w|Groombridge 1830}} || ''{{w|Rocky III}}'' ({{w|Mr. T}}) || 1982 || 30 ly || 2012 || In Rocky III, the main antagonist Clubber Lang expresses pity towards protagonist Rocky Balboa, who is foolish enough to compete with him in a boxing match. The implication being that Lang is obviously going to win and cause Balboa a lot of unnecessary pain. The actor playing Clubber Lang, Mr. T, adopted this as his catchphrase, using it in different media.
|-
| The cake is a lie! || {{w|Alpha Centauri|Alpha Centauri A/B}} || ''{{w|Portal (video game)|Portal}}'' || 2007 || 4.3 ly || 2011 || This is a phrase that appears scrawled on a wall in the video game Portal foreshadowing the ending where, despite being promised cake, the player character is not given it and is almost killed by the antagonist.
|-
| ♪ Never gonna give you up ♫ || {{w|Alpha Centauri|Alpha Centauri A/B}} || {{w|Rickrolling}} || 2007 || 4.3 ly || 2011 || This is a reference to an act of tricking someone to watch/listen to the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" involuntarily.
|-
| I'm on a boat! || {{w|Proxima Centauri}} || ''{{w|I'm on a Boat}}'' || 2009 || 4.243 ± 0.002 ly || 2013 || The hook of a satirical hip-hop single with the same name, by {{w|The Lonely Island}} and {{w|T-Pain}}. The song is about winning a free boat ride and then being ridiculously proud of being on a boat.
|-
| ♫ Chocolate Raaaiiin ♫ || {{w|Barnard's Star}} || {{w|Tay Zonday}}: {{w|Chocolate Rain}} video || 2007 || 6 ly || 2013 || Chocolate Rain is a song uploaded to youtube by Tay Zonday, with video of him recording the voice track. "Chocolate rain" is the {{w|hook (music)|hook}} of the song that recurs every other line, and in the lyrics chocolate rain serves as an analogy for systemic racism.
|-
| Leave Britney alone! || {{w|Barnard's Star}} || {{w|Cara Cunningham}}: [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leave-britney-alone LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!] || 2007 || 6 ly || 2013 || {{w|Britney Spears}} is an American singer and pop star, who was ridiculed by the press and popular discourse for drama in her personal life. A highly watched early youtube video featured Cara filming herself in a highly emotional state, begging people to "leave Britney alone" because she had it hard enough.
|-
| You're the man now, dog! || {{w|Epsilon Indi}} || {{w|YTMND}} || 2001 || 11.8 || 2013 ||
|-
| {{w|More cowbell|More cowbell!}} || {{w|Kruger 60}} || ''{{w|Saturday Night Live}}'' || 2000 || 13 ly || 2013 || Saturday Night Live is a famous show that creates comedy sketchs every Saturday night. One of these sketches was the "More cowbell" sketch. This sketch was about the recording of "{{w|(Don't Fear) The Reaper}}", a song by the {{w|Blue Öyster Cult}}. In this skit, Gene Frenkle (a fictional character, played by {{w|Will Ferrell}}) was playing the {{w| Cowbell (instrument)|cowbell}}. However, because the cowbell was so distracting, the band stops playing and tells him to stop. This upsets Frenkel, who starts playing more and more annoyingly as the sketch goes on. {{w|Bruce Dickinson}}, played by {{w|Christopher Walken}}, encourages Frenkel to play the cowbell louder saying the iconic line, "Guess what! I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!".
Christopher Walken later said that the sketch "ruined his life", because of how popular it became.
|-
| Hasta la vista, baby. || {{w|Gliese 892}} || ''{{w|Terminator 2}}'' || 1991 || 21 ly || 2012 || This line originates from the Terminator, said before attempting to destroy an enemy. It has since {{w|Hasta la vista, baby|been quoted in other works}}.
|-
| Let's get ready to ruuumble! || {{w|Zeta Tucanae}} || {{w|Michael Buffer}} || 1984 || 28 ly || 2012 || This meme originated from the main catchphrase of ring announcer Michael Buffer, which he has used since 1984. The catchphrase has also made an appearance in the 1996 Disney movie ''{{w|Space Jam}}''.
|-
| You talkin' to ''me?'' || {{w|Arcturus}} || ''{{w|Taxi Driver}}'' || 1976 || 36.7 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 ||
|-
| Did ''I'' do that? || {{w|Xi Boötis|Boötis}} || ''{{w|Family Matters}}'' ({{w|Steve Urkel}}) || 1989 || 21.89 ± 0.07 ly || 2011 || This is the catchphrase of Steve Urkel, a breakout character from Family Matters.
|-
| Welcome to Good Burger, home of the good burger. – What's a burger? – I don't know. || {{w|70 Ophiuchi}} || {{w|Good Burger}} slogan || 1997 || 16.58 ± 0.07 ly || 2014 ||
|-
| Badger badger badger badger || {{w|Ross 154}} || {{w|Badger Badger Badger}} || 2003 || 9.7 ly || 2013 || One of the most popular videos created by Mr. Weebl, consisting of badgers (and a mushroom and snake) appearing when those words are said.
|-
| {{w|Vulcan salute|Live long and prosper.}} – OK. || {{w|HD 211415}} || ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' || 1967 || 44 ly || 2011 || Said mostly by the Vulcans of Star Trek as a greeting and gesture of good will, most notably Spock during the run of the original series.
|-
| Name's Bond. James Bond. || {{w|51 Pegasi}} || ''{{w|Dr. No (film)|Dr. No}}'' ({{w|James Bond}}) || 1962 || 50.9 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 || James Bond is the protagonist of a series of spy fiction, who has a habit of introducing himself with this exact phrase.
|-
| Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. || {{w|Alpha Serpentis}} || ''{{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}'' || 1939 || 74.0 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 || "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" is the signature catchphrase from the 1939 movie ''{{w|Gone With The Wind (film)|Gone With The Wind}}'', which starred {{w|Clark Gable}} and {{w|Vivien Leigh}}. The phrase is spoken by Gable's character {{w|Rhett Butler}} as his last line, in answer to {{w|Scarlett O'Hara}} (Leigh) asking "Where shall I go? What shall I do?"
|-
| Mr. T ate my balls! || {{w|Altair}} || [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ate-my-balls an Internet meme] || 1996 || 16.7 ly || 2013 || One of the oldest memes on the Web, with the original website by student Nehal Patel (which consisted of a bunch of Mr. T comic images recaptioned to have him saying he likes eating balls) first appearing in 1996.
|-
| I want the truth. – ''You can't handle the truth!'' || {{w|Delta Pavonis}} || ''{{w|A Few Good Men}}'' || 1992 || 20 ly || 2012 || These lines are given during a climactic testimony near the end of the film. They are versatile enough to be quoted in many situations.
|-
| I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. || {{w|Beta Trianguli Australis}} || ''{{w|The Godfather}}'' || 1972 || 40 ly || 2012 || Don Vito Corleone, the eponymous Godfather, uses this phrase when he intends to secure someone's cooperation via by threatening them with violence.
|-
| {{w|Resistance is futile|Resistance is futile.}} || {{w|Vega}} || ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' ({{w|Borg (Star Trek)|Borg}}) || 1988 || 25 ly || 2013 || The Borg are a fictional hypercollectivist superpower in the Milky Way galaxy depicted in the Star Trek franchise. The Borg expand by violently conquering the hundreds of species that exist in the galaxy, using cyborg implants to force conquered people to work for their collective in body and mind. When a Borg spaceship encounters resistance, it sends out a standard message explaining its intent to add the to-be-conquered people's biological and cultural distinctiveness to their own, and that resistance is futile.
|-
| Oh... My... Gaawd || {{w|Sigma Draconis}} || ''{{w|Friends}}'' ({{w|Janice Goralnik}}) || 1994 || 18.8 ly || 2013 ||
|-
| Ehh, what's up, Doc? || {{w|Epsilon Cygni|Gienah}} || {{w|Bugs Bunny}} || 1940 || 73 ly || 2013 || This is the main catchphrase of Bugs Bunny, one of the main characters in ''{{w|Looney Tunes}}''.
|-
| ''EXTERMINATE!'' || {{w|Alpha Cephei|Alderamin}} || ''{{w|Doctor Who}}'' ({{w|Dalek|The Daleks}}) || 1963 || 49 ly || 2012 || The main catchphrase of the Daleks of Doctor Who, used when they fire their gunsticks resulting in the extermination of whatever was hit. It wasn't actually used in this context in the TV series until Power of the Daleks, three years after {{w|The Daleks|their debut}}, though some of the very first scenes had them discussing amongst themselves the "extermination" of their newly rediscovered (and, at that time, mostly oblivious) enemies.
|}

==Transcript==
:[On a black background yellow circles and white bubbles are shown. Caption above the picture:]
:If other star systems are listening in on our pop culture, given the speed-of-light delay, these are the jokes and catchphrases they just learned about and are currently repeating way too much:

:[On a black background a map of star systems in relation to the Sun, which is roughly in the center, sending out radio waves is shown. Each star is a yellow circle of differing sizes, with a speech bubble (or more). The list is ordered from closest to furthest.]
:Proxima Centauri: I'm on a boat!
:Alpha Centauri A B: The cake is a lie! – ♪ Never gonna give you up ♫
:Luhman 16: I can haz?
:Barnard's star: Leave Britney alone! – ♫ Chocolate Raaaiiin ♫
:Wolf 359: Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits.
:Lalande 21185: ♬ Numa numa ♪
:Sirius: I still can't believe Bellatrix– – Dude, get over it.
:Gliese 65: INTERNETS!
:Epsilon Eridani: Ninjas fight all the time!
:Procyon: ...God kills a kitten! – A what?
:Epsilon Indi: You're the man now, dog!
:Tau Ceti: All your base are belong to us.
:Luyten's Star: Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
:Kapteyn's star: My spoon is too big!
:Kruger 60: MORE COWBELL!
:Gliese 1: Look at the tiny dancing Earth mammals!
:Van Maanen's star: WASSSUUP!?!
:Ad Leonis: Oh my God, they killed Kenny! – You bastards!
:70 Ophiuchi: Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. – What's a burger? – I don't know.
:Altair: Mr. T ate my balls!
:Sigma Draconis: Oh ... my ... gaawd.
:Delta Pavonis: I want the truth. – You can't handle the truth!
:Gliese 892: Hasta la vista, baby.
:Xi Boötis: Did I do that?
:HR 753: D'oh!
:Beta Hydri: Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker.
:Vega: Resistance is futile.
:Zeta Tucanae: Let's get ready to ruuumble!
:HR 1614: Where's the beef?
:Groombridge 1830: I pity the fool!
:Delta Trianguli: May the Force be with you.
:Beta Virginis: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
:Arcturus: You talkin' to me ?
:Beta Trianguli Australis: I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
:Lamda Aurigae: You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'
:Capella: And now for something completely different.
:HD 211415: Live long and prosper. – Ok.
:Alderamin: EXTERMINATE!
:51 Pegasi: Name's bond. James Bond.
:Caph: Take me to your leader! – No, Steve.
:Kappa Reticuli: Here's lookin' at you, kid.
:Alpha Hydri: Rosebud.
:Gienah: Ehh, what's up doc?
:Alpha Serpentis: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Rickrolling]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]
[[Category:Terminator]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

1212: Interstellar Memes

2026-01-15T04:55:21Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Table with memes */

{{comic
| number = 1212
| date = May 15, 2013
| title = Interstellar Memes
| image = interstellar memes.png
| titletext = The strongest incentive we have to develop faster-than-light travel is that it would let us apologize in advance.
}}
A [http://xkcd.com/1212/large/ larger version] of this picture can be found by clicking the comic on xkcd.

==Explanation==
{{incomplete| Need to add the missing explanations for memes.}}

[[Randall]] highlights various memes from popular culture. A {{w|meme}} is a phenomenon, often in this scenario in the form of a movie quote, a musical reference, a catchphrase or other notable saying that spreads quickly by word-of-mouth. Memes become popular because people hear about them and repeat them to others. Randall points out that if the assumed intelligent life from other star systems were listening to the things we said, then they would just now be hearing and popularizing memes started years ago on earth. The delay is due to the time that it takes for expressions of the meme to travel (presumably via radio waves) to distant star systems.

Our solar system, from where the electromagnetic waves are emitted, is located just left of the center of the picture. The other star systems are arranged roughly according to their distance from the sun, while their size corresponds to the size of the star compared with that of the Sun. The meme for Sirius is a pun; it refers to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in which Bellatrix Lestrange kills Sirius Black. Radio waves travel at the {{w|speed of light}}. The title text jokes that these memes are so annoying that it would give us further incentive to develop the technology to travel {{w|faster than light}}, just simply to be able to outrun the radio waves, reach a distant star system, and apologize in advance to the "residents" about the memes, before the memes arrive.

In [https://what-if.xkcd.com/47/ What If #47: Alien Astronomers], Randall points out that Earth entertainment television and radio signals were never broadcast with sufficient intensity to be detectable at the majority of interstellar distances making it unlikely that aliens are picking up our memes and links back to this comic.

===Table with memes===
The table below lists all the memes described, and the star at which the comics states those memes should be heard by the time when the comic was released in 2013. The year of the meme plus the number of light years to the star should end up close to 2013.

Most end up within the range 2011-2013 which may indicate the meme became popular one or two years later (on Earth or at the distant star system.) Two memes reach the targets in 2014. Some of those errors may be caused by the inaccuracy of the distances.

The ''The Spanish Inquisition'' from Monty Python would have reached its destination in 2006. Because they're still watching ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' in 2013 it must be very popular or maybe it took seven years to decipher that {{w|British humour}}.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Meme !! Star !! Origin !! Year !! Distance to star !! Sum year !! Explanation
|-
| Yabba dabba doo! || {{w|Castor (star)|Castor}} || ''{{w|The Flintstones}}'' || 1960 || 51 ± 3 ly || 2011 ± 3 ||The catchphrase used by ''{{W|Fred Flintstone}}'' in the series ''{{W|The Flintstones}}'' whenever something good happens (like a work shift ending).
|-
| You've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" || {{w|Lambda Aurigae}} || ''{{w|Dirty Harry}}'' || 1971 || 41.2 ± 0.1 ly || 2012 || The famous line from the scene in ''Dirty Harry'' where the titular Harry forces a criminal to surrender by threatening him with an empty gun.
|-
| {{w|Where's the beef|Where's the beef?}} || {{w|HR 1614}} || Slogan for {{w|Wendy's}} || 1984 || 28 ly || 2012 || Catchy slogan used in many Wendy's commercials that caught on and became a meme in its own right.
|-
| And now for something completely different. || {{w|Capella (star)|Capella}}|| ''{{w|Monty Python's Flying Circus}}'' || 1969 || 42 ly || 2011 || "And now for something completely different" was previously used in U.K. magazine shows like ''Tonight'', but its use in Monty Python's material means it has come to be associated with them.
|-
| Here's lookin' at you, kid. || {{w|Kappa Reticuli}} || ''{{w|Casablanca (film)|Casablanca}}'' || 1942 || 70 ly || 2012 || "Here's looking at you, kid" is a line spoken by Humphrey Bogart in the 1942 film Casablanca.
|-
| My spoon is too big! || {{w|Kapteyn's Star}} || ''{{w|Rejected}}'' || 2000 || 12 ly || 2012 || The first line of Don Hertzfeldt's surreal animation ''Rejected'', released in 2000. In the story of ''Rejected'', this was meant to be an ad bumper for an educational channel.
|-
| May the force be with you. || {{w|Delta Trianguli}} || ''{{w|Star Wars}}''|| 1977 || 35 ly || 2012 || This is a phrase used a lot in the Star Wars franchise. It is a benediction used to bid a hopeful farewell, mostly by/to/between those who are aligned to the {{w|Jedi}} creed.
|-
| Peanut butter jelly time! || {{w|Luyten's Star}} || [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/peanut-butter-jelly-time an Internet meme] || 2002 || 12 ly || 2014 || "Peanut Butter & Jelly" was the only single by the Buckwheat Boyz, which became popular as a meme when paired with an animated dancing banana.
|-
| Rosebud. || {{w|Alpha Hydri}} || ''{{w|Citizen Kane}}'' || 1941 || 71 ly || 2012 || In the opening scene of Citizen Kane, the eponymous Mr. Kane dies, saying "Rosebud" as his last words. The rest of the movie focuses on the people in his life trying to determine what the meaning of this word was.
|-
| Oh my god, {{w|They killed Kenny|they killed Kenny!}} – You bastards! || {{w|AD Leonis}} || ''{{w|South Park}}'' || 1997 || 15.9 ± 0.2 ly || 2013 || This is usually said whenever the character Kenny from South Park is killed. This is a recurring reference, as Kenny dies in every episode of South Park. In its most referenced form, another of the child characters then swears at the antagonists, fate and/or {{tvtropes|BreakingTheFourthWall|the writer's of the show}}, whichever party may be responsible, but this may be toned down in later depictions.
|-
| ...God kills a kitten! – A what? || {{w|Procyon}} || {{w|Every time you masturbate... God kills a kitten|an Internet meme}} || 2002 || 11.5 ly || 2013 || The full catchphrase is "Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten". The reply for this meme notes that kittens aren't on any other planets{{Citation needed}}, so the other person is confused about what a kitten is.
|-
| I ''still'' can't believe Bellatrix– – Dude, get over it. || {{w|Sirius}} || ''{{w|Harry Potter}}'' ({{w|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix|book 5}}) || 2003 || 8.6 ly || 2012 || In the Battle of the {{w|Ministry of Magic|Department of Mysteries}}, {{w|Bellatrix Lestrange}} fires a spell at {{w|Sirius Black}}, {{w|Harry Potter (character)|Harry's}} {{w|Godparent|godfather}}. This spell knocks Sirius backward through an archway which is a physical doorway into the {{w|Afterlife|afterlife}} such that, when Sirius fell through it, he left the realm of the living and died. The star Sirius is obviously upset about this, as Sirius Black was named after him.
|-
| Ninjas fight ''all the time!'' || {{w|Epsilon Eridani}} || {{w|The Official Ninja Webpage}} || 2002 || 10 ly || 2012 || {{w|Ninja}} is the Japanese word for {{w|spy}}. In the 16th century, Japanese spycraft was codified into a profession, and spies had a significant influence on feudal intrigue during the {{w|Sengoku period|Japanese warring states period}}. These spies inspired a lot of literature, some fantastical, which over time developed into a popular stock character and a rich array of associated tropes. The Official Ninja Webpage is a satire website written from the perspective of a teenage American boy who is obsessed with the stock character and its associated tropes. One of these tropes, as written on the front page of the website, is that "Ninjas fight ALL the time."
|-
| {{w|D'oh!}} || {{w|HR 753}} || ''{{w|The Simpsons}}'' || 1989 || 23 ly || 2012 || This is what {{w|Homer Simpson| Homer Simpson}}, the father figure of {{w|The Simpsons}}The Simpsons, exclaims whenever he's annoyed.
|-
| {{w|The Spanish Inquisition (Monty Python)|''Nobody'' expects the Spanish Inquisition!}} || {{w|Beta Virginis}} || ''{{w|Monty Python's Flying Circus}}'' || 1970 || 35,6 ly || 2006 || Monty Python was an absurdist sketch show. In a particular episode, a character in a scene (a meeting between a mill-owner and his workers) complained about being asked some questions by saying they "did not expect a {{w|Spanish Inquisition}}", a superlative that was common at the time the sketch aired. At this point, several characters dressed in the uniforms of the Spanish Inquisition burst into the scene declaring that "nobody expects the Spanish inquisition", diverting the original sketch's direction. At the very end of the episode, a different character in a different (courtroom) sketch says that they "didn't expected the Spanish Inquisition" and everyone turns towards the door in expectation. The remainder of the episode follows the Spanish Inquisition rushing to the scene, and barely starting to 'surprise' everyone there before time runs out.
|-
| {{w|All your base are belong to us}}. || {{w|Tau Ceti}} || ''{{w|Zero Wing}}'' || 2001 || 11.9 ly || 2013 || This is a meme resulting from a mistranslated line in the game ''Zero Wing''. The correct translation was "We have taken all of your bases."
|-
| Take me to your leader! – No, Steve. || {{w|Beta Cassiopeiae|Caph}} || {{w|Take me to your leader (phrase)}} || 1957 || 55 ly || 2012 || "Take me to your leader" is a stock phrase attributed to aliens in 1950s science fiction during first contact. The first recorded instance is a New Yorker cartoon where aliens ask this question to a horse, illustrating the weirdness of aliens being able to communicate the phrase but not understanding the structure of society. Later usage was more sincere, with both humans and aliens asking each other to take them to their leaders. Since people near Caph would be aliens, one could ask them to take you to their leader. However, because the aliens on Caph are saying the meme to each other, the second speaker is personally familiar with the one making the request, apparently named Steve, which makes the request pointless. So the second speaker refuses the request because it is not important.
|-
| Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He ''waits.'' || {{w|Wolf 359}} || {{w|Chuck Norris facts}} || 2005 || 7.8 ly || 2013 || {{w|Chuck Norris}} is an American movie star, typically taking on roles where he would perform implausible feats of physical prowess. People online started making lists of many other implausible or impossible feats that Chuck Norris was supposedly capable of, including this one. Normal humans have a physiological need for {{w|sleep}}, with sleep deprivation having many negative health effects. That Chuck Norris does not sleep but instead waits implies a superhuman resistance to insomnia, while simultaneously explaining his inaction as a form of {{w|theodicy}}.
|-
| ♬ Numa numa ♪ || {{w|Lalande 21185}} || {{w|Dragostea Din Tei|Numa Numa song}} || 2004 || 8.3 ly || 2012 || "Numa numa" is part of the lyrics of the chorus of a Romanian-language europop song {{w|Dragostea Din Tei}}. A webcam recording of {{w|Gary Brolsma}} enthousiastically singing along with the song was uploaded to youtube and widely shared.
|-
| I can haz? || {{w|WISE 1049-5319|Luhman 16}} || {{w|Lolcats}} || 2006 || 6.6 ± 0.5 ly || 2013 || An early image macro meme format was captioning pictures of cats, as alluded to in xkcd [[262]]. One popular image featured an overweight Scottish Fold cat with the caption "I can haz cheezburger?", implying the cat is overweight because it likes eating cheeseburgers.
|-
| ''Internets!'' || {{w|Luyten 726-8|Gliese 65}} || {{w|George W. Bush}} [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/internets Internet meme] || 2004 || 8.7 || 2013|| The word 'Internets' is an incorrect pluralisation of the word, popularised by former US president George Bush, in his response to a question asked by an audience member about the moral state of media in the US, during a debate at Washington University in 2000. His response is as follows: "''[…] We can have filters on Internets where public money is spent […] so if kids get on the Internet, there is not going to be pornography or violence coming in.''" This was majorly overlooked until he made the same mistake during the presidential debate against US Senator John Kerry in 2004. He repeated this as follows: "''I hear there's rumors on the, uh, Internets [pause] that we're going to have a draft. We're not going to have a draft, period.''"
|-
| Look at the tiny dancing Earth mammals! || {{w|Gliese 1}} || {{w|Hampster Dance}} and/or {{w|Dancing Baby}} || 1998 || 14 ly || 2012 || Hampster Dance was a website featuring a set of tiled animated {{w|GIF}}s of cartoon hamsters dancing. The Dancing Baby is an animated GIF of a computer generated human baby dancing in a {{w|cha-cha}} style. Gliese 1 is not familiar with hamsters and human species, but since they are both mammals it refers to one or both as "tiny dancing Earth mammals". It is unclear how Gliese 1 knows that they are mammals, or what mammals are.
|-
| ''Wasssuup!?!'' || {{w|Van Maanen's star}} || {{w|Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch)|Budweiser Beer}} advertising campaign || 1999 || 14 ly || 2013 || A compounded way of saying "What's up", a common greeting, with the compounded version being more common in 1990s' African American Vernacular English. In the commercial, two friends are lounging and watching a sports game, calling each other using an analog wired telephone. Using these telephones, multiple people in the same household could pick up phones connected to the same in-home telephone network and all participate in the conversation. Several other friends use this function to join the call and say "Wassuupp!?!" at each other in an escalatingly large group and then hang up to go back to doing their own thing.
|-
| Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker. || {{w|Beta Hydri}} || ''{{w|Die Hard}}'' || 1988 || 24 ly || 2012 || This line gained notoriety for being censored in subsequent releases as "Yippie-ki-yay, Mr. Falcon".
|-
| I pity the fool! || {{w|Groombridge 1830}} || ''{{w|Rocky III}}'' ({{w|Mr. T}}) || 1982 || 30 ly || 2012 || In Rocky III, the main antagonist Clubber Lang expresses pity towards protagonist Rocky Balboa, who is foolish enough to compete with him in a boxing match. The implication being that Lang is obviously going to win and cause Balboa a lot of unnecessary pain. The actor playing Clubber Lang, Mr. T, adopted this as his catchphrase, using it in different media.
|-
| The cake is a lie! || {{w|Alpha Centauri|Alpha Centauri A/B}} || ''{{w|Portal (video game)|Portal}}'' || 2007 || 4.3 ly || 2011 || This is a phrase that appears scrawled on a wall in the video game Portal foreshadowing the ending where, despite being promised cake, the player character is not given it and is almost killed by the antagonist.
|-
| ♪ Never gonna give you up ♫ || {{w|Alpha Centauri|Alpha Centauri A/B}} || {{w|Rickrolling}} || 2007 || 4.3 ly || 2011 || This is a reference to an act of tricking someone to watch/listen to the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" involuntarily.
|-
| I'm on a boat! || {{w|Proxima Centauri}} || ''{{w|I'm on a Boat}}'' || 2009 || 4.243 ± 0.002 ly || 2013 || The hook of a satirical hip-hop single with the same name, by {{w|The Lonely Island}} and {{w|T-Pain}}. The song is about winning a free boat ride and then being ridiculously proud of being on a boat.
|-
| ♫ Chocolate Raaaiiin ♫ || {{w|Barnard's Star}} || {{w|Tay Zonday}}: {{w|Chocolate Rain}} video || 2007 || 6 ly || 2013 || Chocolate Rain is a song uploaded to youtube by Tay Zonday, with video of him recording the voice track. "Chocolate rain" is the {{w|hook (music)|hook}} of the song that recurs every other line, and in the lyrics chocolate rain serves as an analogy for systemic racism.
|-
| Leave Britney alone! || {{w|Barnard's Star}} || {{w|Cara Cunningham}}: [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leave-britney-alone LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!] || 2007 || 6 ly || 2013 || {{w|Britney Spears}} is an American singer and pop star, who was ridiculed by the press and popular discourse for drama in her personal life. A highly watched early youtube video featured Cara filming herself in a highly emotional state, begging people to "leave Britney alone" because she had it hard enough.
|-
| You're the man now, dog! || {{w|Epsilon Indi}} || {{w|YTMND}} || 2001 || 11.8 || 2013 ||
|-
| {{w|More cowbell|More cowbell!}} || {{w|Kruger 60}} || ''{{w|Saturday Night Live}}'' || 2000 || 13 ly || 2013 || Saturday Night Live is a famous show that creates comedy sketchs every Saturday night. One of these sketches was the "More cowbell" sketch. This sketch was about the recording of "{{w|(Don't Fear) The Reaper}}", a song by the {{w|Blue Öyster Cult}}. In this skit, Gene Frenkle (a fictional character, played by {{w|Will Ferrell}}) was playing the {{w| Cowbell (instrument)|cowbell}}. However, because the cowbell was so distracting, the band stops playing and tells him to stop. This upsets Frenkel, who starts playing more and more annoyingly as the sketch goes on. {{w|Bruce Dickinson}}, played by {{w|Christopher Walken}}, encourages Frenkel to play the cowbell louder saying the iconic line, "Guess what! I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!".
Christopher Walken later said that the sketch "ruined his life", because of how popular it became.
|-
| Hasta la vista, baby. || {{w|Gliese 892}} || ''{{w|Terminator 2}}'' || 1991 || 21 ly || 2012 || This line originates from the Terminator, said before attempting to destroy an enemy. It has since {{w|Hasta la vista, baby|been quoted in other works}}.
|-
| Let's get ready to ruuumble! || {{w|Zeta Tucanae}} || {{w|Michael Buffer}} || 1984 || 28 ly || 2012 || This meme originated from the main catchphrase of ring announcer Michael Buffer, which he has used since 1984. The catchphrase has also made an appearance in the 1996 Disney movie ''{{w|Space Jam}}''.
|-
| You talkin' to ''me?'' || {{w|Arcturus}} || ''{{w|Taxi Driver}}'' || 1976 || 36.7 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 ||
|-
| Did ''I'' do that? || {{w|Xi Boötis|Boötis}} || ''{{w|Family Matters}}'' ({{w|Steve Urkel}}) || 1989 || 21.89 ± 0.07 ly || 2011 || This is the catchphrase of Steve Urkel, a breakout character from Family Matters.
|-
| Welcome to Good Burger, home of the good burger. – What's a burger? – I don't know. || {{w|70 Ophiuchi}} || {{w|Good Burger}} slogan || 1997 || 16.58 ± 0.07 ly || 2014 ||
|-
| Badger badger badger badger || {{w|Ross 154}} || {{w|Badger Badger Badger}} || 2003 || 9.7 ly || 2013 || One of the most popular videos created by Mr. Weebl, consisting of badgers (and a mushroom and snake) appearing when those words are said.
|-
| {{w|Vulcan salute|Live long and prosper.}} – OK. || {{w|HD 211415}} || ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' || 1967 || 44 ly || 2011 || Said mostly by the Vulcans of Star Trek as a greeting and gesture of good will, most notably Spock during the run of the original series.
|-
| Name's Bond. James Bond. || {{w|51 Pegasi}} || ''{{w|Dr. No (film)|Dr. No}}'' ({{w|James Bond}}) || 1962 || 50.9 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 || James Bond is the protagonist of a series of spy fiction, who has a habit of introducing himself with this exact phrase.
|-
| Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. || {{w|Alpha Serpentis}} || ''{{w|Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind}}'' || 1939 || 74.0 ± 0.3 ly || 2013 ||
|-
| Mr. T ate my balls! || {{w|Altair}} || [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ate-my-balls an Internet meme] || 1996 || 16.7 ly || 2013 || One of the oldest memes on the Web, with the original website by student Nehal Patel (which consisted of a bunch of Mr. T comic images recaptioned to have him saying he likes eating balls) first appearing in 1996.
|-
| I want the truth. – ''You can't handle the truth!'' || {{w|Delta Pavonis}} || ''{{w|A Few Good Men}}'' || 1992 || 20 ly || 2012 || These lines are given during a climactic testimony near the end of the film. They are versatile enough to be quoted in many situations.
|-
| I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. || {{w|Beta Trianguli Australis}} || ''{{w|The Godfather}}'' || 1972 || 40 ly || 2012 || Don Vito Corleone, the eponymous Godfather, uses this phrase when he intends to secure someone's cooperation via by threatening them with violence.
|-
| {{w|Resistance is futile|Resistance is futile.}} || {{w|Vega}} || ''{{w|Star Trek}}'' ({{w|Borg (Star Trek)|Borg}}) || 1988 || 25 ly || 2013 || The Borg are a fictional hypercollectivist superpower in the Milky Way galaxy depicted in the Star Trek franchise. The Borg expand by violently conquering the hundreds of species that exist in the galaxy, using cyborg implants to force conquered people to work for their collective in body and mind. When a Borg spaceship encounters resistance, it sends out a standard message explaining its intent to add the to-be-conquered people's biological and cultural distinctiveness to their own, and that resistance is futile.
|-
| Oh... My... Gaawd || {{w|Sigma Draconis}} || ''{{w|Friends}}'' ({{w|Janice Goralnik}}) || 1994 || 18.8 ly || 2013 ||
|-
| Ehh, what's up, Doc? || {{w|Epsilon Cygni|Gienah}} || {{w|Bugs Bunny}} || 1940 || 73 ly || 2013 || This is the main catchphrase of Bugs Bunny, one of the main characters in ''{{w|Looney Tunes}}''.
|-
| ''EXTERMINATE!'' || {{w|Alpha Cephei|Alderamin}} || ''{{w|Doctor Who}}'' ({{w|Dalek|The Daleks}}) || 1963 || 49 ly || 2012 || The main catchphrase of the Daleks of Doctor Who, used when they fire their gunsticks resulting in the extermination of whatever was hit. It wasn't actually used in this context in the TV series until Power of the Daleks, three years after {{w|The Daleks|their debut}}, though some of the very first scenes had them discussing amongst themselves the "extermination" of their newly rediscovered (and, at that time, mostly oblivious) enemies.
|}

==Transcript==
:[On a black background yellow circles and white bubbles are shown. Caption above the picture:]
:If other star systems are listening in on our pop culture, given the speed-of-light delay, these are the jokes and catchphrases they just learned about and are currently repeating way too much:

:[On a black background a map of star systems in relation to the Sun, which is roughly in the center, sending out radio waves is shown. Each star is a yellow circle of differing sizes, with a speech bubble (or more). The list is ordered from closest to furthest.]
:Proxima Centauri: I'm on a boat!
:Alpha Centauri A B: The cake is a lie! – ♪ Never gonna give you up ♫
:Luhman 16: I can haz?
:Barnard's star: Leave Britney alone! – ♫ Chocolate Raaaiiin ♫
:Wolf 359: Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits.
:Lalande 21185: ♬ Numa numa ♪
:Sirius: I still can't believe Bellatrix– – Dude, get over it.
:Gliese 65: INTERNETS!
:Epsilon Eridani: Ninjas fight all the time!
:Procyon: ...God kills a kitten! – A what?
:Epsilon Indi: You're the man now, dog!
:Tau Ceti: All your base are belong to us.
:Luyten's Star: Peanut Butter Jelly Time!
:Kapteyn's star: My spoon is too big!
:Kruger 60: MORE COWBELL!
:Gliese 1: Look at the tiny dancing Earth mammals!
:Van Maanen's star: WASSSUUP!?!
:Ad Leonis: Oh my God, they killed Kenny! – You bastards!
:70 Ophiuchi: Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. – What's a burger? – I don't know.
:Altair: Mr. T ate my balls!
:Sigma Draconis: Oh ... my ... gaawd.
:Delta Pavonis: I want the truth. – You can't handle the truth!
:Gliese 892: Hasta la vista, baby.
:Xi Boötis: Did I do that?
:HR 753: D'oh!
:Beta Hydri: Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker.
:Vega: Resistance is futile.
:Zeta Tucanae: Let's get ready to ruuumble!
:HR 1614: Where's the beef?
:Groombridge 1830: I pity the fool!
:Delta Trianguli: May the Force be with you.
:Beta Virginis: Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
:Arcturus: You talkin' to me ?
:Beta Trianguli Australis: I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
:Lamda Aurigae: You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'
:Capella: And now for something completely different.
:HD 211415: Live long and prosper. – Ok.
:Alderamin: EXTERMINATE!
:51 Pegasi: Name's bond. James Bond.
:Caph: Take me to your leader! – No, Steve.
:Kappa Reticuli: Here's lookin' at you, kid.
:Alpha Hydri: Rosebud.
:Gienah: Ehh, what's up doc?
:Alpha Serpentis: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Rickrolling]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Doctor Who]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]
[[Category:Star Trek]]
[[Category:Harry Potter]]
[[Category:Terminator]]
[[Category:Comics with inverted brightness]]

3193: Sailing Rigs

2026-01-14T03:02:42Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3193
| date = January 12, 2026
| title = Sailing Rigs
| image = sailing_rigs_2x.png
| imagesize = 508x822px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I wanted to make the world's fastest yawl, so I made the aft sail bigger, but apparently that means it's not a yawl anymore! It's a real ketch-22.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by the birds flying in my kite. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic shows the side profiles of a variety of different sailing boat/ship rigs, not all of which are real.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Type
!Image
!Real?
!Description 
!Explanation 
|-
|{{w|Lateen}}
|[[File:3193 Lateen.png|200x200px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A single triangular sail.
|The triangular sail is affixed to a long yard or crossbar, mounted at its middle to the top of the mast and angled to extend aft far above the mast and forward down nearly to the deck. The sail, its free corner secured near the stern, was capable of taking the wind on either side, and, by enabling the vessel to tack into the wind, the [https://www.britannica.com/technology/lateen-sail lateen] immensely increased the potential of the sailing ship. 
|-
|{{W|Bermuda rig|Bermuda rigged sloop}}
|[[File:3193 Bermuda.png|200x200px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A front and rear triangular sail share a mast.
|A {{w|sloop}} has one mast, typically with two sails mounted on the mast, one ahead and one behind.
|-
|{{w|Ketch}}
|[[File:3193 Ketch.png|200x200px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A sailboat with two masts, where the main mast is taller than the mizzen (or aft mast), and the mizzen is forward of the rudder post
|Similar to a Yawl
|-
|{{w|Gaff rig|Gaff rigged sloop}}
|[[File:3193 Gaff Sloop.png|200x200px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A front triangular sail shares mast with rear quadrilateral sail.
|A sloop is a sailboat with one mast, typically with two sails mounted on the mast, one ahead and one behind. A [https://nauticalknowhow.mysailingcourse.com/glossary/gaff-rig/ gaff Rig] is a sailing rig where one sail is four-sided and controlled by a spar (the gaff) at its top, which is hoisted at an angle to the mast.
|-
|{{w|Yawl}}
|[[File:3193 Yawl.png|200x200px]]
|{{Yes}}
|Two triangular sails share a front mast, and a much smaller aft mast holds a small aft sail.
|A Yawl is sailboat with two masts, where the main mast has two sails (One in front of the mast and one behind, known as {{w|fore-and-aft rigging}}, and the mizzen mast is mounted aft of the rudder post, leading the mizzen sail to typically be small. Similar to a Ketch.
|-
|{{w|Schooner}}
||[[File:3193 Schooner.png|200x200px]]
|{{Yes}}
|A sailboat with two or more masts, where all have {{w|fore-and-aft rigging}}, and where the foremast is typically smaller than the main mast
|-
|Ketch-rigged gaff
|[[File:3193 Ketch Gaff.png|200x200px]]
|{{No}}
|The first fictional rig. Resembles a gaff, with the aft sail reduced and two triangular sails mounted above. The resulting shape resembles a vertical ketch.
|
|-
|Kloop-rigged sketch
|[[File:3193 Kloop.png|200x200px]]
|{{No}}
|Four or five sails mounted in a nonsensical configuration, with elements from the schooner, ketch, and gaff
| A mixture of the names of {{w|ketch}} and {{w|sloop}}, poking fun at the unfamiliar and odd-sounding names of some rigs. Adding to the absurdity, the kloop-rigged sketch is neither a sloop nor a ketch. However it is technically a {{w|Sketch (drawing)|sketch}}, as "sketch" can mean "drawing"
|-
|Bunkbed rig
|[[File:3193 100% more boat.png|200x200px]]
|{{No}}
|A gaff-rigged sloop mounted on top of a second hull.
|The name refers to a {{w|bunkbed}}, where a bed is mounted directly above another, and applies this idea to a ship, mounting a hull directly above another. While {{w|Multihull|boats with multiple hulls}} do exist, these are always mounted side-by-side to guarentee stability. Mounting a hull above another would be a terrible idea, as the upper hull would be ineffective when raised above the water, the lower hull might become submerged and sink, and such a tall boat would be unstable causing it to fall over. The comic is funny due to this {{w|surreal humour|absurdity}}, due to boat's obivously extreme design being so far outside what someone would expect a boat to look like
|-
|Flettner rig
|[[File:3193 Flettner.png|200x200px]]
|{{Yes}}, though not typically called a rig
|The rectangular outline of a cylinder with motion lines around it, indicating a {{w|Flettner rotor}}
|A Flettner rotor is a right circular cylinder with disc end plates which is spun along its long axis. As air passes across it the {{w|Magnus effect}} causes an aerodynamic lift force to be generated in the direction perpendicular to both the long axis and the direction of airflow. In a {{w|rotor ship}}, the rotors stand vertically and lift is generated at right angles to the wind, to drive the ship forwards.

Flettner rotors were previously mentioned in [[3119]]
|-
|Oops, all spinnakers
|[[File:3193 Spinnakers.png|200x200px]]
|{{No}}
|Three masts each with a sail billowing in front
|A {{w|spinnaker}} is a real type of sail, where a boat is propelled by a large sail directly pulled by the wind, similar in principle to a parachute. However, "Oops, all spinnakers" is not real, as spinnakers are only practical for smaller craft, and if multiple spinnakers are mounted in a row the earlier ones may disrupt the airflow to the later ones{{citation needed}}. It does not appear that there are any real boats propelled by more than one spinnaker.{{citation needed}}
The name of the rig is a reference to the {{w|Cap'n Crunch}} cereal type that became a meme, [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/oops-all-berries-box-parodies ''Oops! All Berries''], which has also been referenced in [[2256]] and [[2719]].
|-
|Keel rig
|[[File:3193 Keel.png|200x200px]]
|{{No}}
|Three sails in a ketch arrangement, but mounted to the keel, which would typically put the ''sails underwater''.
|The book {{w|Heaven (Stewart and Cohen novel)|''Heaven''}}, by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen, features an aquatic protagonist who is introduced as sailing a surface-craft with underwater-'sails' (and above-water 'keel'), due to the switched nature of his usual environment.
|-
|Kite rig
|[[File:3193 Kite.png|200x200px]]
|{{Maybe|Kind of}}
|All sails are replaced by two groups of kites, each tied to the mast with their own independent line.
|A {{w|kite rig}} is a real thing, where a kite is deployed from a boat or ship to catch the wind and pull the vessel along. This rigging is used in various types of vessel, most commonly {{w|kite surfing}}, but occasionally other vessels too, up to [https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/30/travel/airseas-giant-kites-ships-slash-carbon-emissions-scn-climate-spc trials with cargo ships]. However, the real kite riggings typically use one large kite optimised for catching the wind, rather than many small kites optimised for flying (as depicted) which would likely get tangled and not pull much on the ship.
|-
|Longsail rig
|[[File:3193 Longsail.png|200x200px]]
|{{No}}
|A bermuda rigged sloop with the aft sail extending ~5 times as far back, well beyond the end of the hull.
|While not technically impossible, such a long sail would likely be suceptiple to damage from the wind, as well as potentially making it hard to control the boat. This design could be a reference to "{{w|Cargo bike#Longtail bicycle|long-tail bikes}}", a type of cargo bicycle useful for hauling heavy or voluminous charges at the cost of higher weight and reduced manoeuvrability.
|-
|Deckhand obliterator
|[[File:3193 Deckhand Obliterator.png|200x200px]]
|{{No}}
|All sails replaced by an anchor that swings from the mast on a chain.
|Any deckhands (crew) on the deck could be knocked off or fatally hurt if the anchor passes through their space.
|-
|Offset rig
|[[File:3193 Offset.png|200x200px]]
|{{No}}
|Gaff rigged sloop sails are mounted on a mast that is offset (forward) from the hull via an underwater extension of the keel.
|The extreme mechanical advantage of the sail, potentially combined with the uneven weight, would make this rigging hard if not impossible to control. 
There are in fact [https://junkrigassociation.org/technical_forum/470838 sail configurations] called [https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/gaffs-balanced-lugs-hoyt-offset-rig-etc.53504/ offset rigs] but they aren't like the one shown here.
|-
|Mastless rig
|[[File:3193 Mastless.png|200x200px]]
|{{Maybe|Kind of}}
|A single sail is directly to the hull of the boat, without any mast holding it in the wind.
|As depicted the sail would provide little to no useful propulsion, as it would not be high enough to effectively catch the wind. However ships do exist without sails, such as ships not powered by wind{{citation needed}}, or more rarely inflatable sails (e.g. [http://inflatedwingsails.com/en/concept/ this concept]), which use air rather than a mast for rigidity. While not intentional, it is conceivable that the drawing depicts an inflatable sail in its deflated state.
|-
|Unclassifiable chaos rig
|[[File:3193 Unclassifiable Chaos.png]]
|{{Maybe|Arguably}}
|Includes elements of the schooner, yawl, lateen, and possibly others.
|While this specific rig is almost certainly fictional, there are many ways to rig a ship, some of which are difficult to classify.
|}

The title text is a pun on the term {{w|Catch-22 (logic)|Catch-22}}, which is a term (taken from the novel of the same name) for a situation where success is impossible because it requires meeting contradictory conditions. For example, in the novel, the term was used by military pilots who qualified to be released from combat duty, but were ordered to fly additional missions, and were told that disobeying those orders was grounds to have their releases revoked, which would require them to fly additional missions anyway.

Per the main panel, a ketch is similar to a yawl but has a larger aft sail, so increasing the aft sail of a yawl effectively turns the yawl into a ketch, effectively making it impossible to build a faster yawl. However this is not technically true, as the distinction between a {{w|yawl}} and {{w|ketch}} is based on whether the aft sail is mounted forward or aft of the rudder post, although a yawl with a large aft sail may be difficult to control.{{actual citation needed}}

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

[The comic contains views from the side of boats, each with a different sailing rig. All boats are oriented to the left of the comic.]
*Lateen [a single triangular sail]
*Bermuda rigged sloop [a front and rear triangular sail share a mast]
*Ketch [two triangular sails as above, with an additional triangular sail on a second rear mast]
*Gaff rigged sloop [front triangular sail shares mast with rear quadrilateral sail]
*Yawl [two triangular sails share front mast and a much smaller aft mast holds a small aft]
*Schooner [two triangular front sails share foreward mast with quadrilateral center sail. An aft mast supports a quadrilateral aft sail]
*Ketch-rigged gaff [Resembles a gaff, with the aft sail reduced and two triangular sails mounted above. The resulting shape resembles a vertical ketch]
*Kloop-rigged sketch: [Includes elements of ketch and sloop]
*Bunkbed rig [A gaff-rigged sloop is mounted on top of a second hull]
*Flettner rig [The rectangular outline of a cylinder with motion lines around it]
*Oops, all spinnakers [three masts each with a sail only attached to the top]
*Keel rig [three sails in a ketch arrangement, but mounted to the keel]
*Kite rig [all sails are replaced by two groups of kites, each tied to the mast with an independent line]
*Longsail rig [bermuda rigged sloop with the aft sail extending ~5 times as far back, well beyond the end of the hull]
*Deckhand obliterator [all sails replaced by an anchor that swings around the mast on a chain, similar to tetherball]
*Offset rig [gaff rigged sloop sails are mounted on a mast that is offset (forward) from the hull via an underwater extension of the keel]
*Mastless rig [a single sail is attached where the mast would normally be mounted, flapping around freely]
*Unclassifiable chaos rig [includes elements of the schooner, yawl, lateen, and possibly others]
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Puns]]
[[Category:Sailboats]]

Talk:3190: Tensegrity

2026-01-07T03:14:10Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

here in the first 2 minutes and before before the explanation [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 03:52, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
:congrats, i was just 3 seconds away (also don't know correctly how to reply to a comment) [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 04:00, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
::Put a colon at the beginning of your remark to indent it. [[Special:Contributions/76.187.17.7|76.187.17.7]] 04:56, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
:::Like what I've done for you. And to reply to one with one colon, put two colons, etc. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:39, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
::::In short, start your line(s) with ''one more colon'' than the line(s) you're replying to.
::::(In long, there are reasons to stay at "the same colon level", e.g. because you're replying to the thing that at least one other person has already been replying to (although you'd need to double-linefeed if you're claiming the 'zero level' with no colons before at all). And there are also obscure reasons for adding more than one (more) colon, to try to be ''less'' confusing than otherwise, though it doesn't always work ... ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 17:29, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm wondering if there is a connection to [[wikipedia:Ruth Asawa|Ruth Asawa]], who studied under Buckminster Fuller. Some of Asawa's works were described as "earrings for a giraffe."[https://ethicaldative.com/2025/12/24/earrings-for-a-giraffe/] [[Special:Contributions/76.187.17.7|76.187.17.7]] 04:59, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

Those legs looks like something AI would come up with. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 08:29, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
:Some people are AI obsessed.
:Tell me about your mother. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 17:29, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

Giraffe necks are supported by an elastic nuchal ligament attached to the vertebrae[https://scatterfeed.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/you-can-take-a-giraffe-to-water/]. Thus, a giraffe doesn't need to use muscle to keep its head and neck up; to _lower_ their heads they need to stretch the ligament with muscle. A structure whose weight is supported by an elastic band attached to a fixed bone seems to fit the real definition of tensegrity, but I'm not sure if that's part of the joke here or Randall was not aware of real giraffe anatomy. [[Special:Contributions/104.185.183.165|104.185.183.165]] 11:37, 6 January 2026 (UTC)ben
:The joke here is about the legs, not the neck. {{unsigned|Barmar|15:38, 6 January 2026}}

''"This page was created by a string. "'' ...Well, you're not wrong. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:13, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3190: Tensegrity

2026-01-07T03:13:35Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

here in the first 2 minutes and before before the explanation [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 03:52, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
:congrats, i was just 3 seconds away (also don't know correctly how to reply to a comment) [[User:King Pando|King Pando]] ([[User talk:King Pando|talk]]) 04:00, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
::Put a colon at the beginning of your remark to indent it. [[Special:Contributions/76.187.17.7|76.187.17.7]] 04:56, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
:::Like what I've done for you. And to reply to one with one colon, put two colons, etc. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 14:39, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
::::In short, start your line(s) with ''one more colon'' than the line(s) you're replying to.
::::(In long, there are reasons to stay at "the same colon level", e.g. because you're replying to the thing that at least one other person has already been replying to (although you'd need to double-linefeed if you're claiming the 'zero level' with no colons before at all). And there are also obscure reasons for adding more than one (more) colon, to try to be ''less'' confusing than otherwise, though it doesn't always work ... ;) ) [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 17:29, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

I'm wondering if there is a connection to [[wikipedia:Ruth Asawa|Ruth Asawa]], who studied under Buckminster Fuller. Some of Asawa's works were described as "earrings for a giraffe."[https://ethicaldative.com/2025/12/24/earrings-for-a-giraffe/] [[Special:Contributions/76.187.17.7|76.187.17.7]] 04:59, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

Those legs looks like something AI would come up with. --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 08:29, 6 January 2026 (UTC)
:Some people are AI obsessed.
:Tell me about your mother. [[Special:Contributions/92.23.2.208|92.23.2.208]] 17:29, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

Giraffe necks are supported by an elastic nuchal ligament attached to the vertebrae[https://scatterfeed.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/you-can-take-a-giraffe-to-water/]. Thus, a giraffe doesn't need to use muscle to keep its head and neck up; to _lower_ their heads they need to stretch the ligament with muscle. A structure whose weight is supported by an elastic band attached to a fixed bone seems to fit the real definition of tensegrity, but I'm not sure if that's part of the joke here or Randall was not aware of real giraffe anatomy. [[Special:Contributions/104.185.183.165|104.185.183.165]] 11:37, 6 January 2026 (UTC)ben
:The joke here is about the legs, not the neck. {{unsigned|Barmar|15:38, 6 January 2026}}

''This page was created by a string. '' ...well, you're not wrong. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:13, 7 January 2026 (UTC)

3171: Geologic Core Sample

2026-01-06T07:08:35Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3171
| date = November 21, 2025
| title = Geologic Core Sample
| image = geologic_core_sample_2x.png
| imagesize = 493x790px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = If you drill at the right angle and time things perfectly, your core sample can include a section of a rival team's coring equipment.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A GEOLOGIC RIBBIT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

This image presents a core sample taken by a slightly overenthusiastic team of geologists.

A {{w|core sample}} is a cylindrical piece of something, in this case the rock of Earth's crust, obtained with special drills, taken in order to study the layers within. In typical xkcd fashion, the core sample depicted here contains a mix of real rocks found in core samples, and many humorous or fictional additions. It's shown that, on the way down, the coring drills have hit many, many obstacles they really shouldn't have, culminating in the punchline that the geologists have drilled straight through the Earth to the opposite hemisphere and out the other side — far deeper than any core sample could be taken in reality. In the real world the deepest borehole is the [[1330: Kola Borehole]] which attained maximum true vertical depth of 12,262 metres (40,230 ft; 7.619 mi) in 1989.

;Topsoil :{{w|Topsoil}} is the uppermost layer of the typical {{w|pedosphere}}, which often needs to be dug through before reaching actual rock. Whether the soil section of the core would actually be retained and counted is up to the nature of the study being made, but it will become clear that this core sample wasn't obtained with much thought of finesse.
;Till :{{w|Till}} is unsorted glacial sediment, which might underlie the soil layer and form the transition to the foundation rock below.
;Granite bedrock :{{w|Bedrock}} is solid rock, and there may normally be nothing but more bedrock beneath it until the Earth's {{w|Mantle_(geology)|mantle}}. {{w|Granite}} is a very common igneous rock that could normally form such bedrock.
:There are suggestions, from what is seen beneath it, that this particular layer of 'bedrock' (though being a natural material, at source) has been placed here as a construction base, infilled over with the above layers in this particular spot.
:Bedrock could also be a reference to the unmineable blocks that make up the bottom of the world in Minecraft.
;Bottomsoil :A fictional counterpart of topsoil. Topsoil is so named because it is generally found on top of other layers, and not to distinguish it from a separate 'bottomsoil' layer. Here, however, there are apparently two layers of soil somehow sandwiching the bedrock layer. Theoretically, the intervening granite could have been laid (as a slab) upon the lowest layers of an excavated area, later to be sampled by this corer ''as if'' a natural layer.
;Roof/Floor of subway car :These two layers are indications that the drill has broken into a subway tunnel (possibly from amongst those shown in [[1196: Subways]]), dug deep into the rock, or perhaps {{w|Tunnel#Cut-and-cover|cut'n'covered}} into the ground (hence, perhaps, the anomalous granite being added above — though the further tunnel lining/ceiling is not given a label, that would hold up the initial infill of soil). The section of tunnel it penetrated happened to contain a subway train, which has also been 'sampled'. The drill has essentially compressed the 'void' that is the interior of the car and the rest of the tunnel. This may seem to be good luck (given a later layer), but this still doesn't bode well for the subway train that may have been trying to move when the drill started to pierce it.
;More granite :Granite ''is'' a very common igneous rock.
;Municipal water main:A pipe has been partly sliced through (enough to one side to not force the collapse of its void). Most water pipes of this size would not normally be forced through rock, only the loose material above it, relying upon pressure to carry water upwards, where necessary.
:However, {{w|combined sewer|drainage systems}} (that rely upon gravity for most of the route) may need at times to be dug deeper to maximize the natural flow. Some {{w|Thames Tideway Tunnel|particularly large projects}} may be excavated deeply through rock, even below some subway lines, though they'll be tunnels/pipes with a far larger bore than seen here, for both construction and capacity reasons.
;Slightly different granite:There are {{w|QAPF diagram|''many'' subtypes}} of granite, as well as being a lot of it.
;Piece of screaming spelunker's arm:Cave systems exist underground in many places, though more usually within rock-types more likely to dissolve than granite layers. The main exception might be from {{w|Lava tube|volcanic tunnels}} left in {{w|basalt}}, but that's technically ''still'' not granite, meaning that any cave system here would need explaining.
:{{w|Spelunkers}} (also known as cavers) explore caves, and one must have been in the wrong place when the corer passed through, suffering a clear injury (possibly greater than any that the unknown (but not ''directly'' impacted) subway users might have already suffered). If the spelunker was not already screaming ''before'' the drill came through (perhaps for help, if they were stuck — the size of the cave is unknown, with the open space closed up, as with the subway), losing a chunk of arm will have definitely prompted screams.
;Cool crystals with no resale value:There are many geological processes that can concentrate elements and compounds in a way that form crystalline minerals. Some are useful as ores, others are valued just as the crystals themselves (for aesthetic reasons or otherwise).
:Whatever these crystals are, as a small seam within the granitic layer just below the spelunker's location, they look nice (or are otherwise interesting), but either have little further application or are just so common that there's no point trying to make use of this deposit (even if they could perhaps be more 'easily' reached by any spelunker not put off by the threat of drillbits).
;Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:When coring rock, it's possible for the tip of the coring drill to encounter problems (like particularly dense and hard rock) that damage it, perhaps by bending its track too much and shearing off the head.
:This latest attempt, probably sent down slightly to the side of the prior one (unless it had managed to gouge out ''just'' the remains of the previous drillpipe, and retain the rock/subway/spelunker layers previously cored out) has encountered the tip of the prior attempt.
:If there's one thing guaranteed to be as tough as a drillbit, it's ''another'' drillbit, which must necessarily be hard enough to cut through the expected rock types. Luckily, the first one was clearly damaged enough, by its prior encounter, that it didn't thwart this next attempt and (perhaps literally) grind it to a halt. Nor, apparently, was there a repeat of whatever issue left that first drill like this.
:Being in the middle of the core, it could be that these bits are meant to be from another attempt to drill the diameter of the Earth from a complete different location. Assuming absurd precision, all such drill holes would meet at the center of the Earth.
;Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:{{w|Diorite}} is a real type of igneous rock — an intermediate between actual granite and {{w|gabbro}} — but an [http://animorphs.fandom.com/wiki/Andalite Andalite] is an alien from the Animorphs book series, which [[Randall]] enjoys and has [[:Category:Animorphs|referenced before]]. Perhaps Randall is "misremembering" the name of {{w|andesite}}, another type of igneous rock, from his [[1223: Dwarf Fortress|knowledge of]] the complex set of reality-inspired rock types encountered in the game {{w|Dwarf Fortress}}. As the sample appears right before the Netherrack sample, it may also be referencing {{w|Minecraft}}, as granite, diorite, and andesite exist in that game as mineable stone types.
;Netherrack:A dark red, and entirely fictional{{Citation needed}} stone appearing in Minecraft, with which Randall is [[861: Wisdom Teeth|also well acquainted]]. In Minecraft, Netherrack typically only appears naturally in The Nether, an alternate dimension resembling hell. In the overworld, where the core sample is presumably being taken, Netherrack only naturally forms in ruins of Nether Portals found on the surface, so for it to appear this deep in the sample, it would need to have been placed there by another person, likely while mining. (Some fan theories suggest that the nether is under the overworld, which isn't literally true in-game, but some [https://modrinth.com/datapack/nether-under-overworld mods] exist that make this true.)
;Balrog wing:The balrog is a creature in {{w|Lord of the Rings}}, found deep beneath the world, awakened when the dwarves delved too deep and too greedily, as it could be suggested that the geologists are doing here. It was previously encountered in the title text of [[3141: Mantle Model]]. The {{w|Balrog#Characteristics|balrog's wings}} are often discussed, in the context of whether it had them, and therefore whether they could or should have helped it escape the fall that was forced upon it in the books. At least one balrog, however, now appears to have at least one less wing than those it previously had. We do not know if there was any screaming involved.
;Granite:This label is applied to rock that appears to cover both ends of a 'height' of rock-core that is simplified by a diagrammatic cut. From the context of later layers, this would include a very long length of drilled material that passes into the {{w|Earth's mantle}}, and [[3145: Piercing|perhaps]] at least some of its core, before coming back up through the granite to be found somewhere on the other side of the planet.

; Topsoil:Beyond the indeterminate length of granite, the sample transitions back into the loose upper layers, indicating that the exploratory core is now being taken from ascending layers (albeit in a location lacking subways, etc, or just managing to miss everything seen in the preceding section).
;Cement:On emerging from the other side of the Earth, the geologists have drilled through the foundations of a building.
;Floorboards / Carpet:These two layers are typical of a reasonably well-equipped residential building — probably the ground floor, without any basement level. The core is coming up inside a furnished room.
;Possessions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere
:The core sample has tunneled up into somebody's house, probably while they are there, and has traveled through some of the furniture, fixtures and/or fittings, to their clear annoyance.

Apart from the less expected elements to the core that was cut and retrieved (and the sheer impossibility of drilling the necessary several thousand miles 'down' through the Earth, and then drawing that sample back out again), the comic heavily plays upon the fact that someone with the ability and equipment to take this sample is, nevertheless, not as sure about geology as they perhaps ought to be, with almost all rock just being considered 'granite', without any better (or more accurate) qualification.

The title text suggests that core sampling is a competitive pursuit, in which, with the correct drilling angle, dark arts can be employed to interfere with the coring experiment of a "rival team". This is, outside of cold war-type pettiness, not considered a constructive approach to science.{{Citation needed}}

Only about 15% of the Earth's land surface is directly antipodal to other land, which would make this sample less than "typical" if it was aimed directly down through the exact centre of the Earth and back up again (a distance of almost 8,000 miles, or more than 12,000 km). If one were to do this from a random spot of land, one would be much more likely to have the sample terminate in an ocean; the chances of ending up in a house would be even lower. However, considering that the title text mentions drilling at an angle, the 'other hemisphere' point might be not necessarily be at the antipodal point, and there also seems to be the capacity to aim at a more desirable target, in which case this is a "typical" core under ''deliberately'' chosen circumstances. The exact nature of reaching "the other hemisphere" is not expanded upon — it could be as simple as drilling (mostly sideways) a short distance across the {{w|equator}}, or {{w|prime meridian}}, or having to go at least a quarter of the way of a great circle under the planet's surface (slightly over 1.4 times the Earth's radius, by the most direct route), in any direction, such that the two ends cannot be counted as being in any single arbitrary hemisphere.

This comic comes not long after [[3162: Heart Mountain]], which involved strange stratification, so may be part of the same thought process about the nature, and occasional oddities, of the geologic column.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Caption at the top of the panel:] Typical geologic core sample
:[Below this is a drawing of a cylindrical core sample with various labels, in order from the top of the panel toward the bottom.]
:[A short, dark section of core:] Topsoil
:[A more obviously granular shorter section with a diagonal transition:] Till
:[A light and lightly-marked phase:] Granite bedrock
:[Repeating the Topsoil appearance:] Bottomsoil
:[A short/squat and possibly squeezed 'lump':] Roof of subway car
:[A similar squeezed-out lump:] Floor of subway car
:[A longer length of the 'granite' texture, within which...:] More granite
:[Not quite half of a pipe-width, cut out as a gap perpendicular and not quite all the way across the core:] Municipal water main
:[Slightly more grainy version of the 'granite':] Slightly different granite
:[In a junction between 'granites', an squat, unidentifiable lump:] Piece of screaming spelunker's arm
:[Within a longer granite layer, a short stretch of spiky/crystalline features:] Cool crystals with no resale value
:[Within the same granite layer, an intrusion of mechanical-looking junk:] Mangled fragments of drillbit from previous attempt
:[As per granite, but slightly more grainy:] Some boring intrusive rock that's basically granite but has a name like "diorite" or "andalite" that you always have to look up
:[Dark, cobbly textured stone:] Netherrack
:[Within a stretch of granite, a short, dark but otherwise unidentifiable lump:] Balrog wing
:[At this point, there is a discontinuity indicating that an arbitrary length has been omitted. The sample then resumes:]
:[Still 'granite':] Granite
:[Dark soil texture:] Topsoil
:[Light, fine and sparse 'grains':] Cement
:[Two very short cross-sections, each with contrasting wood-grain stripes:] Floorboards
:[Two very short sections with a textile-base plus piles appearance:] Carpet
:[A mish-mash of 'stuff', possibly including cloth, metal components, grainy wood and 'topped' at the lowest end by something equally puzzling at an angle:] Possesions of a confused and angry homeowner in the other hemisphere

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:LOTR]]
[[Category:Animorphs]]
[[Category:Minecraft]]

3190: Tensegrity

2026-01-06T07:05:12Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 3190
| date = January 5, 2026
| title = Tensegrity
| image = tensegrity_2x.png
| imagesize = 260x352px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some people argue that the tension and compression in the human skeleton is technically tensegrity, but it's missing the defining characteristic: making people say 'wtf, how is that thing floating?' when they see it.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by a string. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

Tensegrity structures are structures that are suspended using a combination of rigid and compressional components, usually a series of rods and strings that give the illusion of a floating object held up by the strings. [[wikipedia:Buckminster Fuller|Buckminster Fuller]] coined the term [[wikipedia:Tensegrity|tensegrity]] from the words "tensional integrity" ([https://doi.org/10.7556%2Fjaoa.2013.113.1.34 see here]), and Steve Mould describes the mechanism in [https://youtu.be/0onncd0_0-o?si=-S-QMrZffi9L06ky this video].

Randall makes the claim that there are animals that exist which use tensegrity in their anatomy, naming the (fictional) "Buckminster's Giraffe" as an example. The panel shows each leg of the giraffe using a structure similar to that of a tensegrity table.

The title text brings up the argument that humans themselves use tensegrity in our anatomy. Randall, however, deems that this doesn't count due to lacking the "defining characteristic" of a tensegrity structure - namely, that its stiff bits appear to be 'floating' by being suspending on a bunch of flexible bits. Humans, thanks to our skin and other various layers, outwardly look like a single solid structure, unlike the giraffe in the comic.

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

:[Cueball stands at the left of the panel, and at the right is a giraffe-like animal whose legs they appear to be made of a tensegrity structure, with disconnected segments held together by strings]
:[Caption below the panel:]
:While tensegrity is rare in the animal kingdom, a few species, such as Buckminster's Giraffe, are known to employ it.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Engineering]]

3189: Conic Sections

2026-01-03T09:42:50Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3189
| date = January 2, 2026
| title = Conic Sections
| image = conic_sections_2x.png
| imagesize = 288x322px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They're not generally used for crewed spacecraft because astronauts HATE going around the corners.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created recently. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
A {{w|Kepler orbit}} describes the simplified motion of two celestial objects around each other based only on their gravitational forces, ignoring any other factors such as gravity of other objects, atmospheric drag, and non-spherical bodies. Such an orbit will form a {{w|conic section}}. A conic section is a curve obtained from a cone's surface intersecting a plane. The three types of conic section are the hyperbola, the parabola, and the ellipse; the circle is a special case of the ellipse, though it was sometimes considered a fourth type.

In real conic sections, the cone extends to infinity. In the comic, however, the "conic section" representing the satellite's orbit has a base, resulting in sharp corners where the base and the lateral surface meet. As alluded to in the title text, these corners would be extremely uncomfortable for an astronaut in a crewed spacecraft. Such an extreme and sudden change in direction would require a very large, potentially dangerous G-force.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[A view of the Earth, focused on Asia and the Indian Ocean with East Africa at left and the Western Pacific and Australia at right. A satellite is shown in an unusual orbit around the planet.]
:[Caption below the panel:]
:All Keplerian orbits are conic sections. For example, this one uses the base of the cone.
{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Geometry]]

2877: Fever

2026-01-02T09:17:58Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2877
| date = January 5, 2024
| title = Fever
| image = fever_2x.png
| imagesize = 514x587px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Hypothermia of below 98.6 K should be treated by leaving the giant molecular cloud and moving to the vicinity of a star.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic mimics [https://www.bannerhealth.com/healthcareblog/-/media/images/project/healthcareblog/hero-images/2020/05/fevers-at-every-age-infographic.ashx?h=1477&w=750&hash=14066972FE7A69A90BE29654F41F7C65 charts] on {{w|fever}} temperatures and actions that are indicated as a result. However, rather than dividing the normal body temperature range of a febrile (fever-having) patient into subtle grades, it quickly progresses beyond these to specify treatment for increasingly high temperature ranges, culminating with the most extreme temperature range ever achieved in the universe.

After the first two entries in the table, the rest refer to temperatures caused by the surrounding environment, rather than by conditions internal to the body (or the vapor/plasma cloud you would turn into if you reach this temperature...). Hence the 'treatments' consist of removing yourself from those environments.

[[Randall]] uses the SI related unit {{w|Celsius}} for all entries in the table, giving the temperature in {{w|Fahrenheit}} only for the first entry in the table about a normal fever temperature range.

The title text uses the real SI unit {{w|Kelvin}}, and suggests that those with temperatures under 98.6 Kelvin (-173.55 Celsius or -280.39 Fahrenheit) are in a {{w|molecular cloud}} and that they should get near a star to warm them up. 98.6 ''Fahrenheit'' (=37°C) is the average human resting body temperature, explaining why Randall chose this number, but 98.6 Kelvin is a good deal colder than this, and a temperature at which it would be very hard for a human to survive.{{citation needed}} By way of comparison, the normal boiling point of liquid oxygen is 90.19 K (−182.96 °C; −297.33 °F).

Taking an everyday situation to its logical extreme is a common humor trope, often used by xkcd.

===Table of fever temperatures===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Treating a Fever
|-
! Fever Temperature in Celsius (Fahrenheit) !! Treatment !! Additional notes
|-
| 38-40 (100-104) || Fluids, rest, normal doctor stuff || Normal fever temperatures.

"Normal doctor stuff" refers to routine medical consultation at an outpatient clinic or through telemedicine.
|-
| 40-45 (104-113) || Hospital, advanced doctor stuff || A severe fever level at which humans might start experiencing brain damage from fever.

"Advanced doctor stuff" refers to hospital care, likely in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
|-
| 45-100 (113-212) || Exit that steam cloud immediately || A temperature range that is uncomfortable and injurious. (Imagine keeping your hand right above the spout of a steaming kettle.) For the rest of the table, the prescribed treatments presume that the fever temperature is due to one's environment.

Note that this range maximum is 100 degrees Celsius, the temperature at which water boils. After this point, the water in the body would soon boil, causing quick and painful death.
|-
| 100-400 (212-750) || Stop, drop, and roll || The subject is probably on fire. Stop, drop, and roll is a recommended method for putting out flames on your clothing.
|-
| 400-500 (750-930) || Return to Earth from Venus ASAP || 464°C (867°F) is {{w|Venus}}ian atmosphere temperature.
|-
| 500-1,500 (930-2,700) || Please climb out of that volcano || {{w|Magma}} is about 700°C (1,290°F). Therefore, if someone is at that temperature, they are probably in lava/magma.
|-
| 1,500-5,000 (2,700-9,000) || Turn your tunneling machine around and come back up to the surface || 4,400-6,000°C (7,950-10,830°F) is the estimated core temperature of the {{w|Earth}}. Another reference to the 2003 movie [[:Category:The Core|The Core]], at least the 6th comic to do so.
|-
| 5,000-6,000 (9,000-10,800) || No, the surface of the '''''Earth''''', not the Sun || 5,500°C (9,930°F) is the approximate temperature of the surface of the {{w|Sun}}. The Sun's {{w|photosphere}} has a temperature between 4,400 and 6,600 K (4,130 and 6,330 °C) (with an effective temperature of 5,772 K (5,499 °C)).
|-
| 6,000-50,000 (10,800-90,000) || Wait, that's not the Sun. What star are you visiting? Come back right now. || Surface temperatures of {{w|main sequence|main-sequence}} stars larger than the Sun can go up to 50,000 (Kelvin and degrees Celsius are indistinguishable at this point). Though some stars can be even hotter.
|-
| 50,000-20,000,000 (90,000-36,000,000) || At least stay on the '''''surface''''' of the star instead of diving down to the core || Core temperatures of main-sequence stars like the Sun are usually around ten million kelvins, while larger and hotter stars can reach up to a hundred million.
|-
| 20,000,000-10,000,000,000 (36,000,000-18,000,000,000) || You know, you could've picked a normal star instead of one that's exploding || {{w|Supernova}}e can reach temperatures of billions of degrees for brief periods, with type II supernovae even reaching hundreds of billions of degrees. This is the first of two comics in a row that mentions exploding stars, with [[2878: Supernova]] the next comic. That comic is like this comic also a [[:Category:Charts|Charts comic]].
|-
| 10,000,000,000 or higher (18,000,000,000 or higher) || I hope you're enjoying your visit to the Big Bang but you should really come back home immediately || 1032 °C (or K), the highest physically meaningful temperature, is the estimated temperature at the Planck epoch (10-43 s) after the {{w|Big Bang}}
|}

==Transcript==
:[A table is shown with two columns with twelve rows. The columns are labeled and there is a heading above table:]
:<big>Treating a Fever</big>

:[Column labels]:
:Fever
:Treatment

:38°C-40°C (100°F-104°F)
:Fluids, rest, normal doctor stuff

:40°C-45°C
:Hospital, advanced doctor stuff

:45°C-100°C
:Exit that steam cloud immediately

:100°C-400°C
:Stop, drop, and roll

:400°C-500°C
:Return to Earth from Venus ASAP

:500°C-1,500°C
:Please climb out of that volcano

:1,500°C-5,000°C
:Turn your tunneling machine around and come back up to the surface

:5,000°C-6,000°C
:No, the surface of the '''''Earth''''', not the Sun

:6,000°C-50,000°C
:Wait, that's not the Sun. What star are you visiting? Come back right now.

:50,000°C-20,000,000°C
:At least stay on the '''''surface''''' of the star instead of diving down to the core

:20,000,000°C-10,000,000,000°C
:You know, you could've picked a normal star instead of one that's exploding

:10,000,000,000°C or higher
:I hope you're enjoying your visit to the Big Bang but you should really come back home immediately

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Volcanoes]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:The Core]]

3169: EPIRBs

2025-12-25T09:41:24Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */ It's long and detailed enough to be complete.

{{comic
| number = 3169
| date = November 17, 2025
| title = EPIRBs
| image = epirbs_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x386px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 'Oh no, the box is drifting out into the harbor!' 'Yeah, I wouldn't worry about losing it.'
}}

==Explanation==

An {{w|emergency position-indicating radiobeacon}} (EPIRB) is a maritime safety device that, when it comes in contact with water, sends a distress signal via satellite. This signal is detected by search and rescue organizations such as the {{w|United States Coast Guard}} so that they can dispatch a rescue team. An EPIRB's purpose is to automatically notify such authorities of emergencies at sea, such as a ship sinking when it is out of range of normal radio communications and/or where those affected may not be able to reliably communicate their plight and correct location.

In the comic [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] accidentally drop a box {{w|CT#Other uses|containing}} 1,600 EPIRBs into the water while moving it across a gangway between a ship and a dock. Because EPIRBs automatically activate when immersed in water, and apparently the crate contains fully enabled units not otherwise held within waterproof packaging, the result would be 1,600 simultaneous signals of a ship sinking. In reality, though, EPIRBs usually require some sort of pre-activation and would not be in an operable state when packaged in transit and prior to sale or installation on a vessel. The text beneath the comic is them calling the Coast Guard to apologize for the overwhelming flood of signals. It appears this is not the first such call they have made, though it is unclear whether they have called multiple times to apologise for the same incident, or they are habitually careless in their handling of these packages.

The automatic nature of EPIRBs could allow such an overload if a package of them were dropped in water, and it would cause difficulty for a search and rescue group to receive so many signals at once. Not only that, but Cueball and Megan would likely be fired for gross negligence, causing severe financial penalties (which can be as much as $5,000 an hour for rescue assets, potentially reaching hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars for a major incident), safety violations, disruption of operations and legal consequences like significant civil fines and even criminal penalties if the actions were deemed willful or due to a reckless disregard for safety and the law.

It is very unlikely the Coast Guard would mount a full search and rescue response. Seeing 1,600 simultaneous signals inside of a port, potentially even reporting a position on land given how close they are to the dock, would make it immediately clear the signals were some kind of mistake or glitch. If this is a major port the Coast Guard could just look out the window to confirm that hundreds of ships are not sinking in the harbor at once.{{citation needed}} However, the massive flood of signals could affect the response to other, legitimate, emergencies by overwhelming the communications channels. Sources{{acn}} suggest that each satellite can handle 10 to 90 beacons at once in its field of view, so 1,600 would clearly clog the bandwidth. Even if all 1,600 signals made it through, taking just a few seconds to acknowledge and clear/delete them would mean an hour or two to remove all 1,600 signals, during which time a legitimate signal could go unseen. Combining both scenarios - the system only reports 90 signals from the satellite overhead, then several minutes later, after they are cleared or a new satellite comes overhead, 90 new reports are generated and need to be cleared - could clog the reporting system for many hours.

The title text notes that, because EPIRBs continuously broadcast their location (particularly modern GPIRBs with a GPS feature to provide an actual location and not just a signal to home in on), there is no reason to worry about the box floating out of the harbor and getting lost, because (even if it ''does'' float out of the harbor) there is no risk of "losing" it - the box is essentially a {{w|N+1 Redundancy|1599+1-redundant}} self-locator.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are on a walkway between the edge of a ship and the edge of a dock. Only part of the ship can be seen to the left and on the right a single wooden pole can be seen supporting the dock. Megan is near the ship and Cueball near the dock, and there is a rolling cart between them. A large box is tumbling through the air beneath the walkway, with motion lines indicating that it has fallen off the cart. The side of the box shows an image of an EPIRB. The front of the box (facing the reader) has text on it:]
:EPIRB
:Water-activated distress beacons
:1600 CT

:[Caption below the panel:]
:"Hello, Coast Guard? We'd like to apologize once again for the 1,600 simultaneous false alarms this morning..."

==Trivia==
A search for "total number of simultaneous EPIRB signals" on Google the day after this comic returned an AI Overview bullet point of "System-wide: The overall system is designed to handle thousands of beacons globally. One source suggests a scenario of up to 1,600 simultaneous signals at the same geographic location, which authorities can manage and verify." which implies that Google's AI algorithm was reading this comic explanation page and including it in search results as a source for how EPIRBs operate.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

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

Talk:3184: Funny Numbers

2025-12-23T15:07:30Z

Utdtutyabthsc:

It should be"The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". {{unsigned ip|2001:5a8:60da:3300:c94a:564:dc6d:d811|05:24, 23 December 2025 (UTC)}}
: In response to above unsigned post: fixed! You could've edited it too :) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 05:33, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:: In response to your response: post marked as unsigned! You could've done that too ;) [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 11:19, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

this is crazy [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 06:08, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:67 in Numberphile... now in xkcd... very sad (maybe they are related? on YouTube, Numberphile released 12 hours ago, which may be too close, but I don't know if they do Patreon or something) [[User:R128|R128]] ([[User talk:R128|talk]]) 09:09, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
::Ya all are way too sad about something this inconsequential. As xkcd rightly notices the so-called brainrot is just rebranding of equally dumb memes of yesteryear with the main difference being that you grew up with one and not the other. Decently funny strip overall. [[Special:Contributions/206.245.134.17|206.245.134.17]] 11:42, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Bad comic, Randall. Put it back. [[Special:Contributions/47.141.37.161|47.141.37.161]] 06:43, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

"If you have to ask, you're not old enough yet," is there like, some kind of comprehensive guide to sex and sexuality I was supposed to receive on my 18th birthday or something? All I got was 18 $1 scratch tickets. [[Special:Contributions/69.5.140.194|69.5.140.194]] 08:32, 23 December 2025 (UTC)
:For that matter, maybe your sense of humor is finally old enough to not amount to "haha sex funny". Incidentally appropriate IP, by the way. [[Special:Contributions/206.245.134.17|206.245.134.17]] 09:02, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

I observe that the explanation leaves [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6-7_meme](67) off the list of numbers... (it has no real meaning, just a fun thing the kids do to each other and enjoy the adults being confused about) (And now I feel stoopid for not noticing the big link at the very top — but still think it should be in the list.) [[User:Dúthomhas|Dúthomhas]] ([[User talk:Dúthomhas|talk]]) 08:54, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

I daresay no Robert Anton Wilson clone will immortalize "6 7" in 100 years on. Todays memes have a half-life measured in milliseconds. I say that without assessment. Only observing. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:2455:1960:4000:307A:46A3:7D5E:A7C0|2A02:2455:1960:4000:307A:46A3:7D5E:A7C0]] 10:15, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

<blockquote>69 -- if you have to ask, you're not old enough.</blockquote>
Information technology archeologist in the 31st century, sobbing: "I am 374 years old. How much longer?"[[Special:Contributions/109.43.49.174|109.43.49.174]] 11:45, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

While I do accredit the audacity to keep the humor in the explanation of 67, the act feels a little unprofessional. It feels like laziness or lack of knowledge, rather than a play on the popularity of the meme across the youth (I have no idea what the meaning behind six-seven is, and have always considered it pure absurd). [[User:Benzaldehyde|Benzaldehyde]] ([[User talk:Benzaldehyde|talk]] 14:23, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Could someone reorganize the order of the number descriptions? I initially read it as left column down, then right column down, which I think is also chronological. [[User:CreatorOfWorlds|CreatorOfWorlds]] ([[User talk:CreatorOfWorlds|talk]]) 14:45, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

Oh my a completed transcript already i literally just found out about this comic --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 15:07, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

3184: Funny Numbers

2025-12-23T15:04:31Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3184
| date = December 22, 2025
| title = Funny Numbers
| image = funny_numbers_2x.png
| imagesize = 360x453px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In 1899, people were walking around shouting '23' at each other and laughing, and confused reporters were writing articles trying to figure out what it meant.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by the square root of -2. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic refers to the recent brainrot meme {{w|6-7 meme|"6 7"}}, often accompanied by moving your hands up and down.

While many people think this is a novel activity of the latest generation of kids, the comic points out that there's a long history of young people finding ways to have fun with certain numbers.

The numbers listed are:
* {{w|23 skidoo|23}} originated about 1899, and was later combined with the nonsense word "skidoo" into the phrase "23 skidoo". It relates to leaving quickly.

* 42 refers to {{w|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, in which this number is the {{w|Phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42|answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything}}.

* {{w|Leet|1,337}} is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet leet speak] for the word "elite".

* {{w|69 (sex position)|69}} — refers to a sexual position.

* {{w|Calculator spelling|58,008}} spells "BOOBS" if you put it into a seven-segment display, like on many calculators, and turn it upside down. This is by far not the only message you can say using calculators. For example, 0.7734 (or 0.1134) spells "HELLO"

* {{w|420 (cannabis culture)|420}} is slang for smoking {{w|marijuana}}.

* {{w|6-7 meme|6 7}} — A recent brainrot meme {{w|6-7 meme|"6 7"}}, often accompanied by moving your hands up and down.

The title text claims that the media reaction to "23-skiddoo" around the turn of the 20th century was very similar to the current reaction to "67". This highlights a perennial historical cycle of the Young being despised by the Old; with the Young growing up to become the Old despising a new generation of Young.

==Transcript==
:[A banner is hanging from the ceiling with a large line of text above a smaller one:]
:<big>Mathematical society</big>
:2025 meeting

:[Below the banner there are four people, three of them are standing close together to the left with Hairbun leftmost addressing Cueball and Megan who is looking at her. Ponytail is standing to the far right next to a whiteboard, and is using a marker to circle round the last of several items on the board.]
:Hairbun: Any other new developments from the year to cover before we wrap?
:Cueball: Oh, the teens picked a new funny number.
:Megan: Aww, I'm glad to hear they're still doing that.
:Ponytail: I'll add it to the list.

:[The board generally contains two columns of numbers, the first row having text after its number, thus across both columns. The last pair of digits is the new 'number' circled round by Ponytail. From top, in reading order, they are:]
:23 (skidoo!)
:42    1,337
:69    58,008
:420   6 7

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: Math]]
[[Category: Language]]

3184: Funny Numbers

2025-12-23T15:01:35Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 3184
| date = December 22, 2025
| title = Funny Numbers
| image = funny_numbers_2x.png
| imagesize = 360x453px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In 1899, people were walking around shouting '23' at each other and laughing, and confused reporters were writing articles trying to figure out what it meant.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created by the square root of -2. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
This comic refers to the recent brainrot meme {{w|6-7 meme|"6 7"}}, often accompanied by moving your hands up and down.

While many people think this is a novel activity of the latest generation of kids, the comic points out that there's a long history of young people finding ways to have fun with certain numbers.

The numbers listed are:
* {{w|23 skidoo|23}} originated about 1899, and was later combined with the nonsense word "skidoo" into the phrase "23 skidoo". It relates to leaving quickly.

* 42 refers to {{w|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}, in which this number is the {{w|Phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42|answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything}}.

* {{w|Leet|1,337}} is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet leet speak] for the word "elite".

* {{w|69 (sex position)|69}} — refers to a sexual position.

* {{w|Calculator spelling|58,008}} spells "BOOBS" if you put it into a seven-segment display, like on many calculators, and turn it upside down. This is by far not the only message you can say using {{w|Calculator spelling}}

* {{w|420 (cannabis culture)|420}} is slang for smoking {{w|marijuana}}.

* {{w|6-7 meme|6 7}} — A recent brainrot meme {{w|6-7 meme|"6 7"}}, often accompanied by moving your hands up and down.

The title text claims that the media reaction to "23" around the turn of the 20th century was very similar to the current reaction to "67". This highlights a perennial historical cycle of the Young being despised by the Old; with the Young growing up to become the Old despising a new generation of Young.

==Transcript==
:[A banner is hanging from the ceiling with a large line of text above a smaller one:]
:<big>Mathematical society</big>
:2025 meeting

:[Below the banner there are four people, three of them are standing close together to the left with Hairbun leftmost addressing Cueball and Megan who is looking at her. Ponytail is standing to the far right next to a whiteboard, and is using a marker to circle round the last of several items on the board.]
:Hairbun: Any other new developments from the year to cover before we wrap?
:Cueball: Oh, the teens picked a new funny number.
:Megan: Aww, I'm glad to hear they're still doing that.
:Ponytail: I'll add it to the list.

:[The board generally contains two columns of numbers, the first row having text after its number, thus across both columns. The last pair of digits is the new 'number' circled round by Ponytail. From top, in reading order, they are:]
:23 (skidoo!)
:42    1,337
:69    58,008
:420   6 7

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category: Comics featuring Hairbun]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: Math]]
[[Category: Language]]

2251: Alignment Chart Alignment Chart

2025-12-22T07:44:38Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2251
| date = January 6, 2020
| title = Alignment Chart Alignment Chart
| image = alignment_chart_alignment_chart.png
| titletext = I would describe my personal alignment as "lawful heterozygous silty liquid."
}}

==Explanation==
"Alignment" and "alignment charts" come from tabletop roleplaying games, most prominently ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons}}''. Every character has an {{w|Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons)|alignment}}, which very roughly identifies their tendencies. The most widely used alignment system was introduced in the ''{{w|Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set}}'' in 1977 and has been reused in many (but not all) subsequent editions of the game. This system uses two perpendicular axes, each divided into three levels (for a total of nine categories). The two axes are:
* Lawful/neutral/chaotic: this axis says whether a character is strongly devoted to, indifferent about, or categorically opposed to following established rules.
* Good/neutral/evil: this axis says whether a character is generally inclined to commit good deeds or evil deeds.

In this system, the "lawful" attribute is independent from the "good" attribute. Lawful alignment means that a character is committed to a set of rules, which can refer to actual established laws, or to something like a rigid personal code, a set of traditions, or a chain of command, while a chaotic alignment means that a character has no interest in those, and may actively oppose them. The good vs evil scale is generally based on a character's concern for the lives and well-being of others; a good character will actively seek to help others and prevent harm, while an evil character will have no such concern and may actively harm others. Being 'good' is assumed to be independent of being 'lawful'. For example, a character who actively breaks laws to help those who are unjustly imprisoned or oppressed would be considered to be "chaotic good". In both cases, a neutral alignment can indicate a character's indifference to a concept, or that their commitment is conditional, or that they consciously seek to balance both sides. A character with the "neutral neutral" alignment is called a true neutral.

An alignment chart is a grid that divides the alignments, usually for the purpose of putting descriptions or particular characters on it. Alignment charts are frequently used as a [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mcdonalds-alignment-chart meme template], where humorous or absurdist things are organized into different alignments. In addition to the "classic" Dungeons and Dragons alignment chart, there are a number of variant alignment charts in use as meme templates. Many keep the three-by-three grid structure but replace the lawful-neutral-chaotic and good-neutral-evil axes with descriptions.

This comic claims to be a meta-alignment chart, where nine "alignment charts" are themselves sorted into the nine Dungeons and Dragons alignments, following the use of alignment charts to humorously classify abstract concepts. However, these "alignment charts" are mostly diagrams used in academic classifications, which are being treated as if they were blank meme templates. There are two levels of absurdity here: first, the idea of using these diagrams to classify things they were never intended for, and second, the conflation of chaos as a physics concept and an assigned moral weight as it applies to each of these classification systems.

The title text describes Randall's alignment as "lawful heterozygous silty liquid" which references the true neutral, neutral good, lawful good, and lawful neutral charts in the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart. Lawful is the left side of an alignment chart, heterozygous is the top right or bottom left of a Punnett Square, silty is the bottom right of a soil chart, and liquid is the top right of a phase diagram. As such, the title text describes Randall's alignment as between Lawful Neutral and Neutral Good on this chart.

{| class="wikitable"
!Alignment
!Chart
!Explanation
|-
|Lawful Good
|{{w|Soil texture|Soil chart}}
|This chart shows the USDA classification of soil types by their relative proportions of sand, clay and silt. The chart is a ternary diagram (very common in geology), so soils with more clay plot towards the upper corner, soils with more sand to the bottom left, and soils with more silt to the bottom right. This chart has been used humorously as an alignment chart ([https://www.reddit.com/r/PrequelMemes/comments/8wakd4/anakin_soil_reference_chart/ for example]) and may have been the inspiration for Randall to use scientific diagrams as alignment charts. In addition to being Lawful Good, this grid cell is also the upper left cell of the chart and will be read first, making it a good place to put this chart as a "jumping off point". [https://what-if.xkcd.com/83/ What If 83 "Star Sand"] cites Randall as "...very satisfied with this chart, it's like the erosion geology edition of the electromagnetic spectrum chart..."
|-
|Neutral Good
|{{w|Punnett square}}
| Punnett squares are a visual method of determining what traits an organism might have based on the traits of the organism's parents. It relies on the principle that a trait is either dominant (indicated with capital letters) or recessive (indicated with lowercase letters). The exact combination of dominant or recessive genes that a child organism receives from their parents determines their traits. Heterozygous and homozygous refers to the pairs of alleles in an organism’s genotype, indicating mixed or same alleles, respectively. Randall later uses "heterozygous" in the title text. Note that it is possible for a phenotype to be expressed the same between some heterozygotes and homozygotes, e.g., persons with genotypes heterozygous "Aa" and homozygous "AA" will both express blood type A.
Therefore, the Punnett Square is a good chart because it is both a simple and true geometric predictor of inheritance, but it tends to be neutral because of complicating factors such as polygenic inheritance; these and other factors will cause genotypic frequency to deviate from expected 1:2:1 patterns.
|-
|Chaotic Good
|{{w|IPA vowel chart with audio|IPA vowel chart }}
|This chart shows the relationship between different vowels according to the {{w|International Phonetic Alphabet}}. The position of the vowel on the chart serves roughly as an indicator of the position of the tongue in the mouth of the speaker. As different vowel sounds are created by changes in different parts of the mouth, including lip roundness which is expressed in the chart implicitly as an invisible third dimension, vowel identification is qualitative and often up to interpretation, and vowel expression can change dramatically from region to region or even person to person within the same language, the categories described by the chart might be considered chaotic. The chart is missing the near-open central vowel [ɐ] and the open central vowel [ä] (often written as /a/).
|-
|Lawful Neutral
|{{w|Phase diagram}}
|A phase diagram shows the equilibrium phases of matter present for a particular temperature, pressure, and composition. The diagram included is a unary phase diagram of a typical material that has a solid, liquid, and gas phase depending on the temperature and pressure for a fixed composition. Phase diagrams are useful for understanding how a material may change as its conditions change. For example, the air pressure of Mars is such that there is no temperature at which liquid water can exist in equilibrium on its surface. Water exists as ice until the temperature reaches a point where it sublimates directly into steam.

This phase diagram does not specify what material is depicted, but it is certainly ''not'' the phase diagram of water. On this diagram, compressing the liquid phase will transform the material into a solid, which is how most materials behave, but the solid/liquid phase line for water tilts the opposite direction. This is why water ice floats on liquid water, for example.

Phase diagrams follow the laws of thermodynamics and concern themselves with the order in which things ''should'' be, so they are inherently lawful.
|-
|True Neutral
|Alignment chart
|All alignment charts are neutral unless humans contaminate them. The chart in this cell has the same overall shape as the Alignment Chart Alignment Chart in the comic.
|-
|Chaotic Neutral
|CIE chromaticity diagram
|The {{w|chromaticity}} diagram is a chart of colors. Visible colors form a shape like a triangle with two bulging sides in the diagram. The curved line within the diagram shows the chromaticities of {{w|Black body|black bodies}} over a range of color temperatures. The chromaticity diagram shows colors independent of luminance.
The chart is not a simple geometric shape, so it is labeled as chaotic. Points on the diagram can be specified as combinations of three underlying illuminants (the colors of which may not all be visible). It can also be described in polar form with angle and radial distance from some central point, where the maximum radial distance depends on the angle.
The fact that the colors may not show properly on a screen, making the diagram incorrect, may also contribute to its chaotic aspect, as well as the fact that the official standard is behind a paywall.
|-
|Lawful Evil
|Political compass
|[https://www.politicalcompass.org/ Political Compass] separates ideas about governance into economic and social political thought. For example, Gandhi and Stalin supposedly both had similar economic perspectives (collectivist) but radically different social perspectives (libertarian vs authoritarian).

As politics is how laws are made, this is inherently lawful. Representing all politics in terms of two very general axes is not only a gross oversimplification, it is often used to put one's favored ideology as far away from Hitler or Stalin. This common use of a fallacy similar to the straw man makes this chart evil.

Like the USDA soil chart, the political compass has actually been [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/political-compass used as an alignment chart], largely to mock the original political compass chart.
|-
|Neutral Evil
|{{w|QAPF diagram|QAPF rock diagram}}
|This diagram is used to classify coarse-grained felsic (low magnesium and iron) igneous rocks by the relative volumes of the minerals quartz, alkali feldspars, plagioclase feldspars, and feldspathoids in the rock. It consists of two ternary diagrams - quartz and feldspathoid minerals cannot coexist (they will react to form feldspars) so only three of these components will be in any given rock. Rocks in the upper triangle of the diagram contain quartz, with rocks with more quartz plotting closer to the top, while rocks in the lower triangle contain feldspathoids, with rocks with more feldspathoids plotting lower. Rocks closer to the left corner of the diagram contain more alkali feldspar and rocks closer to the right corner contain more plagioclase feldspar. The field on the diagram for granite is labeled in the comic, but each area outlined on the diagram has its own rock name (monzonite, syenite, granodiorite, etc.). All the rocks that the QAPF diagram is used to classify look superficially like granite, but their chemistry, mineralogy, and origin differ.
The QAPF diagram and the names of the more obscure rock types on it can be somewhat arcane, which may be why it is considered evil here.
|-
|Chaotic Evil
|Omnispace classifier
|The other eight diagrams shown in this comic, squished together into one, with the shapes of the diagrams corresponding to those of the originals. The diagram is labeled chaotic, since it does not have a simple geometrical shape. Probably self-referential humor, in that the diagram created for this comic is considered to be chaotically evil.
|}

An alignment chart was also featured in [[2408: Egg Strategies]], which was published exactly one year later.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.|There's several Transcript-friendly chart descriptions still need putting in... And probably changes to the existing transcriptisation where it isn't in line with typical Transcript standards.}}

:[A 3×3 grid of squares. Each square contains a label at the top and a drawing of a chart, and each square has a caption below it. From left to right, and one row at a time:]

----

:Soil Chart

:[The diagram is a triangle split into several sections. The left side of the triangle is labeled "Clay" going up, the right side is labeled "Silt" going down, and the bottom is labeled "Loam" going left. The sections are labeled as follows, going left to right, top to bottom:]

:* Clay
:* [unintelligible, probably "sandy"] Clay
:* Silty Clay
:* Clay Loam
:* Silty Clay Loam
:* Sandy Clay Loam
:* Loam
:* Silt Loam
:* [unintelligible, probably "Sand"]
:* [unintelligible, probably "Loamy Sand"]
:* Silt

:Lawful Good

----

:Punnett Square

:[A 2x2 grid with a capital or lowercase R at either the left or top of each row and column, and each square containing the two letters of its row and column.]

:Neutral Good

----

:IPA Vowel Chart

:[describe this chart here]

:Chaotic Good

----

:Phase Diagram

:[The diagram is a simple square chart labeled "Heat" along the x-axis and "Pressure" along the y-axis. One section, labeled "Solid," is a wavy triangle that encompasses the left side of the chart, tapering off toward the bottom until it comes to a point just above the bottom. Another section, labeled "Gas," shares a border with the "Solid" section but splits off about halfway up and continues to about 3/4 of the way up the right side. The final section, labeled "Liquid," occupies the rest of the space in the chart.]

:Lawful Neutral

----

:Alignment Chart

:[A 3×3 grid of nine empty squares, each with an unreadable label below it.]

:True Neutral

----

:CIE Chromaticity Diagram

:[A curved edge at the top of the chart like a parabola facing downwards leaning towards the right with the two ends of the parabola being connected by a straight line. The sections are labeled as follows, going left to right, top to bottom:]

:* Green
:* Yellow
:* Pink
:* Red
:* Purple
:* Blue

:Chaotic Neutral

----

:Political Compass

:[A square chart split into four quadrants, with the horizontal axis labeled "Left (left)/Right (right)" and the vertical axis labeled "Authoritarian (top)/Libertarian (bottom)." Each quadrant is divided into several irregular segments, either unlabeled or labeled with a single question mark.]

:Lawful Evil

----

:QAPF Rock Diagram

:[The diagram is a rhombus with each corner labeled: ‘Q’ at the top, ‘A’ at the left, ‘P’ at the right, and ‘F’ at the bottom. The diagram is divided into trapezoids and triangles, each with labels. The writing in most subdivisions are unreadable. The readable subdivisions:]
:* Granite [around the top left]
:* Basalt [just below the right corner]
:* Foidolite [at the bottom]

:Neutral Evil

----

:Omnispace Classifier

:[describe this chart here]

:Chaotic Evil

{{comic discussion}}



[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Biology]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Recursion]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]

3176: Inverted Catenaries

2025-12-22T07:07:41Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 3176
| date = December 3, 2025
| title = Inverted Catenaries
| image = inverted_catenaries_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x317px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Some tires are marketed as 'all-shape tires,' but if driven in a climate with both inverted catenary falls and triangle falls, they wear out really fast.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This page was created BY A TRAPEZOIDAL WHEEL. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}

During the winter, in snowy areas, people may replace their car's summer or all-season tires with winter tires made specifically for the cold environment. In this comic, instead of snow, rounded shapes called inverted {{w|Catenary|catenary curves}} fall from the skies. On a plane covered in inverted catenaries all the same size, square wheels whose side length matches the arc length of the catenary [https://mathtourist.blogspot.com/2011/05/riding-on-square-wheels.html are capable of rolling smoothly], contrary to how they would act on a normal road. People have made real tracks demonstrating this. Regular wheels would cause a significantly bumpier ride on this terrain, so Cueball plans to swap them out with {{w|square wheel}}s to better suit the season.

Note, however, that this assumes the catenaries are arranged periodically with no spacing between them, fully cover the surface, and are consistent in shape and orientation. The orientation would also restrict the direction of travel, effectively meaning your vehicle would be traveling on rails. Changes in direction could be managed using catenaries whose arc length was consistent but whose segment length varied, with the variations in vertical size being accommodated by vehicles' suspension systems. Letting the direction changes be controlled by drivers (e.g. branching roads) would require complex 3D road surface shapes.

The title text mentions all-shape tires (as a play on all-season tires), which are advertised to supposedly fit any shape road. However, different shapes would require very different wheels; for example, falling triangles would form a sawtooth road, for which one would optimally use wheels pasted together from pieces of an equiangular spiral. The all-shape tire is said to wear out very quickly like low quality all-season tires used to. (The best modern all-season tires perform better than the average winter tire and have a 62k mile warranty.)

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
:[Megan and Cueball are walking together as inverted catenary curves fall from the sky (presumably from an "inverted catenary tree"). A few have landed in a regular formation, all flat-side down and evenly spaced, with some touching each other.]
:Cueball: Oh wow, the first inverted catenary fall of the year!
:Cueball: Time to swap out my all-season tires for square ones.

{{comic discussion}}<noinclude>
[[Category:Weather]]
[[Category:Geometry]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]

User talk:Utdtutyabthsc

2025-12-22T06:54:55Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* DO NOT USE AI */

Talk:3177: Chessboard Alignment

2025-12-07T04:44:34Z

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Chess Notation? */

...Honestly, kinda don't get this one... --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 02:27, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
:ohhhhhh... --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]] 02:28, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
wait how do comments work[[User:Avrayter|Avrayter]] ([[User talk:Avrayter|talk]]) 02:52, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

I don’t understand what the title text is saying. Can someone explain it to me? [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 03:05, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
:Well, since we live on a sphere, drawing a line across the surface is actually drawing on one big circle, called a great circle. this means that it's impossible to draw lines on the surface of the earth that never meet - if you draw two lines, straight north on 2 ends of the USA, they meet at the north pole. If you continue the lines after that, they also meet at the south pole, and continuing that, you're all the way back where you started - you've just drawn 2 big circles. --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:43, 7 December 2025 (UTC)

when I read the title, I thought of D&D Alignment, and now I want one [[Special:Contributions/93.36.184.70|93.36.184.70]] 07:31, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Did the math for 'aiming' at geostatinary satellite from while being level. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=arccos%286371%2Fsqrt%2842%2C164%5E2%2B6371%5E2%29%29 . If anybody wants to check my math please do so.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 19:06, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Do you have to consider other boards to avoid castling through check? [[Special:Contributions/2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E|2600:100C:B29E:1DBD:C9D:1FF3:39A0:FC2E]] 20:19, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

== Chess Notation? ==

I think a funnier title text would've been:
Bfi8(!!!)
[[User:Fephisto|Fephisto]] ([[User talk:Fephisto|talk]]) 06:22, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
:...I didn't want if before but now i do.--[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 04:44, 7 December 2025 (UTC)

== Modern physics? ==
I suspect allusions to modern physics. The exact alignment of chess boards reminds me of the exactness needed to build laser resonators.
The chess piece hopping from one board to another reminds me of quantum tunneling. The title text reminds me of light following geodetic lines in general relativity.
There might be a specific quantum effect that is meant here, but I don't know. [[Special:Contributions/195.52.146.164|195.52.146.164]] 06:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

For anyone wondering: This is not legal, because even though "The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands" FIDE defines a diagonal as "A straight line of squares of the same colour, running from one edge of the board to an adjacent edge", meaning it always ends on the edge. [[Special:Contributions/85.76.137.112|85.76.137.112]] 07:29, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Moving from one board to another reminds me of a variety of chess variants. You know the ones: bughouse chess, Alice chess, ''5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel''. (I'm still trying to find a way to get Randall to try out that last one.) [[User:ISaveXKCDpapers|ISaveXKCDpapers]] ([[User talk:ISaveXKCDpapers|talk]]) 10:01, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

== Math of great circles ==
Not sure how to express well mathematics of great circles, to make it clear, that it is not just longitudal lines but in any direction really. I fixed the basics, but right now it still says something potentially misleading.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 14:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
:I think this was my biggest edit on this wiki, but I think I managed to make a decent explanation of the math of how this works. Also split it off from the going into space variant.--[[User:Trimutius|Trimutius]] ([[User talk:Trimutius|talk]]) 18:14, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

== Category ==

Should this comic go in <code>Category:Comics_with_color</code>? --[[Special:Contributions/175.34.54.104|175.34.54.104]] 11:33, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

== The game position ==

I think in white's position, the only moves that could prevent ...Nd5# are Qa4+, Qxd4, and various moves to e2. I don't hold out much hope for white. To me, this says the bishop move is a desperate attempt by the bishop to survive a bit longer. It made a king sacrifice. --[[User:Divad27182|Divad27182]] ([[User talk:Divad27182|talk]]) 13:54, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
:My impression (without trying to recreate the exact play-by-play that got there) is that middle-white's defence 'exploded', they (forced or unforced) sent up to six pawns forward, losing three, dramatically unshielding the King in a very unsafe manner and (through exposure to the black Queen, later assisted by the Knight to plug potential movements) was left with no choice other than to advance white-King out there to get out of various checks.
:But I'm intrigued by the 'rules', of pieces escaping to the other board. Does middle-white play in turn with middle-black, but may (as their turn) move middle-white pieces around the right board without regard (either way) of the right-white/right-black turn-taking? The asynchrony (could pepper right-board movement with timely movements ahead and/or behind right-white's turn, to support them against right-black with additional 'intersticial' moves (until middle-black, or even left-black, opts to move pieces over there as well). Or act as strictly' "second move for white"? What happens when MW's King is mated (as it surely will, ''especially'' if MW is opting to move off-board pieces rather than fight the 'local' game)? Their pieces are taken away? Inherited? Continue to 'double-tap' their moves alongside the native player of the board? They're now entirely unfettered by MB's move to which they now don't need to wait to respond?
:Alternatively, it's a piece given ''to'' Right-White (until, perhaps, RW moves it, like any other piece, back into MW's game in their own play-order). There could be an exodus of MW pieces (bishops, rooks, queen only, with the right position opportunities; assuming you can't move to mid-board positions two or more times to allow knights and king to eventually enter full 'exile'; a couple of pawns could make it across, with complicity of an opponent, but only if you can end ''and capture'' upon tween-board spaces), and left-board players could even decide to send rooks/queens to the right-board for a comicated ''melee'' of chess.
:And, however it happens, does this also apply for boards properly aligned (or diagonally-aligned) front-to-back (leapfrogging to other boards, unseen, in further rows of competition 'up/down' of this row-of-three). And, ignoring the strictly planar nature hinted at in the comic, an 'Earth Sandwich' of board and antipodal-board could be interesting... allowing a Queen (for example) to flow off this board in ''all eight'' directions to land on the other board (in some modes, arriving on the new board in the same direction as they left the first one... unless that's set up at right-angles... although it wouldn't bother a queen... could be troublesome if pawns are allowed to keep moving off-board, for as long as it takes, to arrive ''not necessarily'' on the respective home-row of the destination grid... or have them become obligate-backwards/sideways-advancing 'borrowed' pawns, if that's how the boards (mis-)align?).
:No matter what the governing body says about board-edges, I need to know more about the practical limits and opportunities to this obscure rule! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 16:44, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

:The bishop knew their team was about to lose, so they decided to join another team’s play instead. [[User:Logalex8369|Logalex8369]] ([[User talk:Logalex8369|talk]]) 16:51, 6 December 2025 (UTC)
::You'd have thought a bishop would have had more faith! [[Special:Contributions/82.132.239.11|82.132.239.11]] 17:36, 6 December 2025 (UTC)

Gonna copy my code for #3139 and make this.