https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=141.101.107.162&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T18:10:16ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1500:_Upside-Down_Map&diff=1504971500: Upside-Down Map2018-01-05T22:00:48Z<p>141.101.107.162: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1500<br />
| date = March 18, 2015<br />
| title = Upside-Down Map<br />
| image = upside_down_map.png<br />
| titletext = Due to their proximity across the channel, there's long been tension between North Korea and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Southern Ireland.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
It has been said that maps with the {{w|South-up map orientation|south pole at the top}} will "change your perspective of the world". Such a map can easily be achieved by simply rotating a normal map 180 degrees, though the text labels would also be upside-down and perhaps harder to read. A [https://www.google.com/search?site=&tbm=isch&q=upside-down%2Bmap%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bworld Google Images] search reveals many examples of upside-down maps with the text oriented correctly for reading. [[977: Map Projections]] is also relevant.<br />
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This map is a comedic play on that where instead of the whole map being upside-down, each land mass is in the same position it would be in a traditional north-top map but rotated 180 degrees (presumably around some central point of the landmass) to the orientation it would have in a south-top map. Note that individual islands are rotated about their own centers, not following the rotation of the neighboring continent; however, some are displaced as necessary to keep them from being overlapped by the rotated continents. For instance, {{w|Madagascar}} would be overlapped by the {{w|Sahara}} if it remained in position, but is instead displaced eastward to keep it in the Indian Ocean. On the other hand, all the islands of the {{w|Mediterranean Sea}} have disappeared under {{w|Asia}}.<br />
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Asia is so broad that almost the entire {{w|Indochinese Peninsula}} (with for instance {{w|Vietnam}} and {{w|Thailand}}) has been rotated out of the top of the map. Similarly, the map omits {{w|Antarctica}} in the south.<br />
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To keep their familiar shapes on a rectangular map, the continents would also have to be heavily distorted compared to their actual shapes, becoming much narrower (along the lines of latitude) near the poles and wider towards the equator. See also [[977: Map Projections]].<br />
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The basic climates for several areas would be distinctly different. For example, the formerly-Central America area would be in the arctic zone while Siberia would be subtropical.<br />
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This arrangement of the world's land masses would have great advantages for trade, because there are (presumably navigable) straits between the {{w|Americas}} and between Africa and Asia, removing the need for the {{w|Panama Canal}} and the {{w|Suez Canal}}.<br />
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The title text references the fact that in this new map, the {{w|United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland}} (UK) is now next to Asia, specifically the {{w|Korean Peninsula}}. {{w|North Korea}}, is mentioned in the text, having a history of hostile relations with nearby countries. However, on this map North Korea would be the part of {{w|Korea}} we today know as {{w|South Korea}}, Further, {{w|Northern Ireland}} is now at the south of the {{w|island of Ireland}}, so the UK's full name would need to change to The United Kingdom of Great Britain and '''Southern''' Ireland. There have been several wars concerning the {{w|English Channel}}, mainly, but not only, between {{w|England}} and {{w|France}}. Likewise there has been a history of animosity between Korea and {{w|Japan}}, separated by a similar body of water. Since a channel now, on this world map, exists between the UK and North Korea (the real world's South Korea) there could obviously have been many wars for the dominance over said channel.<br />
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Along the same line of thinking, interesting speculations could be made from the following "new" facts:<br />
*{{w|Cuba}} is now off the east coast (formerly west coast) of {{w|Canada}} (and {{w|USA}}).<br />
*{{w|Japan}} is next to the coast of {{w|Portugal}} and {{w|Spain}}.<br />
*Madagascar lies next to {{w|Morocco}} and {{w|Mauritania}} on the east coast (formerly west coast) of Sahara.<br />
*{{w|Taiwan}} is now next to France. It is though doubtful whether they get along any better with the French than with the {{w|China|Chinese}}.<br />
*{{w|Greenland}} lies next to {{w|Mexico}}.<br />
*{{w|Sri Lanka}} is located next to the {{w|Yamalsky District}} of {{w|Russia}}.<br />
*The island {{w|Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego|Tierra del Fuego}}, an island just south of the southern tip of South America, which is divided between {{w|Argentina}} and {{w|Chile}} is now located in a similar manner next to {{w|Colombia}} and {{w|Venezuela}}. So it would probably have been divided between these two countries.<br />
*The {{w|Falkland Islands}} (not named in the map, they are probably represented by the single island above the T in Tierra) where Argentina and UK have an ongoing {{w|Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute|sovereignty dispute}} now could be claimed by {{w|Ecuador}} or {{w|Peru}}.<br />
*The Mediterranean islands seem to have vanished entirely, as they are now in approximately the same place as {{w|Mongolia}}.<br />
*{{w|India}} is nowhere near the {{w|Indian Ocean}}.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[Map of the world with all the landmasses rotated upside-down.]<br />
:[Four oceans and all the visible continents have been named in large letters in a bold font. The Pacific has been named both to the left and right. Several islands (large and small) have been designated with name but in grey and in a much smaller normal font. For all continents the names are written on them. For the island the name is written in the ocean except for Greenland.]<br />
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:[Below the names on the map are given in the order they appear reading from left to right, first for the northern and then the southern hemisphere:]<br />
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:[Northern hemisphere:]<br />
:'''North America'''<br />
:Cuba<br />
:Greenland<br />
:'''Atlantic Ocean<br />
:Iceland<br />
:UK<br />
:'''Asia'''<br />
:Sri Lanka<br />
:'''Europe'''<br />
:'''Arctic Ocean'''<br />
:Taiwan<br />
:Japan<br />
:'''Pacific Ocean'''<br />
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:[Southern hemisphere:]<br />
:'''Pacific Ocean'''<br />
:'''South America'''<br />
:Tierra del Fuego<br />
:'''Africa'''<br />
:'''Indian Ocean'''<br />
:Madagascar<br />
:Indonesia<br />
:'''Australia'''<br />
:New Zealand<br />
<br />
:[Below the main frame:]<br />
:'''This upside-down map will change your perspective on the world!'''<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Geography]]<br />
[[Category:Maps]]</div>141.101.107.162https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1843:_Opening_Crawl&diff=140687Talk:1843: Opening Crawl2017-06-02T19:51:37Z<p>141.101.107.162: </p>
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Rogue One has no opening crawl. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.22|141.101.98.22]] 20:30, 29 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
:It is also a Star Wars story, i.e. not a part of the trilogy of trilogies... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:41, 29 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I suspect I'm not only one who would prefer reading Heir to the Empire to watching The Force Awakens. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:52, 29 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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If I recall correctly, Splinter of the Mind's Eye also contains the first EU inconsistency, with it and a comic from that same year disagreeing about whether Luke can swim. Cool to see that referenced here. -- [[User:Tempystral|Tempystral]] ([[User talk:Tempystral|talk]]) 04:43, 30 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Luke can only swim in tepid water. Hence the term, ''lukewarm''. <sub>--[[User:Nialpxe|<span style="color: #000; text-decoration: none;">Nialpxe</span>]], 2017. [[User_talk:Nialpxe|<span style="color: #000; text-decoration: none;">(Arguments welcome)</span>]]</sub><br />
::Bada-bum, tss [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:07, 30 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I think with this one, people would notice straight away. An opening crawl that starts off with something about the universe, or the political situation, would work. But I think from that quote, the ''first line'' describes direct action, so the audience would be thinking something's wrong before they get into reading it. Need one that starts with setting the scene. Also, you'd need a huge amount of space if you want to film more than a couple of pages. - [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.109|162.158.154.109]] 10:04, 30 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
:I honestly wouldn't notice. Reading the first part of 'Thrawn Trilogy' (book whose text is shown here) I reckon I would think it's a new, artistic, 'spin' on the traditional summary. I would proceed to get lost in the storyline until one woke person starts yelling 'It isn't real! They're just showing us the text from a book!'. The incident will be filmed by multiple people and get 100,000 upvotes on reddit. [[User:Themanhimself11|Themanhimself11]] ([[User talk:Themanhimself11|talk]]) 11:56, 30 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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:They might be able to get away with the first line, although there would be some unrest. The moment the first quote shows up, though, is when most of the audience would be clued in. Of course, I wouldn't mind sitting down reading parts of a Star Wars book to a John Williams score. [[User:OldCorps|OldCorps]] ([[User talk:OldCorps|talk]]) 11:29, 30 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I must say, I really like the TvTropes warning. Very useful. [[User:HisHighestMinion|HisHighestMinion]] ([[User talk:HisHighestMinion|talk]]) 10:30, 30 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I doubt that the joke actually has anything to do with the old rumors about the Thrawn Trilogy being a source for VII-IX, the Thrawn Trilogy was more likely chosen both for it's longstanding popularity and it's stylistic similarities to the actual crawl texts. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.47|162.158.79.47]] <br />
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The joke regarding Splinter in the Mind's Eye probably has less to do with differences in style and more to do with stuff like the Luke/Leia romance subplot in Splinter (obviously written before George Lucas decided to make them twins separated at birth) and similar inconsistencies which would confuse the daylights out of a modern fan.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.47|162.158.79.47]]<br />
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Why is the text provided in the Trivia? It's already in the transcript (making this the first transcript I actually read). The only difference is the first paragraph and the last word. And I say the first paragraph should be in the transcript. It might be completely illegible, but it is unquestionably visible in the comic. As for the proposal presented in the comic, I'd say that the first spoken word would give it away. :) The first paragraph fits in well for an opening crawl, but that's it.<br />
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And what's with TVTropes? Never been there, but all I ever hear / read is complaints, people requesting not to link to it, forbidding links to it, and now, lately on here, speaking of an automatic warning. From the looks of it, said warning makes the link not work on my iPad - I just see a thin underline - and I'm kind of afraid to check on a computer now, LOL! - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.16|108.162.219.16]] 12:37, 31 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
: [[609: Tab Explosion]] - [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.179|141.101.99.179]] 14:30, 31 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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If you're not careful, clicking on a TVTropes link can eat up the better part of your day after you go down the rabbit hole. It can be as addictive (or more!) as a [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wiki%20walk]Wikiwalk! --[[User:Mwburden|mwburden]] ([[User talk:Mwburden|talk]]) 17:49, 31 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I spy a COPYRIGHT VIOLATION! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.162|141.101.107.162]] 19:51, 2 June 2017 (UTC)</div>141.101.107.162https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1818:_Rayleigh_Scattering&diff=1381591818: Rayleigh Scattering2017-03-31T16:22:29Z<p>141.101.107.162: /* Explanation */</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1818<br />
| date = March 31, 2017<br />
| title = Rayleigh Scattering<br />
| image = rayleigh_scattering.png<br />
| titletext = If you ask "why are leaves green?" the usual answer is "because they're full of chlorophyll, and chlorophyll is green," even though "why does chlorophyll scatter green light?" is a great question too.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Incomplete explanation Needs fixing upping. DO NOT DELETE}}<br />
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This comic deals with the tendency of physicists for explaining everything in the most complete and physically accurate way possible, often explaining things in a more elaborate way than necessary causing major confusion in inexperienced listeners. This is demonstrated by the explanation on {{w|Diffuse sky radiation|why the sky is blue}}, going into {{w|Quantum mechanics|quantum mechanical}} properties of air, whereas a much simpler explanation, such as air being blue, also adequately explains the phenomenon, and is probably much more understandable to less physically inclined listeners. When a person who looks like a young [[Science Girl]] asks her mother [[Blondie]] why is the sky blue, [[Megan]] walks in and starts to explain in a very scientific way. Blondie then criticises her and explains that the sky is blue because the air is blue and, as there is a quantum mechanical explanation for every colour, there is no need to state that the sky is unique. The last panel takes this explanation to the extreme by claiming that aeroplanes stay up because they have thousands of birds in their wings that hold them up by flapping. This, while certainly easier to understand, is much farther from reality than the explanation in the previous panels, as birds inside a plane would be unable to lift it by flapping their wings{{Citation needed}}.<br />
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The title of the comic refers to {{w|Rayleigh scattering}}, the process which is commonly named as the reason for why the sky is blue. This also comes up in [[1145: Sky Color]], where a similar situation with a physicist giving an overly complicated explanation to a child, who is unlikely to understand it.<br />
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[https://what-if.xkcd.com/141/ What-if 141] also mentions the simpler explanation to the original question: Sunbeam has this relevant text: "Normal light interacts with the atmosphere through Rayleigh scattering. You may have heard of Rayleigh scattering as the answer to 'why is the sky blue.' This is sort of true, but honestly, a better answer to this question might be 'because air is blue.' Sure, it appears blue for a bunch of physics reasons, but everything appears the color it is for a bunch of physics reasons." There is also a footnote in that comment with an additional example: "When you ask, 'Why is the statue of liberty green?' the answer is something like, 'The outside of the statue is copper, so it used to be copper-colored. Over time, a layer of copper carbonate formed (through oxidation), and copper carbonate is green.' You don't say 'The statue is green because of frequency-specific absorption and scattering by surface molecules.' "<br />
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The title text refers to another common question as for why leaves are green. This is commonly explained by the fact that they are filled with {{w|chlorophyll}}, a chemical used by plants for photosynthesis. Randall points out that it would be an equally valid question to ask why chlorophyll is green. This poses an interesting contrast to the answer to the question about the colour of the sky, where physicists are quick to jump to describing quantum phenomena, whereas in the case of leaves they are usually satisfied by a more general explanation.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon. Needs more. Needs checking.}}<br />
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:[2 Girls Talking, one a young Science Girl and the other is Blondie]<br />
:Science Girl: Why is the sky blue?<br />
:Blondie: Because air is blue,<br />
:[Megan walks in]<br />
:Megan: No, the sky is blue because of Rayleigh scattering -<br />
:Blondie: Nah, it's because air is blue. Blue light bounces off it and hits our Eyes. Same as why anything is any color,<br />
:[Zoom in on Blondie]<br />
:Blondie: It's why far-off mountains look blue - because of all the blue air in the way.<br />
[Back to view of three characters.]<br />
:Megan: There's a specific quantum mechanism by which -<br />
:Blondie: Yeah(,) but there's a physics mechanism for every color. You don't have to get all quantum right away.<br />
[frameless panel with Blondie and Science Girl]<br />
:Megan:(off panel) ... OK, I guess.<br />
:Blondie: Any other questions?<br />
:Science Girl: How do planes stay up?<br />
[Back to all three characters]<br />
:Megan: Well, the airflow -<br />
:Blondie: Tiny birds in the wings. Thousands. Flapping Hard.<br />
:Science Girl: WOW!<br />
:Megan: NO!<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>141.101.107.162https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1786:_Trash&diff=133755Talk:1786: Trash2017-01-16T11:25:08Z<p>141.101.107.162: </p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
I put in an explanation, but I'm on a mobile device, so someone will need to fix all the spacing, and necessary links, and probably fix a bunch of other stuff too. [[User:Yosho27|Yosho27]] ([[User talk:Yosho27|talk]]) 07:26, 16 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Yucca Mountain is a nuclear waste storage. [[User:Sten|'''S<small>TEN</small>''']] <small>([[User talk:Sten|talk]])</small> 07:33, 16 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Perhaps one should mention that Narnia is a retelling of the Christian tradition. Aslan created all 'dimensions' or worlds including ours and is the allegorical Jesus. Narnia is a wonderful world for children, at least most of the time, when there are no witches, where they can have fun and are able to prove more noble than in the real world. Both makes dumping trash in Narnia quite sacrilegious. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.115|162.158.89.115]] 08:07, 16 January 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Presumerably also the whole comic is a reference/cynical look at human's history of dumping things in the sea and so on? ( see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_debris for example) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.162|141.101.107.162]] 11:25, 16 January 2017 (UTC)</div>141.101.107.162