https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=108.162.238.180&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T08:42:16ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2823:_Fossil&diff=3231322823: Fossil2023-09-02T01:56:55Z<p>108.162.238.180: Added dialog transcript and very basic explanation.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2823<br />
| date = September 1, 2023<br />
| title = Fossil<br />
| image = fossil_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 428x246px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = The two best reasons to get into fossils are booping trilobites and getting to say the word "fossiliferous" a lot.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Trilobites are an extinct type of animal.<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
It's weird to pry open a rock and see an animal that no one has laid eyes on for 400 million years.<br />
Boop!<br />
Hey! Don't boop the trilobites!<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2138:_Wanna_See_the_Code%3F&diff=3162402138: Wanna See the Code?2023-06-26T21:07:26Z<p>108.162.238.180: "Wanna see a dead body?" is famously the inciting incident from the movie "Stand by Me." Whenever people make that request, they're making a reference to that movie.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2138<br />
| date = April 17, 2019<br />
| title = Wanna See the Code?<br />
| image = wanna_see_the_code.png<br />
| titletext = And because if you just leave it there, it's going to start contaminating things downstream even if no one touches it directly.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is the fifth and latest comic in the [[:Category:Code Quality|Code Quality]] series:<br />
<br />
* [[1513: Code Quality]]<br />
* [[1695: Code Quality 2]]<br />
* [[1833: Code Quality 3]]<br />
* [[1926: Bad Code]]<br />
* [[2138: Wanna See the Code?]]<br />
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Cueball declares that he has written a script to automate some (presumably time-consuming or tedious) task, which pleases Ponytail at first... until she remembers how messy Cueball's code tends to be, and gets worried.<br />
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Cueball offers to show her his code, but Ponytail remarks that it sounds like he's creepily inviting her to see a dead body. (This is likely a reference to the movie "Stand By Me," which begins with one of the main characters making this exact offer.) Magnanimously, Cueball accepts the comparison, noting that his code ''does'' have at least one similarity to a deceased corpse: although unpleasant, if Ponytail allows it to go unchecked, it causes problems which will get increasingly worse over time. In the "dead body" analogy, a recently-deceased corpse is easier to deal with than one that has been left for a few weeks, which will be decayed, unpleasantly smelly, and will likely have attracted disease-spreading vermin.<br />
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Ponytail then makes a near threatening comment where she says that he is lucky that people understand both that his code causes more problems than it solves and that dead bodies create more problems than they solve. Most likely this means that they understand that killing him would cause more problems than it solves (the problem solved would no doubt be his code).<br />
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This may be a reference to the concept of {{w|technical debt}} in software development: the idea that an initially poor implementation accrues a sort of "compound interest" over time, becoming increasingly difficult to repair the longer it is left unfixed. This happens because any future development might have to take unorthodox or unrecommended measures to work around the problems that are already there, making the system increasingly complex and fragile the more that is added to it.<br />
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In the title text, "downstream" has a double meaning, as it is a term that applies to a situation where a dead body would decompose in or near some river, and as well to a software engineering concept: In the river situation, the dead body will contaminate the water or groundwater that it feeds from and have consequences for organisms that come in contact with that water. In the software engineering analogue, "downstream" refers to software derived from, or depending on, "upstream" software like the cadaver that Cueball devised. The causality with flowing water and software is reasonably comparable: both can be seen as a stream of atoms that are (almost) endlessly divisible and recombinable.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is walking, talking to Ponytail, who is offscreen.]<br />
:Cueball: I wrote a script to automate that thing.<br />
:Ponytail: Oh cool! <br />
:Ponytail: ...wait, '''''you''''' wrote it? <br />
:Ponytail: Oh no.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball and Ponytail are standing next to each other and talking.]<br />
:Cueball: Wanna see the code?<br />
:Ponytail: I would, if you hadn't said that in the tone of voice of "Wanna see a dead body?"<br />
<br />
:[Same scene as before, except Cueball has his hand on his chin.]<br />
:Cueball: My code ''is'' sort of similar to a dead body, in that you can either come look at it now, or wait a few weeks until it becomes a problem.<br />
:Ponytail: And because you're lucky that the people around you understand that they create more problems than they solve.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Code Quality]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]<br />
[[Category:Cueball Computer Problems]]</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=591:_Troll_Slayer&diff=101950591: Troll Slayer2015-09-16T20:55:10Z<p>108.162.238.180: /* Transcript */ chess icon, not E</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 591<br />
| date = June 1, 2009<br />
| title = Troll Slayer<br />
| image = troll slayer.png<br />
| titletext = We have met the enemy and he is us.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
== Explanation ==<br />
{{w|Stephenie Meyer}} is the author of the {{w|Twilight series}}, a series of novels popular with young teens. It is a love it or hate it type of novel, with a large following and a large portion of haters as well.<br />
<br />
In the comic, {{w|4chan}}, an {{w|imageboard}}, is featured. Imageboards such as 4chan have the feature to post anonymously. The users of 4chan launch an attack on a Twilight board and Stephenie Meyer asks them to stop. When they refuse, Meyer writes 4chan into her next novel, thereby drawing in a large number of fans of her novel as a counter-attack to what 4chan ran on the Twilight forum. This results in what the original 4chan users consider a ruined imageboard.<br />
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The title of the topic is drawn from the internet slang term {{w|troll (internet)|troll}}, which refers to actively attempting to get a rise out of a forum. In this instance, 4chan attempted to troll a Twilight board and Meyer acted against the troll, making her a "slayer" of them. (Granted, releasing ''Twilight'' fans into 4chan is akin to releasing freshwater fish into a saltwater shark feeding frenzy, but that's beside the point).<br />
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The title text refers to {{w|Walt Kelly}}'s famous saying. Kelly used it to refer to all of mankind, whereas here it refers to the users of 4chan, by bringing on the enemy of their forum themselves.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A website where people can post comments alongside pictures.]<br />
:[Next to a picture of a website.] Hey, let's troll the fuck out of the Twilight boards.<br />
:[Next to a picture of some people.] I'm in. Should be fun.<br />
:[Next to a picture of a man with sword and trumpet.] Me too. Signing on now.<br />
:[Next to a picture of "LOL".] Lol angsty teens.<br />
<br />
:Hours Later:<br />
:[Stephenie Meyer, at a computer.]<br />
:Stephenie Meyer: Hi, it's Stephenie Meyer. Fine, you don't like my books. But please leave us alone.<br />
:[[Hairy]]: Show us your tits.<br />
:Stephenie Meyer: I asked politely. Don't make me get tough.<br />
<br />
:[Hairy at computer.]<br />
:Hairy: And what, call the internet police? You don't get it, do you? We've been trolling for years. We're all anonymous. There's nothing you can do to hurt us. We're the net's hate machine.<br />
:Stephenie Meyer: Okay. Just remember, I gave you a chance. *Disconnected*<br />
<br />
:Six Months Later:<br />
:[A page from a book.]<br />
:Vampires! Book VI<br />
:Edward ran a pale hand through his perfect golden-bronze hair, then signed on to 4chan.org, the darkest place on the internet, where all his vampire compatriots spent their time.<br />
:Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door [...] swept in [...] ing<br />
:[The rest of the page is cut off.]<br />
<br />
:Shortly Thereafter:<br />
:[On the same website as the first panel.]<br />
:[Next to a picture of two people hugging.] OMG I love this place it's so edgy being anonymous.<br />
:[Next to a picture of "DAWN♟".] Whos your favorite vampire<br />
:[Next to a picture of someone with black hair and shirt.] Check out my pic Im so dark just like this site<br />
:[Next to a picture of a chess piece.] Any Twilight fans in Dallas want to meet a lonely<br />
<br />
:[Hairy at his computer.]<br />
:Hairy: Oh... Oh God.<br />
<br />
{{Comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Internet]]</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1534:_Beer&diff=94905Talk:1534: Beer2015-06-05T14:30:35Z<p>108.162.238.180: </p>
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<div>I hate the taste and smell and associations (such as urine and vomit where they shouldn't be). A friend used to freely admit he didn't like the taste and only drank to get drunk. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.161|108.162.249.161]] 06:24, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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This is why there are so many different styles of beers, or wines, or other alcoholic beverages. I personally don't care for IPAs, but will rarely pass up a good Pilsner.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.189|108.162.238.189]] 07:37, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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:LOL, that's exactly what Cueball is talking about. Beer is a canonical example of {{w|acquired taste}}. But even after having done so, all hoppy beers (including most IPAs and Pilsners) still taste pretty similar to me. - [[User:Frankie|Frankie]] ([[User talk:Frankie|talk]]) 11:39, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Is it possible that the characters, being American, have only ever tasted American beer? So when Cueball says that "all beer tastes kind of bad" hat he really means is "all <em>American</em> beer tastes kind of bad"? That would make a lot more sense (especially if you assume that they only buy from the major brands, and haven't yet tried beer from microbreweries.) --[[User:PeR|PeR]] ([[User talk:PeR|talk]]) 09:30, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
:entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem. I think too many people forget Occam's Razor here, and are too eager to engage in deeper analysis than the content can really support without help from, say, an interview with Randall. No offense intended; this is a trend on this wiki in general. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.201|108.162.221.201]] 13:18, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Speaking from personal experience, I've never tried any form of alcohol that I've liked. And if you must know my experience is mainly centered around beer that's highly recommended by friends and family. The last case was at a tour of a local microbrewery that seems to be doing extremely well. I'm sure if I pulled a large scale taste test I'd aquire enough of a taste to delude myself into thinking that something or other is actually worth drinking but I don't see why I should go through the effort just to conform to a social norm. --not the mama[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.180|108.162.238.180]] 14:30, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Agreed. Major brands suck, but probably in most countries, even Germany, where people usually have very high opinion about German beer. There are thousands of small breweries, though, some with a very old tradition (like in monasteries), and many just popping up recently. At some microbreweries you have to order weeks in advance, but the brew you get is really exceptional, and you'll drink it at room temperature from wine glasses. Absolutely not meant for getting drunk. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.107|108.162.254.107]] 10:47, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I am disliking to indifferent to most of brands of beer, but I like a few specific ones, like Ginger's Beer, or gingerbread beer from local brewery. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:34, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I know that beer is generally considered to be an acquired taste, but some people acquire that taste really quickly. The first beer I ever drank was a Miller that I stole from a case that my dad had left sitting in the kitchen for months. I was 12, and it is still probably the worst thing I've ever tasted. I decided I didn't like beer, and from ages 12 to 17 the only alcohol I drank was wine. At 17, I tried keg beer and was utterly indifferent to it. By the time I turned 19 I was into good local beers, but if I've been in the heat for a long time, I'll drink watery mediocre beer and it will be divine. And then there's shower beer...oh, shower beer!12:27, 5 June 2015 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|108.162.225.36}}<br />
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The only thing worse than a pilsner is an IPA... which is just a stronger version of a pilsner. Most beer just has way too high of an IBU rating. At least malts aren't entirely awful and oatmeal malts are somewhat palatable. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.83|162.158.255.83]] 14:25, 5 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Culturally, for me, the common booze is 'a pint of bitter' (or 'best'). I apparently had my first sip when a toddler. I 'sneakily' took a sip from the top of a glass sat in front of my father, before screwing my face up most amusingly, I am told. I then went straight back in for another... it's not obvious to me if I was being influenced to 'want to like it'. Perhaps it was just the novelty. Anyway, I will admit I don't ''love'' the taste of bitter, but at least it's got an significant taste that all the seemingly anonymous mass-produced lagers can't match. (OTOH, cider's quite stimulating, but I take against the overly fizzy ones.) When it comes to non-alcoholic beverages, I will actively ''refuse'' a cup of tea (the social norm for adults, especially someone like me in their fifth decade), however socially awkward and unexpected, and politely turn down the offer of a coffee, if possible, on the basis that I might not be staying long. (I don't like teas at all, even fruit ones, but I can stand coffee if sweetened.) But it's ''amazing'' what we tend to eat and drink, just because it's expected. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.59|141.101.99.59]] 14:26, 5 June 2015 (UTC)</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:35:_Sheep&diff=93480Talk:35: Sheep2015-05-17T01:29:41Z<p>108.162.238.180: Comment.</p>
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<div>It's Mareep attacking Cacnea! --[[Special:Contributions/173.245.51.212|173.245.51.212]] 20:43, 3 July 2014 (UTC)<br />
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Do Cacti Dream of Electric Sheep? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.180|108.162.238.180]] 01:29, 17 May 2015 (UTC)</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1474:_Screws&diff=93410Talk:1474: Screws2015-05-15T16:49:07Z<p>108.162.238.180: </p>
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<div>This page is now on the first page of google for "uranium screw". [[User:Mrmakeit|Mrmakeit]] ([[User talk:Mrmakeit|talk]]) 05:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:And as of now, this page is the #1 result for "uranium screw". The second is the xkcd fora thread on this comic, and the third is our home page. [[User:NealCruco|NealCruco]] ([[User talk:NealCruco|talk]]) 16:47, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think that patent is the right one, it seems to describe a uranium decontamination procedure, not a screw made of uranium like in the comic. [[User:LeoDeQuirm|LeoDeQuirm]] ([[User talk:LeoDeQuirm|talk]]) 05:46, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I'm pretty sure the "uranium screw" is just a reference to the fact that the head of the screw appears to have split in two ("fissioned"), as opposed to a normal flat head screw that still has the edges connected. [[User:Sam887|Sam887]] ([[User talk:Sam887|talk]]) 05:50, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Just a shot in the dark here, but a company that sells uranium ore and radiological equipment happens to also sell screws for one of its Geigers that look just like the screw cross-section in the comic. [http://www.uraniumrocks.com/products/replacement-circuit-board-mount-screws-for-victoreen-cdv-700-short] [[User:Conqu2|Conqu2]] ([[User talk:Conqu2|talk]]) 06:01, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I was wondering if the "uranium screw" was referring to the Demon Core -- two hemispherical domes that Louis Slotin was holding apart with a screwdriver. Then I remembered the Demon Core was plutonium, not uranium. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.119|173.245.48.119]] 06:49, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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There are ferrous alloys containing (depleted, of course ;-) uranium for "increase[d] toughness and strength". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrouranium] [[User:Knob creek|Knob creek]] ([[User talk:Knob creek|talk]]) 09:21, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I think the be was going for apple's pentalobe screw with the 5 pointed star {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.162}}<br />
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I don't think the uranium screws are named for their use in stuff to do with uranium, as I have both seen and used screws that look like that before. It's basically a flat head screw whose divot extends all the way across the face of the screw. I agree more with the previous commentor who notes that the screw looks like it has fissioned. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.182|108.162.237.182]] 06:34, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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An actual rivet is neither a screw nor a bolt; it's a fastener that is placed and then has one end plastically deformed -- traditionally by a rivet gun, but more often in smaller sizes by some sort of press or clamp. (Pop rivets are hollow, and are deformed by pulling a cone-sheaped wedge into the open end of the hollow core.) There's no way to remove one except to destroy it (drill it out or cut one end off). The item pictured could also be the head of a carriage bolt, but that's no help if you can't get at the other end of the bolt. Randall is slightly pessemistic, though: there *are* some "security" screws and bolts that use a slightly-elliptical domed head that's hard to tell from a rivet; they can be unscrewed, but only with a matching slightly-elliptical socket. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.70|199.27.133.70]] 06:35, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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All of which can be removed by a sonic screwdriver. Totally a real thing. {{unsigned ip|173.245.50.86}}<br />
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Could the "cursed -1" be a Nethack reference? I don't know if Dungeons and Dragons has the "blessed/uncursed/cursed" status, but in Nethack cursed items with negative enchantments (denoted "cursed -whatever") are a pretty common occurrence. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.25|199.27.133.25]] 07:31, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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In Nethack, Cursed objects cannot be removed. Seems appropriate. At first I thought it was a pozidrive screw head. Posts on the fission screw head: where have you seen screws whose divot does *not* extend across the head? {{unsigned ip|199.27.128.230}}<br />
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[[User:Kreuiter|Kreuiter]] ([[User talk:Kreuiter|talk]]) 08:03, 16 January 2015 (UTC)from wikipedia: Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans (13 April 1747 – 6 November 1793) commonly known as Philippe, was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the ruling dynasty of France. He actively supported the French Revolution and adopted the name Philippe Égalité, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror<br />
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I don't think it is specifically a reference to Nethack as a lot of ol games (both video and tabletop) use the mechanic of non removable cursed objects. It is common enough in my opinion that we could argue about until we are blue in the face and get nowhere. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.193}}<br />
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uranium screw may be a reference to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Slotin#Criticality_accident Louis Slotin], who died when he was using a screw driver to seperate two halves of a plutonium sphere as part of a science demonstration, and triggered a large burst of radiation when his hand slipped.<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.59|108.162.216.59]] 08:28, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I'm thinking it might benefit the article to include a place in the wikitable for the correct term for each drive socket. Of course their are not correct terms for each of them. Not to mention rivets and Phillip's heads don't even have drive sockets. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.189|173.245.56.189]] 09:04, 16 January 2015 (UTC)BLuDgeons<br />
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If you suggest cursed-1 is because if misuse - I in first place thought of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv] as the cursed one - because Philipps and Pozidriv are slightly incompatible and causes damage. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.18|108.162.254.18]] 09:09, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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:+1, the cursed one looked to me like pozidriv at the first glance, and it's really cursed as interchanging them leads to damage ... And the most fun is when you get some Chinese crap that looks like pozidriv but it doesn't fit so you use philips which doesn't quite fit too but at least it can be inserted and you end up damaging both the driver and the screw :-/ --kavol, [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.96|108.162.254.96]] 10:02, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Is it really true that Phillips head are 'commonly used in construction'? At least in Europe they were replaced by Pozidriv in the 1990's and these days by Torx. {{unsigned|Popup}}<br />
:As a former (late 2000s to 2012, pre-college) construction worker in California, Texas, and Oklahoma, yes. Philips are very common in construction here. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.243|108.162.221.243]] 06:08, 17 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Maybe this depends on the quality of the product? If i look around, i find lots of products held together by phillips screws and only a few (usually more hi-tech and expensive) one with torx screws. [[User:Knob creek|Knob creek]] ([[User talk:Knob creek|talk]]) 09:28, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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:er, what do you call "a product"? - If "construction" is mentioned, I imagine things like wooden skeleton of a roof, fastening of windows/doors, self-tapping screws, wallplug screws ... and it's almost 100% pozidriv and torx here in central Europe. ("Almost" accounts for imports by non-european companies.) If I imagine metal constructions, from racks to bridges, hex and inbus (= hex slot) prevail. --kavol, [[Special:Contributions/108.162.254.96|108.162.254.96]] 10:02, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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:: Granted I'm not in the construction trade, and I'm in UK rather than continental Europe, but I have never seen Torx used in construction. In my experience, the majority is Pozi, and the rest is Phillips. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 13:06, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Perhaps a reference to http://xkcd.com/927/ - Standards? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.79.61|141.101.79.61]]<br />
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Phillips screws have a larger number for larger size, not smaller. {{unsigned ip|108.162.216.35}}<br />
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I'm surprised Randall didn't include square/Robertson screws/drivers. Just as bad as hex-recess, but when you actually USE them they are great! Combination Robertson-Phillips are good too but rarer. And do NOT get me started about the untold types of tamper-proof designs... --BigMal // [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.209|108.162.216.209]] 13:06, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
:The most awkward, I find, are star-shaped (5/6-pointer) screws with a central 'post' that requires a hole-ended screwdriver-bit of the appropriate shape to be used (may also aid in positive positioning of the tool, but not much more than normally so SFAICT it's just there to be awkward without the right tools by manufacturer-mandated professionals). Luckily, I've ''got'' screwdriver-heads for just about every conceivable 'uncursed' screwhead (48 different types and sizes in one handy kit alone, not even counting socket-heads and 'cursed' screw drilling-outers). Especially good for laptop repair, to get around deliberately proprietry systems with small and (deliberately) akward screws; as opposed to bicycle repair, which I'm sure is usually for the stated practical torque reasons. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 13:59, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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"cursed -1 <something>" is definitely a standard NetHack item description format, but it applies to D&D too. In general, "cursed" means you cannot remove the item, and the number is describing the item's effectiveness compared to a standard (+0) version of the item. In this case, both can be appropriate: "cursed" because -as noted- you cannot remove it in the normal way. "-1" probably comes from being unable to tighten the screw far enough to fully satisfy its purpose: maybe the joint is slightly loose, or the head of the screw is left slightly protruding, so that it easily catches on other things.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.80|141.101.80.80]] 13:28, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Rather than two (still) separate fissile hemispheres, that 'gap' is obviously a continuation of material around the back of a schematic cross-section of a whole sphere with a core currently missing. I think the fissile plug will be inserted/fired at the required juncture to fill this, from the side. Very like the device in the film The Fifth Protocol, for easy cinematic reference of the concept. (Noting that 'gun-type' nuclear devices tend to fire the 'enclosing' larger subcritical mass, spheroidal or cylindrical ''onto'' the smaller and fixed 'plug' to fill the gap between it and the surrounding neutron reflector jacket. For several very good reasons. Thus that sphere would be shoved onto the currently missing 'core', although it makes the reflector assembly and positioning a bit more complex as well, compared with a cylindrical sleeve.) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 13:49, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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The Cursed -1 Phillips Head is much more likely to be a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv Pozidriv] head than a worn Philips head. The cursed -1 implication if used with a Philips driver is certainly deserved. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.106.101|141.101.106.101]] 14:59, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Re: Uranium Screw... see http://www.google.com/patents/US20060088457{{unsigned ip|108.162.219.97}}<br />
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Uranium screws were used in the assembly of the Fat Man nuclear bomb. All parts of the tamper were made with natural uranium, including the screws and hinges:<br />
http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/11/10/fat-mans-uranium/<br />
[[User:Rocbolt|Rocbolt]] ([[User talk:Rocbolt|talk]]) 15:34, 16 January 2015 (UTC)rocbolt<br />
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[[User:Rocbolt]] has it right. It's not a metaphor or a joke. https://www.google.com/search?q=%22uranium%20screws%22%20%2dxkcd [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 15:41, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Did anyone notice that the "shortcut icon" of the page was changed together with this comic? Its sort of blurred: http://i.imgur.com/ArEbL5r.jpg?1 compared to the original image http://xkcd.com/s/919f27.ico {{unsigned ip|141.101.80.4}}<br />
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Possibly a reference to Apple's iPhone "tamper-resistant" screws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentalobe_screw [[Special:Contributions/188.114.98.252|188.114.98.252]] 17:38, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Screws made of uranium were used to hold the tamper plug of the fissile core of the Trinity nuclear device together. I think that's what "Uranium Screw" refers to, and why the screw is radiating: it is radioactive. [[User:Arnold Chiari II|Arnold Chiari II]] ([[User talk:Arnold Chiari II|talk]]) 15:35, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Not sure why the page says depleted Uranium. I think they were natural uranium, which is radioactive. Rocbolt's reference supports this [[User:Arnold Chiari II|Arnold Chiari II]] ([[User talk:Arnold Chiari II|talk]]) 21:26, 16 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Depleted uranium is nearly pure U-238, which '''is''' radioactive, but has a half-life 6X longer than U-235.<br />
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Technically, a rivet '''is''' a bolt, but the usage of ''bolt'' to refer to a non-threaded object with a head is archaic.<br />
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I have seen a few objects that look like "flat head", where the slot doesn't extend all the way out to the edge, but precious few, compared to the fairly common "standard" woodscrew, where the slot goes all the way to the edge, as shown at "uranium screw".<br />
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I thought "Cursed -1" was a clever double reference to the common RPG meme and to what happens after someone has confounded Philips, Pozidriv, or Reed and Prince with one of the others and the fireworks from using a tool designed for one on a screw of another type.--[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.197|199.27.128.197]] 00:32, 17 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Could the Amazon one be a reference to star ratings? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.167|108.162.221.167]] 01:58, 17 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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My thoughts exactly. And another thing: the slot of the flathead doesn't go "through" because this makes for a visual +/- gag. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.230.221|108.162.230.221]] 20:22, 17 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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The rivet could also be a nail. While a nail isn't a screw, neither is a rivet. [[User:Glen442|Glen442]] ([[User talk:Glen442|talk]]) 03:20, 17 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I think the bit about "Phillip's Head" is an obvious note about the frustration of dealing with different screw types -- as in "I'm so frustrated dealing with all these screw types I'm going to find the inventor of the Phillips head screw and chop his head off!" {{unsigned ip|199.27.133.137}}<br />
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Shouldn't that be 'an allen key' and not a wrench? I'm willing to acknowledge the inventor (Allen) but it's a key, not a wrench, by any definition. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.135|141.101.104.135]] 23:34, 17 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Isn't Philip's head a joke about his frustration with types of screws? [[User:Halfhat|Halfhat]] ([[User talk:Halfhat|talk]]) 17:34, 18 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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It is my opinion that "Phillip's Head" (the bloody sack) is actually a reference to "King Philip" ''(note the spelling with only one 'L')'', an American Indian of the Wompanoag tribe in the latter 1600s who was the leader of an uprising against the settlers of Plymouth Colony. He was killed in 1676 and his corpse mutilated, with the head separated from the body and the body itself dismembered. The head was spiked and carried to Plymouth Settlement, eventually being placed on the Plymouth Colony Fort where it was left to languish for some 25 years. The head (by now merely a jawless skull) was eventually secreted away by a colonial family that was friendly to him; they kept King Philip’s head for many generations before giving it to his descendants.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.161|108.162.217.161]] 09:58, 18 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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Perhaps the five-pointed star screw and its Amazon reference refer to the fact that it looks like a review star on Amazon? {{unsigned ip|173.245.53.10}}<br />
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I feel I have to question the phrase "Imperial-sized hex screws do sometimes surface, to the dissatisfaction of anyone who owns a hex driver set." As a mentor for a FIRST Robotics Team (Go 811!), we use Imperial-sized hex screws all the time. And here in the US, Imperial hex/Allen wrenches/keys are more common than their Metric counterparts. (sigh ... maybe SOMEday we'll wise up and go metric ...) --[[User:Mr. I|Mr. I]] ([[User talk:Mr. I|talk]]) 18:58, 19 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I've just removed what I consider to be excess bloat from the explanation. I'm sure some people will disagree, but to me the descriptions of the screws were getting bogged down in excessive an unecessary details. As an example, the fact that torx screws are able to be used for higher torques really doesn't have anything to do with the comic. The long rambling sentence about french royalty being guillotined was interesting (to me at least), but didn't really come to a conclusion. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 17:23, 21 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I believe 'Uranium Screw' is referring to a screw with a "half life" of sorts - these types of flathead screws (which obviously exist, just are not as common) tend to "split in half" when they fail as opposed to just stripping. Half of the head splits off, similar to uranium decaying halfway. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.217.173|108.162.217.173]] 16:58, 21 February 2015 (UTC)<br />
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The Torx standard is primarily a 6-pointed star, but a 5-pointed star is used for smaller wire types, as noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torx. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.180|108.162.238.180]] 16:49, 15 May 2015 (UTC)</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1522:_Astronomy&diff=927641522: Astronomy2015-05-08T07:40:02Z<p>108.162.238.180: /* Explanation */ wrote initial explanation</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1522<br />
| date = May 8, 2015<br />
| title = Astronomy<br />
| image = astronomy.png<br />
| titletext = Astrobiology is held back by the fact that we're all too nervous to try to balance on the ladder while holding an expensive microscope.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|New page}}<br />
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For many ordinary objects, one can achieve a better view in two ways: (#1) by looking at the object from a distance through a telescope, or (#2) by approaching the object and looking at it through a magnifying glass. Magnifying glasses typically have a very short resolving distance, usually on the order of a tenth of a meter, so approach #2 is effective only in the case where you can get very close to the object in question.<br />
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In the comic, the objects being viewed are celestial bodies. Megan takes approach #1, looking at them through a telescope. Beret Guy attempts approach #2, using a step-ladder to try to get close to the celestial bodies, and then looking through a magnifying glass. This approach could be successful only if the celestial bodies were within a few meters of us. In fact they are many orders of magnitude further away than that, and Beret Guy's use of the ladder would yield no appreciable improvement in his view of celestial bodies through a magnifying glass. The comic is funny in part because it implies that Beret Guy is seriously mistaken about how far away celestial bodies actually are. The history of astronomy is filled with drastic underestimates of distances to celestial bodies, but none quite so comical as Beret Guy's very extreme underestimate.<br />
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The title text assumes (for comic effect) that the only thing wrong with Beret Guy's strategy is that the ladder would be unstable, when in fact his approach would be quite obviously bound to fail for the reasons described above. <br />
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In the title text, the word "astrobiology" is a portmanteau of astronomy and biology.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<!-- Include any categories below this line. --><br />
<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Biology]]<br />
[[Category:Portmanteau]]</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1474:_Screws&diff=829091474: Screws2015-01-17T04:47:33Z<p>108.162.238.180: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1474<br />
| date = January 16, 2015<br />
| title = Screws<br />
| image = screws.png<br />
| titletext = If you encounter a hex bolt, but you only brought screwdrivers, you can try sandwiching the head of the bolt between two parallel screwdriver shafts, squeezing the screwdrivers together with a hand at either end, then twisting. It doesn't work and it's a great way to hurt yourself, but you can try it!<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|May still needs expansion, possibly with origins of the various real screws?}}<br />
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The comic features various real or imagined types of screws, listed below. <br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
! style="width: 25%"|Screw type<br />
! Description<br />
|-<br />
| Phillips head<br />
| {{w|List of screw drives#Phillips|Phillips screw drive}} and its corresponding screw head is one of the most recognizable types of screw heads that is commonly used in construction. This type of screw head was named after its inventor, a US businessman {{w|Henry F. Phillips}}. Neither the inventor nor his invention have any relationship to the Dutch electronics manufacturing company with similar, but not exactly the same name {{w|Philips}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Flat head<br />
| {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Slot|Slot head screws}} are frequently erroneously referred to as flat heads (a flat head screw refers, in fact, to the shape of the screw head, regardless of the shape of the drive socket). The slot head is also commonly used in construction. The diagram shows the slot truncated, while typically the slot almost always runs across the entire head of the screw (as in the case of the "uranium screw" below).<br />
|-<br />
| Uh oh. Maybe it's on Amazon? (star-shaped screw)<br />
| Manufacturers sometimes use screws that require special screwdrivers in order to remove them, in order to prevent the customer opening the product. The reference to Amazon is the speaker's suggestion to look on Amazon.com for the appropriate screwdriver. A number of star-shaped screw heads exist, notably the six-pointed {{w|Torx}}, and Apple's rounded {{w|Pentalobe screw|pentalobe screw}}, although there is no popular design that uses the 5-pointed star shape depicted in the comic. Torx screws are common in automotive applications — they are easier to screw in via electric screwdrivers — and on bicycles where a higher tightening torque is needed than hex screws can support. They are also commonly used on disk brake mounts.<br />
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|-<br />
| Cursed -1 Phillips head<br />
| The head of a screw can be stripped by overuse, tightening the screw too much, or other misuse. As the driving surfaces wear away, removing the screw becomes more and more difficult, usually damaging the screw more in the process. <br />
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The addition of "cursed" and "-1" in the titles is a reference to various fantasy games (E.g. Dungeons and Dragons), where magical "cursed" items appear frequently. This often makes the cursed equipment (in the case of armor or weapons) incredibly difficult to remove, as it will cling to the wielder. Similarly, the cursed Phillips Head screw becomes difficult to remove due to the stripped head.<br />
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The "-1" refers to the damage of the screw head. In fantasy games, items such as weapons and armor may have an "enchantment", with a positive enchantment making the item more effective, and a negative enchantment making the item less effective. Negatively enchanted items are often also cursed, as is the case with this screw head. The "-1" does not appear to be a reference to a Philips bit-size number, as those are always positive.<br />
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Notably, the stripped screw bears a resemblance to a {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Pozidriv|Pozidriv head}}, a modified version of the Phillips head designed to resist slipping and subsequent stripping. <br />
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Of course, if you see such a screw in reality, the bit that was used in the failed attempt to turn it has definitely not survived the encounter, resulting in the addition of -1 Phillips head driver to your inventory. Thanks a lot, Phillip. <br />
|-<br />
| Rivet<br />
| A {{w|rivet}} is not a screw - it is a permanent fastener which is secured by deforming the body of the fastener. Rivets cannot be removed with a screwdriver, they must be "drilled out". Some bolts also have rounded rivet-style heads, though, with no means of gripping them.<br />
|-<br />
| Phillips head ruiner ''(actually a hex screw)''<br />
| A reference to the fact that {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Hex_socket|hex socket}} screws can, in a pinch, be removed with a Phillips screwdriver (rather than the intended {{w|Allen wrench}}) but this will likely damage the screwdriver in the process. Hex screws are common on bicycles, where they always come in the metric varieties. The same holds for hex screws which ship with Ikea furniture —who bundle a low-quality hex driver for those people who lack them. Imperial-sized hex screws do sometimes surface, to the dissatisfaction of anyone who owns a hex driver set. The smaller hex screws can enter the "-1" state when attempting to unscrew one that has been overtightened —hence the adoption of Torx screws in high-torque applications.<br />
<br />
|-<br />
| Uranium screw<br />
| Uranium screws were [http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2014/11/10/fat-mans-uranium/ used] in the [http://www.scintillators.ru/booc/criticality/reports/ref_050.pdf construction] of [http://www.osti.gov/scitech/servlets/purl/769001 nuclear weapons] during the twentieth century. Multiple radially extending short wave-like lines around the screw head symbolize radiant energy output, although real uranium screws were most likely made of depleted uranium, which is [http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabc.htm 40 percent less radioactive] than "raw" naturally-occurring uranium.<br />
|-<br />
| Phillip's head<br />
| This is a literal (and rather morbid) interpretation of the misspelling "Phillip's head" when "Phillips head" is meant. Rather than refer to the screw type, this "screw" is actually a bloody bag containing the severed head of someone named Phillip. It could possibly be an allusion to one of the {{w|Decapitation|decapitations}} of the royal persons that took place several times in the human history, perhaps even more specifically to {{w|French Revolution|revolutionary France}} where {{w|Capital punishment|capital punishment}} by decapitation was made well-known due to introduction of {{w|Guillotine|guillotine}} and its active use against the former royalty. However, despite the {{w|Philip|name Phillip being used by several members of the upper echelon of French royalty}}, none of the {{w|List of people who were beheaded|famous people ever executed this way in France or anywhere else}} were called Phillip, although {{w|Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe Égalité}}, the adopted name of Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans, ''was'' guillotined. Intentionally or otherwise, this last punchline could be described as a "mind screw".<br />
|-<br />
|Hex bolt (title text)<br />
|A {{w|List_of_screw_drives#Hex|hex bolt}} has six external sides, so it could in theory be held by squeezing two screwdriver shafts together with the bolt in between. The amount of force on the two screwdriver shafts needed to turn the hex bolt will probably exceed the strength of human hands and would most likely result in hurting your hands and not in turning the bolt.<br />
|}<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Eight drawings of different types of heads each with a caption:]<br />
:Phillips head<br />
:Flat head<br />
:Uh oh. Maybe it's on Amazon?<br />
:Cursed –1 Phillips head<br />
:Crap, it's a ''rivet''.<br />
:Phillips-head ruiner<br />
:Uranium screw (a real thing)<br />
:Phillip's head<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1392:_Dominant_Players&diff=721981392: Dominant Players2014-07-23T19:16:34Z<p>108.162.238.180: /* Basketball vs chess */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1392<br />
| date = July 9, 2014<br />
| title = Dominant Players<br />
| image = dominant_players.png<br />
| titletext = When Vera Menchik entered a 1929 tournament, a male competitor mocked her by suggesting that a special 'Vera Menchik Club' would be created for any player who lost to her. When the tournament began, he promptly became the first member of said club, and over the years it accumulated a large and illustrious roster.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
A [http://xkcd.com/1392/large larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd.com - the comic's page can also be accessed by clicking on the comic number above.<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The comic shows the rise and fall of players' strengths in two games, {{w|basketball}} and {{w|chess}}. For chess, there is an overall chart, and a women's chart. <br />
<br />
For basketball, it uses the {{w|Player_efficiency_rating|player efficiency rating}} (PER), the [http://knickerblogger.net/a-laymans-guide-to-advanced-nba-statistics/ most commonly used player statistic]. Note that that player efficiency ratings and similar "aggregate scores" are the subject of much discussion in basketball due to {{w|Player_efficiency_rating#Problems_with_PER|known deficiencies}}.<br />
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For chess, it uses the {{w|Elo rating}}. Elo was adopted by the World Chess Federation, FIDE, in 1970, so the rating is extrapolated backwards in time (amongst other using [https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/Kenneth+Wingate+Regan Kenneth Regan's] computer analysis - as written in the Chess panel) and are thus shown as dashed lines prior to 1970. (Interestingly Elo ratings {{w|Elo_rating#Elo_ratings_beyond_chess|have been adapted to basketball}}, but the PER is more commonly used to rank basketball players.)<br />
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The charts show the players career paths as a function of time with the rating on the y-axis. There is no [[#Scales of the axis|scale on the y-axis]].<br />
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[[#Player inclusion criteria|Included]] are mainly players that could be said to have been among the dominating players at some time in their career. If a player has been the best player over a longer time period (a seriously dominating player) then their career path will be drawn in red, the rest are in gray. There can be more than one red path at a time, but only because the dominating player has played before or after they became dominating. It seems like it has to be at least five years, as there are at least two players that have been no. 1 for four years, without being upgraded to a red curve. (The only ones that have managed this with three years or less (on the chart) are those that begin the chart, and thus could have been no. 1 a few years before). This can all be seen in the '''[[#Data tables|data tables]]''' below.<br />
<br />
==Basketball vs chess==<br />
Basketball is one of the fastest sports in the world, with some of the tallest people in the world among the players. Chess, on the other hand, will by many not even be considered a sport. Although a general good condition of the body may help you think clearly, you by no means need to be an athlete to do well in chess. You do, however, expect a rather high IQ among the best performers. This is not necessary to become a great basketball player (although here it is not in the way either). Another very important difference is that basketball is a team sport, whereas chess is one of the most individual sports you can imagine. <br />
<br />
So why compare to so different sports? And why the [[#References on the career paths|funny remarks]] for the basketball players against the more serious for the chess players? Maybe [[Randall]] wish to make fun at basketball and the fact that several of the best of these at some time during their career choses to be in a movie or documentary. Or that they return after they retired. The remarks for the chess players is more about who loses and wins matches.<br />
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It could also be to show how different the players career paths are. Basketball players peak early in their career, then have at most a decade at the top of their game (and as the best), and if they are lucky they get close to a career of two decades. Chess players can dominate for two decades, and have careers that last more than three decades. Also they often continue to improve a long time after they became no 1. <br />
<br />
For the reason mentioned here there are 7 red basketball players from 1950-2014, whereas there are only 5 male and 3 female red players for the two chess panels. (And then one extra each for the Chess panels from before 1950). See the [[#Data tables|data tables]] below.<br />
<br />
Except for womens chess between 1944 till 1957 and for chess until 1947 there are always at least two players career path at any given time. So at least no. 1 and no. 2 are shown. But at some point in time there can be as many as 7 basketball players, 8 chess players and 8 women chess players career paths for a given year.<br />
<br />
===Chess vs chess (women)===<br />
Why is chess divided in an overall (with only one woman included) and basketball not? First of all, there is very little focus on womans basketball (as for most womens sport). This may be the same for chess, but at least here the physical strength advantage for men is no direct advantage. Thus a great woman chess player may play just as interesting chess as a man. Whereas women would typically have no chance if playing on a basketball team with men. But why are women then not represented better on the overall chess ranking? This is explained and may be another reason it is included. In the ''Chess (women)'' panel it says: ''For a long time, sexism, a lack of role models, and institutional hostility largely kept women from pursuing serious chess careers. With the expansion of women’s tournaments and prizes starting in the 1970s, this has begun to change''. So now at least one woman has shown that her skills is enough to compete with the best men. With the long careers chess players usually have, then maternity leave can destroy a womans chance at reaching the ultimate top. This could be the case for the number one woman who now has two children.<br />
<br />
==References on the career paths==<br />
*There are several references at given times of a career path. These can either be noted with:<br />
**A node on the path. An arrow will point to the note and state a fact. <br />
**Dashed path (not including chess player paths from before 1970 where they were all dashed as explained above). An arrow will point to the dashed part and state a fact. (Only for basketball)<br />
**The {{w|Starburst (symbol)|starbursts}} at the end (or beginning) of a path. A fact will be stated next to the node. These are references to a player disappearing (or reappearing) in unusual circumstances. (only for either Chess panel)<br />
*Some of these are intended to provide context (such as "Loses to Deep Blue"), while others are tangents or jokes. <br />
*These references are listed below in order of appearance. If it is a dashed line or a starburst it will be mentioned:<br />
<br />
===Basketball===<br />
* {{W|Wilt Chamberlain}} - "Becomes the first and so far only player to score {{w|Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game|100 points in a game}}". (In 1962)<br />
* {{w|Jerry West}} - "The Guy in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NBALogo.svg The NBA logo]" from 1969. (Read 5th paragraph in this {{w|National_Basketball_Association#Celtics.27_dominance.2C_league_expansion.2C_and_competition|wiki section}})<br />
* {{w|Kareem Abdul-Jabbar}} - "{{w|Airplane (film)|Airplane}}". (A comedy film from 1980 where he played the co-pilot Roger Murdock)<br />
* {{w|Magic Johnson}} - "{{w|Magic_Johnson#HIV_announcement_and_Olympics_.281991.E2.80.9392.29|HIV announcement}}". This part of his path is dashed. (The line is dashed from 1991 to 1995 - where the fear of Aids forced him to retire)<br />
** He {{w|Magic_Johnson#Return_to_the_Lakers_as_coach_and_player_.281994.2C_1996.29|returned to play once more}} in the season from 1995-1996<br />
* {{w|Michael Jordan}} - "{{w|Michael_Jordan#First_retirement_and_baseball_career_.281993.E2.80.931994.29|Baseball career}}". This part of his path is dashed. (from 1993-1994 he played Baseball - i.e. his first retirement)<br />
* Michael Jordan - "{{w|Space Jam}}". (An animated comedy film from 1996 starring {{w|Bugs Bunny}} and Jordan - who was the only live character during most of the movie)<br />
* Michael Jordan - "{{w|Michael_Jordan#Second_retirement_.281999.E2.80.932001.29|Second retirement}}". This part of his path is dashed. (He retired again from 1999–2001)<br />
** He then {{w|Michael_Jordan#Washington_Wizards_comeback_.282001.E2.80.932003.29|came back}} to play two more years from 2001-2003...<br />
* {{w|LeBron James}} - "{{w|The Decision (TV special)|The Decision}}" (a television special from 2010 about a heavily hyped decision as to which team he would play for the next season)<br />
<br />
===Chess===<br />
* {{w|José Raúl Capablanca|José Capablanca}} - "Terrifying chess God". An arrow points to the left of the panel with his name and the note beneath it. (Considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. As he died in 1942 this lies just outside of the chart. Anyway he had his best years all the way back in 1921-1927 where he was world chess champion)<br />
* {{w|Alexander Alekhine}} - This is the first starburst. There is no text except his name. (He {{w|Alexander_Alekhine#His_final_year|died in 1946}} in Portugal) <br />
* {{w|Bobby Fischer}} - "Vanished..." The second Starburst. (He did not actually vanish, but he did {{w|Bobby_Fischer#Sudden_obscurity|stop playing competitively}} for about 20 years starting in 1972. This is probably a reference to the 1993 film {{w|Searching for Bobby Fischer}}, which is not actually about Fischer, but about a player who partly models his career on Fischer's. The name ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'' may lead people to believe Fischer literally vanished, but that is not the case)<br />
* Bobby Fischer - "...Reappeared then vanished again. He had problems." This is written below a double starburst with a short line between. (This is another reference to Fischer - there is no name or clear correlation, except the text that relates to the first reference. He {{w|Bobby_Fischer#1992_Spassky_rematch|resumed playing competitively}} in 1992 for a match. ''{{w|Bobby_Fischer#Life_as_an_.C3.A9migr.C3.A9|He had problems}}'' is a simplistic description of issues and controversies in Fischer's later life, including an arrest warrant (because he violated a U.S. embargo against Yugoslavia), unpaid taxes, controversy about his statements (including {{w|Antisemitism|anti-semitism}}), and mental problems. The U.S. eventually revoked his passport, and he was jailed for eight months in Japan. He then received Icelandic citizenship, and lived out the rest of his life there.)<br />
* {{w|Garry Kasparov}} - "Loses to {{w|Deep Blue (chess computer)|Deep Blue}}". (In 1997 Deep Blue became the first computer to {{w|Deep_Blue_versus_Garry_Kasparov#1997_rematch|beat the current chess world champion}})<br />
* {{w|Judit Polgar}} - "(see below)". The text in the brackets is written beneath her name. (She is the strongest woman chess player ever and can be seen rising from the gender-defined ranks of women's chess (below). She is the only women shown on this part of the chart. Below in the womans chart, there are several notes - see below.)<br />
<br />
===Chess (women)===<br />
* {{w|Vera Menchik}} - "Died in a missile attack on London". This is the Last starburst. (She was killed in 1944 by an early guided missile - a {{w|V-1 flying bomb}} - launched by the Germans in {{w|World War II}}. For some reason her path does not seems to be dashed, as it should have been before 1970.)<br />
* {{w|Sonja Graf}} - "Rating particularly uncertain". This is written above her name, with an arrow pointing there. As a matter of fact, she was clearly the second best woman and her path should be parallel to Menchik's from 1930's. (The path is already dashed indicating that it is a rough estimate, but there were probably very few data for woman chess players before 1960 explaining the note)<br />
* {{w|Kira Zvorykina}} - "Kira Zvorykina (born 1919) continued playing in tournaments into the 21st century". (Zvorykina was never very high on the list, but can be seen twice centered on 1960 and 1980. She played her [http://ratings.fide.com/individual_calculations.phtml?idnumber=13500392&rating_period=2008-01-01&t=0 last game] rated by the {{w|World Chess Federation}} in October 2007 aged 88. She was still alive when this comic was released and will turn 95 if she lives until September this year 2014)<br />
** She is the only player in all three panels whose path falls below the panel only to enter again later. This second entry is labeled with her last name - Zvorykina - on top of the path <br />
* Judit Polgar, {{w|Susan Polgar}} and {{w|Sofia Polgar}} - "Sisters". (These three chess playing sisters are linked by a thin dashed line, snaking between their names on the chart. Judit is the youngest, Susan the oldest. Judit has now overtaken her sisters, Sofia never reaching the other two sisters level.)<br />
* Judit Polgar - "{{w|Judit_Polgar#Making_history|Wins a game against Kasparov}}, making her the first woman to beat the world #1". (It took some attempts and some {{w|Judit_Polgar#Kasparov_touch-move_controversy|controversy}} before she managed to beat Kasparov in 2002, in a tournament that was played under rapid rules with 25 minutes per game and a 10 second bonus per move.)<br />
* Judit Polgar - "Becomes first woman to rank in the overall top 10". (She is so far the only woman to break into the top 10 in the {{w|FIDE World Rankings}}. She ranked as high as {{w|Judit_Polgar#Combining_family_and_chess|eighth in the world}} in 2005)<br />
<br />
==Scales of the axis==<br />
The '''x-axis''' is divided in decades from 1950 until 2010. In the Basketball section the curves begins to appear right after 1950. For both chess panels there are curves further back than 1950 (with even a reference to a player from before 1940). For all three panels the paths continue up till present day (2014).<br />
<br />
In all cases there is no scale on the '''y-axis''' with the rating, thus it is difficult to find the absolute scale. It is also difficult to compare between the two chess panels. The scale on the two chess panels are, however, the same, as can be seen by comparing the curve of Judit Polgar on each chart. This curve is exactly the same, with the same elevation between the point where her curve entes the Chess panel up to the top point.<br />
This also means that any women player whose curve rises above this entry point (around 1989) should also be visible in the Chess chart. See below for inclusion criteria.<br />
<br />
==Player inclusion criteria==<br />
In general not all possible players are included in these charts. For instance it is mentioned that Judit Polgar was the first woman ranked in the over all top 10. But only six players are shown on the over all chart around 2005, where she was ranked 8th. So some male players, better than her at that time, have not been included. This is a general trend for all three charts. <br />
<br />
From the Womans panel below it is also clear that some of the other women would be ranked high enough to be visible on the upper chart as mentioned in the [[#Scales of the axis|Scales]] section above. But still only Judit is shown there. Most of the women that are on the chart after 1989 would be visible if included in the overall chart (9 out of 12). However, none of them could be called dominant when comparing to the best men in the same time period. And thus they are not included. Maybe the same could be said about Judth, but then she is included for scale, and because she is so good that she can compete with (and sometimes beat) the best.<br />
<br />
Some NBA players (like {{w|Tim Duncan}}, {{w|Charles Barkley}}, {{w|Oscar Robertson}}, {{w|Kobe Bryant}}, and {{w|Chris Paul}}) have been left out of the chart in favor of players with lower career and yearly efficiency ratings. <br />
<br />
Simlarly can be mentioned for instance the no. 1 ranked chess player {{w|Veselin Topalov}} from Bulgaria, who was ranked first both in 20062007 and in 2008-2010 (for a total of less than two years). And there are likely several others ([[#Where is Viswanathan Anand|see below]]).<br />
<br />
An example of the above for Basketball would be the 2008–2009 season which was unique in that it was the only season in which more than one player posted an efficiency ratings of over 30.0 on the Player efficiency rating (see at the bottom of {{w|Player_efficiency_rating#Reference_guide|this section}} on Wikipedia). In that season three players broke this barrier: LeBron James (31.76), {{w|Dwyane Wade}} (30.46), and Chris Paul (30.04). LeBron is shown to top that season, But Dwayne is far below (thus the scale does not fit?) and Chris is not on the list at all (i.e. he was not deemed to be a dominant player).<br />
<br />
So is this [[Randall|Randall's]] subjective list of players that he has deemed to be ''Dominant Players'' and not a full list of the best ranked players during the time period? Of course it is his choice which players he put into the list, but missing players (when worse has been included earlier) can be explained if the missing players never were among the most dominant player over a length of time. It is not a list of the best players of all time, or of a single season, but a chart of the dominant players over a longer time period.<br />
<br />
If a player only has had a very short time where their careers peaked - they should not be included. Also if there most of the time where at least two others that were more dominant than they ever where - they should not be included. To tell if this explains all the excluded players mentioned/referenced above, that would take some investigation. An investigation we can assume Randall has taken upon himself before posting this comic. This of course will still make it his subjective list.<br />
<br />
For basketball any given player will at least have been the 2nd best (of those included) at some (longer) period of their career. And to become selected for a red curve, they need to be the best for at least five years. (The first players curve is no. 1 less than five year, but he could have been no. 1 also before 1951).<br />
<br />
The same is valid for the Chess players (again the first players curve is red, but stops just as it enters the panel). Only exception is Judit Polgar. She is never better than 3rd of those selected. And she was never better than 8th in the world. So her inclusion is a mentioned probably only to compare her with the men.<br />
<br />
For the woman chess players there are the same criteria for red, except that Sonja Graf is not red although she is the only chess player on the list for more than a decade. Maybe you need to be better than someone else to become red? There are also included several women who never reaches 2nd place on the chart. Three of these reaches 3rd place and two only 4th. One of these, Anna Muzychuk, is still on the rise, so she might be on the chart, because she could possibly become first or second if she can continue to improve. The other, Sofia Polgar, is included to show that all three Polgar sisters are chess masters.<br />
<br />
===Where is Viswanathan Anand===<br />
None of the above can explain why former World Champion Chess Grandmaster {{w|Viswanathan Anand}} has not been included in the Chess Chart. Anand is one of six players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list. He occupied the number one position in several rating lists between 2007 and 2011. The reason could possible be because Randall may be a huge fan of {{w|Magnus Carlsen}}, and thus biased against Anand. There is some evidence for this in [[1287: Puzzle]] (Chess in a 'Go' board - which makes no sence as there are no alternate colored squares as required by chess). In the title text of that comic it seems that Randall makes fun of Anand in a match against Magnus. The interpretation of the comic and its comment, however, appear to be a double-edged matter of debate.<br />
<br />
Anand can for instance be found in the {{w|Chessmetrics}} devised by statistician {{w|Jeff Sonas}}. In the [http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Summary.asp graph from 1995-2005] of Sonas famous research from 2005, Anand becomes the best during 2004. It can, however, also be seen that Randall does not agree with Sonas - this is very clear in this [http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Summary.asp?Params=194020SSSSS3S000000000000111000000000000010100 graph from 1940-1960]. Here Mikhail Botvinnik clearly plays way better than Alexander Alekhine in 1946, where Alexander dies. This is not shown like this in the comic. Maybe the death of Alexander becomes the more interesting in the comic, if you believed he was the best at the time. Note that all nine (male) names listed in the comics chart between the lines at 1950 and 2000 are included in this [http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/Summary.asp?Params=195050SSSSS3S000000000000111000000000000010100 graph from 1950-2000]. (But not the other way around - there are 12 in the chart). In this chart it is clear that Bobby Fischer was by far the best in the years before he disappeared. However, he was caught by {{w|Anatoly Karpov}} just before which is not shown in the comic. On the other hand, he seems to have reached a significant higher rating than Kasparov ever did, which is also not the case in the comic.<br />
<br />
==Entwined career paths==<br />
Chess players {{w|Vladimir Kramnik}} and {{w|Levon Aronian}}, who have faced each other on multiple occasions in the 2010s, are shown as having their career paths entwined. It is a general trend observed every time two players paths cross each other more than once (the one on top the first time, will be below the second time and so forth. It is just more clear with these two than anywhere else). In two cases these crossing path occurs with so long time between the first appearance, that the names is written twice on the path. In the Chess panel it is {{w|Mikhail Tal}} and {{w|Boris Spassky}} and for the Chess (women) panel it is {{w|Pia Cramling}} and {{w|Xie Jun}}. This can make it difficult to get an overview of how few chess players there are compared to basketball players.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:'''Dominant players '''<br />
:over time<br />
:[Below this heading there are three panels with charts showing different players career paths - that is their rating a function of the year. Most of the paths are grey, but some are red (there will be a note for these). Some parts of several paths are dashed. Somewhere on each path the players name will be written curving along so it follows the path. Several places an event or some information is noted and points to a given time on the path. If it is not clear where it belongs an arrow will point to the correct place. Each chart has a heading and for the two last charts there is an explanation. There is no scale on the y-axis (rating) but the x-axis (time) has the years given in ten years interval. A thin line indicates these decades. The years are all written at the top, except the first for the first chart, which is written below, and this year is missing in the bottom chart.]<br />
:[Below the transcript for each chart will follow this order: Heading/sub heading, explanation, time scale, player names with any information for this player, in the order their name appear on the time scale.]<br />
:[Basketball chart:]<br />
:'''Basketball (NBA/ABA)'''<br />
:Player Efficiency Rating<br />
:1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010<br />
:[Red] George Mikan<br />
:[Red] Bob Pettit<br />
:Neal Johnston [Neil misspelled] <br />
:Elgin Baylor<br />
:[Red] Wilt Chamberlain<br />
::Becomes the first and so far only player to score 100 points in a game<br />
:Jerry West<br />
::The Guy in the NBA logo<br />
:[Red] Kareem Abdul Jabbar [Missing hyphen between the two last names]<br />
::Airplane<br />
:Bob Mcadoo<br />
:Julius Irving [Erving misspelled]<br />
:Moses Malone<br />
:Magic Johnson<br />
::HIV announcement [A part of the path is dashed after this]<br />
:[Red] Michael Jordan<br />
::Baseball career [A part of the path is dashed after this]<br />
::Space Jam<br />
::Second retirement [A part of the path is dashed after this]<br />
:Larry Bird<br />
:Karl Malone<br />
:David Robinson<br />
:[Red] Shaquille O'Neal<br />
:Kevin Gariett<br />
:[Red] LeBron James<br />
::The Decision<br />
:Dwyane Wade<br />
:Kevin Durant<br />
<br />
:[Chess chart]<br />
:'''Chess'''<br />
:Elo Rating<br />
:The modern Elo rating system dates back to about 1970.<br />
:Computer analysis (like Kenneth Regan’s) lets us rate historical players, but this has only been done rigorously for a few tournaments.<br />
:Dashed lines are rough estimates only.<br />
:[All paths are dashed up until the late nineteen sixties:]<br />
:1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010<br />
:[The first player has no path, as his time was before 1940. An arrow points toward the left to these earlier times:]<br />
:José Capablanca<br />
::Terrifying chess God<br />
:[Red] Alexander Alekhine [His path ends in a starburst]<br />
:[Red] Mikhail Botvinnik<br />
:Tigran Petrosian<br />
:David Bronstein<br />
:Mikhail Tal<br />
::Mikhail Tal [his name is written twice on the path, the second time above Boris Spassky when their paths intertwine]<br />
:[Red] Bobby Fischer<br />
::Vanished… [Text under a starburst]<br />
::Reappeared then vanished again. He had problems. [Text under two starbursts connected with a path. This appears much later than the first staburst]<br />
:Boris Spassky<br />
::Boris Spassky [his name is written twice on the path, the second time below Mikhail Tal when their paths intertwine]<br />
:Victor Korchnoi<br />
:[Red] Anatoly Karpov<br />
:[Red] Garry Kasparov<br />
::Loses to Deep Blue<br />
:Judit Polgar<br />
::(See below) [The text is written beneath her name]<br />
:Vladimir Kramnik<br />
:Levon Aronian<br />
:[Red] Magnus Carlsen<br />
<br />
:[Chess (women) chart:]<br />
:'''Chess (women)'''<br />
:Elo Rating<br />
:For a long time, sexism, a lack of role models, and institutional hostility largely kept women from pursuing serious chess careers.<br />
:With the expansion of women’s tournaments and prizes starting in the 1970s, this has begun to change.<br />
:[All paths are dashed up until the late nineteen sixties]<br />
:1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010<br />
:[Red] Vera Menchik<br />
::Died in a missile attack on London [next to a starburst]<br />
:Sonja Graf<br />
::Rating particularly uncertain<br />
:Olga Rubtsova<br />
:Elisaveta Bykova<br />
:Kira Zvorykina<br />
::Kira Zvorykina (born 1919) continued playing in tournaments into the 21st century [Text above Elisvetas path, no arrows]<br />
::Zvorykina [Written on top of the path when her path reappears much later]<br />
:Alexander Nicolau<br />
:[Red] Nona Gaprindashvili<br />
:Alla Kushnir<br />
:[Red] Maia Chiburdanidze<br />
:Pia Cramling<br />
::Pia Cramling [her name is written twice on the path, the second time below the path of Xie Jun after their paths have intertwined]<br />
:Xie Jun<br />
::Xie Jun [her name is written twice on the path, the second time above the path of Pia Cramling after their paths have intertwined]<br />
:Susan Polgar<br />
:Sofia Polgar<br />
:[Red] Judit Polgar<br />
::Sisters [The three Polgars are linked by a thin dashed line, snaking between their names]<br />
::Wins a game against Kasparov, making her the first woman to beat the world #1<br />
::Becomes first woman to rank in the overall top 10<br />
:Antoaneta Stefanova<br />
:Anna Muzychuk<br />
:Koneru Humpy [In western style the name should be Humpy Koneru, but the comics version is the native form]<br />
:Hou Yifan<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
* The [http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/4/45/20140710201235!dominant_players.png original comic] said about Kira Zvorykina "Continued playing in tournaments into the 20th century". The 20th century is the 1900's in which Zvorkina was born (on September 29, 1919 according to Wikipedia). Randall has corrected the notation to say "into the 21st century." <br />
* The names of three NBA players have been misspelled: {{w|Neil Johnston}} (misspelled as "Neal"), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (missing hyphen), and {{w|Julius Erving}} (misspelled "Irving".)<br />
* The order of the names of an Indian chess playing woman has been given in the native version in the comic, where the western version would use the reverse as here: {{w|Humpy Koneru}}.<br />
===Data tables===<br />
*Below are three sortable tables, with the original order as the players name appear in the transcript i.e. chronological.<br />
*One of the objectives of the tables is to make it clear what is the criteria for a player obtaining a red path. Thus there is an x for red path and an x for being no. 1 on the charts. Also the number if years a player has been no. 1 is given.<br />
*All data in these tables are taken from the comic - except the names - they are taken from Wikipedia. See trivia items above. <br />
*The total years as no. 1 is not the same in each table, as those players entering the panels from outside (before 1942), do not get a length of time as being no. 1. For basketball the chart first begins in 1951 (together with the rating system?)<br />
**Since the years as no. 1 has been roughly estimated from the charts (with a ruler) the sum total can also not be expected to fit with the first entry and today (and they miss with at least a couple of years each), as all years have been rounded to the nearest whole year.<br />
*In the comments column, there is references to the relevant section in the explanation if there are any notes/references in the comic for the player. Also references are made to the trivia section for errors etc. Other comments are for special observations regarding said player. <br />
**So use the comments if you have any interesting but short note to add for a given player.<br />
**In case of longer info: If they are regarding the table, write them in bullets below the relevant table (and make a note on the players comments), or add it to the trivia section above. <br />
**More general things or info on [[#Player inclusion criteria|players missing from the comic]] should be added to the explanation above.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
|+Dominant players in Basketball (NBA/ABA)<br />
!Player name<br />
!x if Red<br />
!x if no. 1<br />
!Years as no. 1<br />
!Best placement<br />
!Comments<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|George Mikan}}||x||x||3||1||His path begins in 1951 where the chart begins<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Bob Pettit}}||x||x||5||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Neil Johnston }}||||||0||2||His path begins in 1951 where the chart begins. [[#Trivia|Name misspelled]] in comic<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Elgin Baylor}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w| Wilt Chamberlain}}||x||x||11||1||[[#Basketball|There is a note]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Jerry West}}||||||0||2||[[#Basketball|There is a note]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Kareem Abdul-Jabbar}}||x||x||10||1||[[#Basketball|There is a note]]. Also the [[#Trivia|hyphen has been left out]] in the comic<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Bob McAdoo}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Julius Erving}}||||x||1||1||[[#Trivia|Name misspelled]] in comic<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Moses Malone}}||||x||3||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Magic Johnson}}||||||0||2||[[#Basketball|There is a note]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Michael Jordan}}||x||x||8||1||[[#Basketball|There are three notes]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Larry Bird}}||||x||2||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Karl Malone}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|David Robinson (basketball)|David Robinson}}||||x||4||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Shaquille O'Neal}}||x||x||6||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Kevin Garnett}}||||x||2||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|LeBron James}}||x||x||8||1||[[#Basketball|There is a note]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Dwyane Wade}}||||x||1||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Kevin Durant}}||||x||1||1||He became no 1 in 2013 and still is<br />
|-<br />
|20 players - Total: ||7||14||65||1-2||<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
|+ Chess<br />
!Player name<br />
!x if Red<br />
!x if no. 1<br />
!Years as no. 1<br />
!Best placement<br />
!Comments<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|José Capablanca}}||||x||||1||[[#Chess|There is a note]]. He is outside the panel<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Alexander Alekhine}}||x||x||||1||Path begins outside panel and ends in a starburst<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mikhail Botvinnik}}||x||x||17||1||No 1 over two separate periods<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Tigran Petrosian}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|David Bronstein}}||||x||2||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mikhail Tal}}||||x||4||1||Name written twice on the path<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Bobby Fischer}}||x||x||8||1||[[#Chess|There are two notes]] in connection with three starbursts<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Boris Spassky}}||||||0||2||Name written twice on the path<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Victor Korchnoi}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Anatoly Karpov}}||x||x||11||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Garry Kasparov}}||x||x||23||1||[[#Chess|There is a note]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Judit Polgar}}||||||0||3||[[#Chess|There is a note]]. Only woman in this chart.<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Vladimir Kramnik}}||||x||2||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Levon Aronian}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Magnus Carlsen}}||x||x||6||1||He became no 1 in 2008 and still is<br />
|-<br />
|15 players - Total: ||6||10||73||1-3||Only with a 3rd place as the best is Judit from the womens chart<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
|+ Chess (women)<br />
!Player name<br />
!x if Red<br />
!x if no. 1<br />
!Years as no. 1<br />
!Best placement<br />
!Comments<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Vera Menchik}}||x||x||||1||[[#Chess (women)|There is a note]]. Path begins outside panel and ends in a starburst<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Sonja Graf}}||||x||13||1||[[#Chess (women)|There is a note]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Olga Rubtsova}}||||x||1||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Elisaveta Bykova}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Kira Zvorykina}}||||||0||3||[[#Chess (women)|There are two notes]], see also [[#Trivia|Trivia]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Alexandra Nicolau}}||||||0||3||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Nona Gaprindashvili}}||x||x||19||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Alla Kushnir}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Maia Chiburdanidze}}||x||x||9||1||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Pia Cramling}}||||||0||2||Name written twice on the path<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Xie Jun}}||||||0||2||Name written twice on the path<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Susan Polgar}}||||||0||2||[[#Chess (women)|There is a note]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Sofia Polgar}}||||||0||4||[[#Chess (women)|There is a note]]<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Judit Polgar}}||x||x||26||1||[[#Chess (women)|There are three notes]]. She became no 1 in 1989 and still is<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Antoaneta Stefanova}}||||||0||3||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Anna Muzychuk}}||||||0||4||<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Humpy Koneru}}||||||0||2||[[#Trivia|Alternate version of name]] used in comic<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Hou Yifan}}||||||0||2||<br />
|-<br />
|18 players - Total: ||4||6||68||1-4||One no. 4 is a sister the other is still active<br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>108.162.238.180https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1389:_Surface_Area&diff=710071389: Surface Area2014-07-05T10:41:55Z<p>108.162.238.180: /* Explanation */ are to is, a at end of Antarctica.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1389<br />
| date = July 2, 2014<br />
| title = Surface Area<br />
| image = surface_area.png<br />
| titletext = This isn't an informational illustration; this is a thing I think we should do. First, we'll need a gigantic spool of thread. Next, we'll need some kind of ... hmm, time to head to Seattle.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
A [http://xkcd.com/1389/large/ larger version] of this image can be found by clicking the image at xkcd - which can be reached easily from here as always, by clicking on the comic number above.<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This map shows the total {{w|surface area}}s of all {{w|terrestrial planet}}s, {{w|dwarf planet}}s, {{w|natural satellite|moons}}, {{w|asteroid}}s and {{w|minor planet}}s that are larger than 100 m in the {{w|Solar System}}. They have all been represented as regions of a single massive landmass - a {{w|supercontinent}} like {{w|Pangaea}} - which is clearly surrounded by some kind of ocean. <br />
<br />
On the area that signifies {{w|Earth}} the {{w|continents}} are drawn using a {{w|map projection}} that keeps the scale of the continents correct. (This is something that [[Randall]] cares about as can be seen in [[977: Map Projections]]). The part of the surface of the Earth that are covered in oceans are also included in the surface area of the Earth (i.e. the map shows the Earths {{w|Crust (geology)|crust}}). An extra layer of 3-4 km of water seems rather insignificant when comparing to the Earth's radius of 6,370 km. <br />
<br />
{{w|Moon|The Moon}} has been inlaid in this map next to {{w|Antarctica}} which thus makes a great comparison of how small the Moon is compared to the Earth (there are room for more than 13 lunar surfaces on the Earth). Similar it is clear that the planet {{w|Venus}} is almost as big as the Earth. <br />
<br />
This is also the general idea of the map - to give an idea about how big the Earth is and how small many of the other known planets etc. are; both compared to earth and to each other. The map drawn on the Earth are probably there mainly as a guide to size, because none of the features that are know on some of the other objects, especially The Moon (i.e. {{w|Impact crater|craters}} and "{{w|Lunar mare|seas}}") and on {{w|Mars}} (i.e. {{w|Olympus Mons}}), are included.<br />
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The objects mentioned by name on the map are all but one amongst those that have reached {{w|hydrostatic equilibrium}} and these are all included on this {{w|List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System}}. <br />
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The one named object that is '''not''' on the above list is the asteroid {{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}}, which is included because it is the second largest object in the {{w|Asteroid belt}}. It is placed right next to the largest object in this belt, the dwarf planet {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}, which is no longer considered an asteroid. And next to these two are the rest of the asteroids in two areas (see below), which thus groups all asteroids together<br />
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The only object from the above list, (that qualifies for having a solid surface in hydrostatic equilibrium), '''which is not included''' is the {{w|Saturn}} moon {{w|Mimas (moon)|Mimas}}, which is also clearly the smallest object on the list. <br />
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This moon should have been located amongst the other five smaller moons of Saturn between the Earth and {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}} (the largest of Saturn's moons). Mimas has a surface area of 490,000 km<sup>2</sup> which is somewhat smaller than the smallest included Saturn moon {{w|Enceladus}} with a surface area of 799,000 km<sup>2</sup>. <br />
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Generally the moons that belong to a given planet (for those with more than one moon large enough to be included), have been clustered together. Apart from the six (not seven...) moons of Saturn to the right of Earth, the four {{w|Galilean moons}} moons of {{w|Jupiter}} are located above the Earth, the five included moons from {{w|Uranus}} is located to at the top to the far right. <br />
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The last planet to have many moons is {{w|Neptune}}, but only {{w|Triton_(moon)|Triton}} is included. This is a fairly large moon, and the only of the 14 known moons of Neptune to be on the above list. However, there is one other moon, {{w|Proteus (moon)|Proteus}} which is notable for being as large as a body of its density can be without being pulled into a spherical shape by its own gravity. It has a length of 424 km in the longest direction, and a mean radius of 210 km. A rough calculation of its surface area from this mean radius gives an area of 550,000 km<sup>2</sup>, making the surface area slightly larger than Mimas. As there are an '''unlabeled area''' located right next to the other Neptune moon Triton, it is most likely that this small area '''should represent Proteus''', and that it is an error that it was not labeled (or it was a test for followers of xkcd...)<br />
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As this is the smallest area, then the cut-off of objects could have been at 500,000 km<sup>2</sup>, as also Vesta is larger than this, which would make room for Proteus, but explain the missing Mimas. <br />
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Two of the included objects also have moons that are large enough to be included: Earth, of course, and the dwarf planet {{w|Pluto}} with its moon {{w|Charon_(moon)|Charon}}. In both cases these moons have been inlaid in the area of their mother planet. <br />
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Whereas the moons of the {{w|gas giant}}s and the asteroids have been located above and to the right of the Earth, the planets and dwarf planets have been included below earth (along with the two moons mentioned above). {{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}}, Mars and Venus all touching Earth, and then below them the four {{w|Trans-Neptunian object|Trans-Neptunian}} dwarf planets - the {{w|Plutoid}}s.<br />
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On the list from above there are, however, also these {{w|List_of_Solar_System_objects_in_hydrostatic_equilibrium#Most_likely_additional_dwarf_planets|10 objects}} which have not been included with name on the map. These object are, however, only likely candidates for being dwarf planets (depending on whether they have reached hydrostatic equilibrium or not), and on the map they have thus been relegated to the sections without individual names. These object are thus probably grouped together (along with other relatively small objects like comets and smaller moons) in the area labeled ''Various small moons, comets, etc'', which is located at the bottom of the map between Mercury and Mars. The surface area for all of these object, when the surface area have been estimated, are larger than 1 million square kilometer, and thus larger than several of the named objects. So it is not the size that is the reason why such objects as {{w|90377 Sedna|Sedna}} and {{w|50000 Quaoar|Quaoar}} are not included with name, but probably the fact they are not investigated enough yet.<br />
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The remaining objects in the Solar System with a solid surface are the minor planets, which on the map has been labeled as asteroids even though these objects are grouped together in several other "belts" than the Asteroid belt. Here they have been assigned to two regions at the top of the map. Above the right part of the Earth area is the area ''Asteroids (1 km+)'' which include any object not already included larger than 1 km. (As these objects are no longer round it is the largest dimension, the length, that should be at least 1 km long). And finally the area ''Asteroids (100 m+)'' thus include any object not already included larger than 100 m.<br />
<br />
Most of the rest of the objects that have been included in these three sections can likely be found on this {{w|List of Solar System objects by size}}.<br />
<br />
Tiny objects smaller than 100 m down to space dust are excluded altogether as explained in the note below the headings. This is probably because their total surface area is impossible to estimate accurately, and also because any estimate would likely be too large to fit easily into the map. <br />
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Between Earth and Titan is a tiny speck noted ''all human skin'', which is an interesting sort of solid surface. A rough estimate of the average {{w|body surface area}} and thus of the average area of all {{w|Human skin|humans skin}} can be made from these {{w|Body_surface_area#Average_values|average values}} and from {{w|Population pyramid|population pyramids}} as this [http://populationpyramid.net/world/2015/ pyramid for 2015]. Average adults have a skin area of around 1.7-1.8 m<sup>2</sup>, but as a large part of the [https://www.census.gov/popclock/ human population] are children (with skin area down to about 0.25 m<sup>2</sup> for infants) the total average will be smaller. By extrapolating the given values an average area of about 1.6 m<sup>2</sup> can be found. This would make the area 7.2 billion &times; 1.6 m<sup>2</sup> ≈ 11,500 km<sup>2</sup>. This is 60 times smaller than the smallest of the labeled moons {{w|Miranda (moon)|Miranda}} (of Uranus) with a surface area of 700,000 km<sup>2</sup>.<br />
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The title text explains that this comic is not actually for information, it is something Randall thinks we should really do - that is, to stitch all the solar system's solid surfaces together, as the sub-sub heading says. To do this, we would obviously need a giant spool of thread and then something he has to go get in Seattle... This must of course be the {{w|Space Needle}}, a needle like tower in Seattle, which should then be used in this grand project. <br />
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Since the land areas are on the surfaces of spheres, this would seem impossible as it would involve lots of deformation and be particularly challenging. It will also be very gruesome when he comes to the part of collecting (and stitching) all human skin together. The inclusion of this speck on the map is, however, also there to make it clear what the real intention is with the planets. Their surface is to be "skinned" of them, as you would have to do with the humans! Then it is all these "planet skins" that should be stitched together using the space needle. This also explains the ragged edges, and why the continents keep their correct size. It would make Randall into a planetary version of {{w|The Silence of the Lambs (film)|The Silence of the Lambs}} movies character ''{{w|Buffalo Bill (character)|Buffalo Bill}}'', a serial killer who tried to make a suit out of the skin from the women he killed.<br />
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Randall would also need quite a lot of space for the very large ocean. However, the whole supercontinent is just somewhere between 3-4 times larger than the area of the Earth. And the area of the entire image is less than 9 times the area of the earth. As the {{w|Sphere#Area|formula}} for calculation surface areas for {{w|sphere}}s (4*π*r<sup>2</sup>) goes with the radius (r) squared, the diameter of the planet needed for the experiment do not need to be larger than 3 times that of the earth. Although there are no objects in the Solar System with this particular size, it is still much much smaller than the {{w|gas giant}}s, the smallest of these have a radius of almost 4000 times that of the earth! {{w|Exoplanet}}s with this range of diameters have certainly been found, however, already at {{w|Exoplanet#Super-Earths.2C_mini-Neptunes.2C_and_gas_dwarfs|1.7 times the earth radius}} most planets size to be of the {{w|Super-Earth}} type and turns in to the {{w|Gas_dwarf#Gas_dwarf|gas dwarf}} type of planets. So an ocean of the size needed are not easy to come by...<br />
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As has been explained above the earth's surface is included disregarding surface water (oceans) and the same is valid for other objects with surface water, as the Saturn moon Titan which has great lakes (or even oceans) of liquid {{w|methane}} on the surface or the Jupiter moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} which is covered in a deep ocean with a thick cap of ice. (Interestingly this moon is placed on the map very near to the continent of {{w|Europe}} - maybe for easy comparison of these two areas).<br />
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The gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune has, however, not been included because they do not have any "solid surfaces"; even if they had a solid core (which is itself not clear), this would not comprise any "surface". The gas giants are believed to lack any well-defined surface at all, with the gases that make them up simply becoming thinner and thinner with increasing distance from the planets' centers, eventually becoming indistinguishable from the interplanetary medium. But if they were included via some sort of surface definition, the map of this comic would become a tiny speck amongst the map of the gas giants. Similarly the surface of the {{w|Sun}} is also not considered a solid surface but hot {{w|Plasma_(physics)|plasma}}; if it was included it would reduce even a map of the gas giants to a tiny speck.<br />
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The map is drawn in a similar style to the two maps of the Internet that Randall has created in the past:<br />
*[[256: Online Communities]] <br />
*[[802: Online Communities 2]] <br />
<br />
===Data table===<br />
Below is a table listing the object roughly in the order they would be read of the map (the same order as in the transcript.) But they can be sorted by each of the columns.<br />
<br />
The data is taken when possible from the following table: {{w|List of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System}}, and surface area is given with three significant digits.<br />
<br />
For {{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}} and {{w|Proteus (moon)|Proteus}} (the most likely candidate for the unlabeled area next to triton) the area is calculated from their mean radius (i.e. they are not spherical). See also above in the explanation, also for calculating the area of all human skin...<br />
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The surface for a given object is also given as a ''Fraction of Earth’s surface'', and from this the number of times the object could be placed on the Earth's surface is given as one divided by this fraction. For instance it can be seen that The Moon's surface can be placed more than 13 times on top of that of the Earth.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
|+Surface area of mentioned objects<br />
!Object<br />
!Type<br />
!Surface area (km<sup>2</sup>)<br />
!Fraction of Earth’s<br />
!1/Fraction<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Io (moon)|Io}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="41900000"| 4.19×10<sup>7</sup>||0.082||12.2<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Callisto (moon)|Callisto}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="73000000"| 7.30×10<sup>7</sup>||0.143||7.00<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="30900000"| 3.09×10<sup>7</sup>||0.061||16.4<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}}||Moon of Jupiter||data-sort-value="87000000"| 8.70×10<sup>7</sup>||0.171||5.80<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="2800000"| 2.80×10<sup>6</sup>||0.0055||180<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|4 Vesta|Vesta}}||Asteroid||data-sort-value="870000"| 8.70×10<sup>5</sup>||0.0017||590<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Asteroids}} (1 km+)||Asteroid||N/A||N/A||N/A<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Proteus (moon)|Proteus}} (not labeled)||Moon of Neptune||data-sort-value="550000"| 5.50×10<sup>5</sup>||0.00011||9100<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Triton (moon)|Triton}}||Moon of Neptune||data-sort-value="23000000"| 2.30×10<sup>7</sup>||0.045||22.2<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Asteroids}} (100 m+)||Asteroid||N/A||N/A||N/A<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Oberon (moon)|Oberon}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="7290000"| 7.29×10<sup>6</sup>||0.014||71.4<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Miranda (moon)|Miranda}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="700000"| 7.00×10<sup>5</sup>||0.0014||714<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Ariel (moon)|Ariel}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="4210000"| 4.21×10<sup>6</sup>||0.008||125<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Umbriel (moon)|Umbriel}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="4300000"| 4.30×10<sup>6</sup>||0.008||125<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Titania (moon)|Titania}}||Moon of Uranus||data-sort-value="7820000"| 7.82×10<sup>6</sup>||0.015||66.7<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Earth}}||Planet||data-sort-value="510000000"| 5.10×10<sup>8</sup>||1||1<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Tethys (moon)|Tethys}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="4940000"| 4.94×10<sup>6</sup>||0.01||100<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Enceladus}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="799000"| 7.99×10<sup>5</sup>||0.0016||625<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Dione (moon)|Dione}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="3970000"| 3.97×10<sup>6</sup>||0.0078||128<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="6700000"| 6.70×10<sup>6</sup>||0.0132||75.8<br />
|-<br />
|All {{w|Human skin|humans skin}}||Human organ||data-sort-value="11500"| 1.15×10<sup>4</sup>||0.000023||43400<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Rhea (moon)|Rhea}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="7340000"| 7.34×10<sup>6</sup>||0.0144||69.4<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}||Moon of Saturn||data-sort-value="83000000"| 8.30×10<sup>7</sup>||0.163||6.14<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mercury (planet)|Mercury}}||Planet||data-sort-value="75000000"| 7.50×10<sup>7</sup>||0.147||6.80<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Moon|The Moon}}||Moon of Earth||data-sort-value="37900000"| 3.79×10<sup>7</sup>||0.074||13.5<br />
|-<br />
|Various small {{w|Natural satellite|moons}}, {{w|comet}}s, etc.||N/A||N/A||N/A||N/A<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Mars}}||Planet||data-sort-value="140000000"| 1.40×10<sup>8</sup>||0.2745||3.64<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Makemake (dwarf planet)|Makemake}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="6400000"| 6.40×10<sup>6</sup>||0.013||76.8<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Haumea (dwarf planet)|Haumea}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="6800000"| 6.80×10<sup>6</sup>||0.0133||75.2<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="18000000"| 1.80×10<sup>7</sup>||0.0353||28.3<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Pluto}}||Dwarf planet||data-sort-value="17000000"| 1.70×10<sup>7</sup>||0.0333||30.0<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}}||Moon of Pluto||data-sort-value="4580000"| 4.58×10<sup>6</sup>||0.009||111<br />
|-<br />
|{{w|Venus}}||Planet||data-sort-value="460000000"| 4.60×10<sup>8</sup>||0.949||1.05<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[At the top of a map is a heading, with two sub headings and a note in brackets:]<br />
:'''Space'''<br />
:Without the space<br />
:The Solar System’s solid surfaces stitched together <br />
:(Excluding dust and small rocks)<br />
:[Below the headings there is a map with several distinct areas. Each area is labelled with a name or a description. This label is noted inside the area, except for areas that are too small; here the label is written outside and a line indicates which area the label belongs to. Only exception is the largest area, on which the contours of the Earth’s continents are drawn. Surrounding the map is wavy lines to indicate that this is either an island or one big super-continent placed in an even larger ocean.]<br />
:[Here below are the labels given as they appear in “normal” reading order in as read from left to right in the three main rows as will be indicated:]<br />
:[Row one, above the line defined by the general top of the Earth area:]<br />
:Io<br />
:Callisto<br />
:Europa<br />
:Ganymede<br />
:Ceres<br />
:Vesta<br />
:Asteroids (1 km+)<br />
:[Here – above the Asteroids area before the Triton area - is a small unlabelled area (the only other except Earth)]<br />
:Triton<br />
:Asteroids (100 m+)<br />
:Oberon<br />
:Miranda<br />
:Ariel<br />
:Umbriel<br />
:Titania<br />
:[Row two, the unlabelled Earth area's row, but here only given those that are directly written to the right of this area:]<br />
:Tethys<br />
:Enceladus<br />
:Dione<br />
:Iapetus<br />
:All human skin<br />
:Rhea<br />
:Titan <br />
:[Row three, all the remaining items that are mainly below the Earth area:]<br />
:Mercury<br />
:The Moon<br />
:Various small moons, comets, etc<br />
:Mars<br />
:Makemake<br />
:Haumea<br />
:Eris<br />
:Pluto<br />
:Charon<br />
:Venus<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Large drawings]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]</div>108.162.238.180