https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=141.101.99.74&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T12:15:39ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1737:_Datacenter_Scale&diff=3179401737: Datacenter Scale2023-07-15T13:53:36Z<p>141.101.99.74: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1737<br />
| date = September 23, 2016<br />
| title = Datacenter Scale<br />
| image = datacenter_scale.png<br />
| titletext = Asimov's Cosmic AC was created by linking all datacenters through hyperspace, which explains a lot. It didn't reverse entropy--it just discarded the universe when it reached end-of-life and ordered a new one.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic expands, to the limit, the strategy that it's a net cost saving to allow cheap hardware to fail and simply replace it than to have robust but much more expensive systems to start with. The technique was made famous by [https://books.google.com/books?id=zdlZ2rrcZWEC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false Google circa 1999,] when its successful cost-effective server designs were actually using sub-consumer, nearly junk, hardware. <br />
<br />
{{w|RAID}} ("redundant array of independent disks") is a technology that splits data across several hard drives as if they were one. RAID comes in several levels (varieties) which have different applications, but one of the big applications of RAID is creating mirrored hard disks that back each other up. If one disk drive in such a RAID fails, no data is lost.<br />
<br />
However, RAID is complicated to configure, so you don't want to be constantly setting it up. An alternative technique for data centers is, therefore, to simply send the data to several servers at once. This makes maintenance easier, but without RAID, one hard disk crash basically breaks the server. However, this is what [[Hairbun]] is doing since their scale is so large that fixing individual servers actually more expensive than simply buying a new one for replacement, and instead of fixing the drive they throw away the machine. (More about this approach will be explained later on)<br />
<br />
From here, the comic starts to exaggerate. Nowadays, servers can be made extremely small ("{{w|Blade server}}s") and dozens of servers can be attached to one {{w|19-inch rack}} in a data center. Rather than going to the effort of unplugging and unscrewing one blade from the rack, when a blade fails at [[Cueball]]'s data center they just throw away the rack, and [[Ponytail]] agrees and mildly mocks Hairbun for replacing one server.<br />
<br />
[[Hairy]]'s data center goes one step further - they have so many servers that they would constantly have to be throwing away and replacing racks, so instead they just build a new room when one rack fails. This would be currently possible with small modular data centers that are built in shipping containers for easy transport and can be linked together to expand capacity. Here the cargo-container "room" with the failure would be quickly swapped with a fresh one. Cueball adds "like Google!" - [[Randall]] previously mentioned {{w|Google}}'s approach to hard drive failures in the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|63|Google's Datacenters on Punch Cards}}''. Back in [http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/de//archive/disk_failures.pdf 2007] they had one failure every few minutes, which might have increased hugely since then.<br />
<br />
Finally [[Megan]] appears and her company, of course, breaks the scale of silliness in exaggeration. She says that they don't have any fire extinguishers (neither {{w|Fire sprinkler system|regular sprinklers}} nor the systems that deploy gasses like FM-200 which alter the room air's ability to sustain a fire). Rather, they just rope the center off, thus letting the data center burn down. Then they simply move a town over and build a new one. This may indicate they are so big that the entire town will burn down if their center catches fire, or else they did not have to skip town. Alternatively, they just leave the center burning and this may cause problems in that town, so they simply flee the premises. <br />
<br />
Most big internet companies do have multiple redundant data centers around the world, in order to increase speeds for users in different countries, but Megan's idea would be very expensive, result in increased {{w|Latency (engineering)|latency}}, possibly kill people (either in their company, or other people in the town, since they do not try to put out the fire), and cause severe destruction of properties in addition to their own. These last two items would result in additional litigation and fines, and potentially jail sentences for the people charged with implementing the policy. They may also result in other towns being unwilling to take their business, out of fear they will wind up burning too.<br />
<br />
Hairy still thinks that it makes sense, while Cueball wonders what difference the roping off does. This could again be a reference to the fact that they just let the buildings burn without bothering about the local consequences, and the next step is just one more step towards the extreme of the title text. Or, he's contemplating that they're just wasting more time by roping it off.<br />
<br />
This comic references how, as data requirements expand, the cost of time eventually outweighs the cost of hardware at ever increasing scales (drive, rack, room, building). While this comic takes this to the extreme, with whole buildings being destroyed for simple flaws, the concept is not as far-fetched as it seems if "thrown out" is taken to include being sold to equipment refurbishers. It could indeed be cost effective for a large data services provider to resell racks or even whole data center modules at some significant fraction of their "as new" price as opposed expending the time and effort to attempt a repair. The equipment refurbisher would then rely on a {{w|competitive advantage|cost advantage}} like cheaper labor to repair the flaw and sell it back to Google or another company with less demanding requirements. Equipment rental firms already operate on this model and with the added incentive customers preferring to rent newer models, this means that the equipment is often ''preemptively'' replaced before failures even occur.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to {{w|Isaac Asimov}}'s science-fiction short story ''{{w|The Last Question}}'' ([http://imgur.com/gallery/9KWrH comic version]), where humanity asks, at different stages of its spacial<!-- reference to the use of outer space, not of dimensions (at least at first) - there must be a better word to use here, though, so leaving this note to other editors --> and technological development, the same question to increasingly advanced computers: "How can the net amount of {{w|entropy}} of the universe be massively decreased?". At each point, the computer's answer is that it does not yet have sufficient data for a meaningful answer. Ultimately, the computers are all linked through hyperspace, outside the physical boundaries of the universe, and make up a single computing entity named AC which keeps pondering the question even as the {{w|heat death of the universe}} occurs and time and space cease to exist. When AC finally discovers the answer, since there is nobody left to report it to, it decides to demonstrate it and says "{{w|Let there be light|LET THERE BE LIGHT!}}", which are the first words said by God during the Creation, according to the {{w|Book of Genesis}}. Here, the title text implies that, as the universe died, AC no longer had a use for it as a physical support and, taking the comic's logic to the next extreme, chose to discard it and get a brand-new one instead of bothering to "fix" it by reversing its entropy. This short story was also referenced in [[1448: Question]].<br />
<br />
This comic's concept of taking a real-world phenomenon and exaggerating it to levels currently considered implausible for comic effect closely mimics an earlier comic which describes progressively more "hardcore" programmers in [[378: Real Programmers]]. This comic might be related to [[1567: Kitchen Tips]] which suggests not throwing away your dishes but washing them.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Zoom in on Hairbun holding her hand palm up in front of her taking to people off-panel right.]<br />
:Hairbun: RAID controllers don't make sense at our scale; everything is redundant at higher levels. When a drive fails, we just throw away the whole machine.<br />
<br />
:[In this frame-less panel it is revealed that Hairbun talked to Cueball and Ponytail who is looking her way.]<br />
:Cueball: Machine? We throw away whole racks at a time.<br />
:Ponytail: Yeah, who replaces ''one server''?<br />
<br />
:[Hairy has appeared from the left and holds one hand palm up towards the other three where also Hairbun has turned towards him.]<br />
:Hairy: We just replace whole rooms at once. At our scale, messing with racks isn't economical.<br />
:Hairbun: Wow.<br />
:Cueball: Like Google!<br />
<br />
:[Megan walks in from the left, and everyone including Hairy now looks towards her. Cueball has taken a hand up to his chin. The replies to Megan are written with clearly smaller font.]<br />
:Megan: We don't have sprinklers or inert gas systems. When a datacenter catches fire, we just rope it off and rebuild one town over.<br />
:Hairy: Makes sense.<br />
:Cueball: I wonder if the rope is really necessary.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairbun]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]</div>141.101.99.74https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1547:_Solar_System_Questions&diff=971431547: Solar System Questions2015-07-07T16:56:43Z<p>141.101.99.74: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1547<br />
| date = July 6, 2015<br />
| title = Solar System Questions<br />
| image = solar_system_questions.png<br />
| titletext = My country's World Cup win was exciting and all, but c'mon, what if the players wore nylon wings and COULD LITERALLY FLY?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation== <br />
{{incomplete|1) Explain "in the wrong places" re: Io's volcanoes.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a list of questions which [[Randall]] has about the Solar System, which at first glance may appear to be things that Randall would like to learn about.<br />
In actuality, most of the questions have not been satisfactorily answered or proven by anyone in the {{w|List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics#Astronomy_and_astrophysics|scientific community}}.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Question given<br />
! Answer given by Randall (in Red)<br />
! Comments<br />
|-<br />
| Why is the the Moon so blotchy?<br />
| Lava<br />
| The {{w|Moon}} is in synchronous rotation with Earth, which means that we always can see only one half of the surface of the Moon. And on that side we can see large {{w|lunar maria}} formed by lava from big volcanoes. This surface is very different to all other celestial bodies we know in our Solar system. The double "the the" could be a Randallism — intended or unintended.<br />
|-<br />
| Why are all the blotches on the near side?<br />
| ...<br />
| The nearside of the Moon is dominated by the blotchy 'seas' or maria, the far side by craters. {{w|Far_side_of_the_Moon#Differences|Several explanations}} for this have been proposed, including an overabundance of impacts obliterating the blotches on the more exposed far side, different compositions of heat-producing elements, large collisions, or heat produced by the still-cooling Earth.<br />
|-<br />
| Did Mars have seas?<br />
| Yes (briefly?)<br />
| Recent explorations have confirmed there was once standing (and also flowing) water on {{w|Mars}}. Many rovers and orbiters on Mars give us the evidence on this early development of that planet, but it is still unknown how long such conditions existed in its history.<br />
|-<br />
| Was there life on Mars?<br />
| ...<br />
| One of the big mysteries, {{w|Life on Mars|not yet answered}}.<br />
|-<br />
| What's Titan like?<br />
| Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)<br />
| The {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} mission confirmed the presence of {{w|Lakes_of_Titan|lakes and rivers}} on {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}. The {{w|Huygens_(spacecraft)#Findings|Huygens}} lander itself returned some very yellow images of a dry lake bed from Titan's surface.<br />
|-<br />
| What was Earth like during the Hadean?<br />
| ...<br />
| The {{w|Hadean}} was the first geologic era on earth, the planet had just formed and not much is known of that period of Earth. But since it was the time when Earth was formed it was mainly very hot with extreme volcanic activity, with the entire surface melted. This is why the era is named after {{w|Hades}} the ancient Greek god of the underworld.<br />
|-<br />
| Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?<br />
| ...<br />
| The {{w|Oort Cloud}} is a theoretical spherical cloud of icy planetesimal, maybe dust, and also larger objects at a distance of up to around 100,000 {{w|Astronomical units|AU}} to our Sun. We can see similar clouds at other stars, but there is still no evidence that this cloud exists in our Solar System.<br />
|-<br />
| Why is the Sun's corona so hot?<br />
| Something about magnets?<br />
| The {{w|corona}} of the sun is hotter than it theoretically should be. The looping magnetic fields in this area could be responsible.<br />
|-<br />
| What are comets like?<br />
| Precipitous<br />
| The {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae lander}} is next to a cliff...<br />
|-<br />
| Where's Philae, exactly?<br />
| ...<br />
| ...but we're not sure ''which'' cliff.<br />
|-<br />
| What's Pluto like?<br />
| rowspan="2" | [Soon!]<br />
| rowspan="2" | The probe {{w|New Horizons}} may be about to answer both of these questions, as it will reach its closest approach to both {{w|Pluto}} and {{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}} just eight days after the release of this comic.<br />
|-<br />
| What's Charon like?<br />
|-<br />
| Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?<br />
| ...<br />
| There is a size-gap between the rocky {{w|terrestrial planets}} up to Earth size and the {{w|gas giants}} very much larger than Earth in our Solar System.<br />
There are many known {{w|exoplanets}} (planets in other solar systems) filling in the range between our rocky planets and our gas giants, known as [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Exoplanet_Mass-Radius_Scatter_Super-Earth.png Super-Earths]<br />
|-<br />
| What's Ceres like?<br />
| [Working on it!]<br />
| The {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn probe}} is currently exploring the {{w|dwarf planet}} {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}} and reveals unseen surface features.<br />
|-<br />
| Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?<br />
| Ice over a water ocean<br />
| {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} is a moon of {{w|Jupiter}} and the surface is basically thick pack ice covered in {{w|lineae}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Why is Io so weird-looking?<br />
| Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)<br />
| The moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}} is also orbiting Jupiter and is close enough that {{w|tidal forces}} make it the most volcanic object in the solar system. The moon is mainly yellow but there a several other colors on the surface, for instance spots and streaks of bright red color that comes from {{w|sulfur}} which is ejected by the volcanoes.<br />
|-<br />
| Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?<br />
| ...<br />
| Many objects in the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} have a reddish hue. A possible explanation is that they are [http://www.space.com/9418-icy-red-objects-solar-system-edge-point-life-building-blocks.html| covered in organic molecules] formed by the irradiation of their surface ices. The New Horizons probe might also shed light on this.<br />
|-<br />
| What are those spots on Ceres?<br />
| ...<br />
| The Dawn probe found some mysterious spots on the Ceres. These [http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19568.jpg white spots] are still not understood, but the mission is still running and we may figure out the source of the glowing white features.<br />
|-<br />
| What's in the seas under Europa's ice?<br />
| ...<br />
| The European {{w|ESA}} selected the mission {{w|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)}} to Jupiter. The moon Europa is one target for that mission. But we have to wait, its launch target is 2022 and the arrival at Jupiter is planned for 2030. But that's not uncommon for missions like this, New Horizons or {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} did also travel approx. ten years to reach their target. And before such a mission can start many preparations have to be done.<br />
|-<br />
| Which of the other moons have seas?<br />
| Several<br />
| Depending on the definition of 'sea', other less obviously 'frozen water world' moons such as {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} may have {{w|Ganymede (moon)#Subsurface oceans|subsurface}} [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27151-aurora-reveals-jupiter-moons-secret-subsurface-sea.html oceans] of liquid water or other substance liquid at the relevant temperature.<br />
|-<br />
| What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Lakes of Titan}}<br />
|-<br />
| What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?<br />
| ...<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Great Red Spot}}<br />
|-<br />
| What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?<br />
| Heat from the RTG<br />
| Discussed as the {{w|Pioneer anomaly}}. RTG stands for {{w|Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator}}.<br />
|-<br />
| What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?<br />
| ...<br />
| Several spacecraft experienced unexplained speed increases during Earth flybys. This is called the {{w|flyby anomaly}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?<br />
| Oscillating<br />
| {{w|Solar neutrino problem}}<br />
|-<br />
| Why is there so much air on Titan?<br />
| ...<br />
| Titan has an atmospheric pressure 1.45 times that of Earth, but 1/7th of the surface gravity (that's less than Earth's own, practically airless, Moon). Hence the confusion! In fact, Titan actually has almost 20% more atmosphere (by mass) than Earth, and ''seven times'' more atmosphere across a given surface area!<br />
Less influence from the more distant Sun probably helps retain more of the atmosphere's gasses (mostly nitrogen), and {{w|cryovolcanoes}} may replenish the methane fraction (which should by now have ''all'' been converted into the other hydrocarbons present) from subsurface reservoirs. But further studies are required to properly answer this question.<br />
|-<br />
| Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?<br />
| ...<br />
| A reference to the {{w|Kuiper Cliff}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Why is Iapetus weird-colored?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}} is a moon of {{w|Saturn}} and has a white side and a dark side.<br />
|-<br />
| Why does Iapetus have a belt?<br />
| ...<br />
| Iapetus has a 13 km high ridge around most of the equator, and a number of 10 km high mountains where the ridge is interrupted.<br />
|-<br />
| What's the deal with Miranda?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Miranda_(moon)|Miranda}} is the smallest of {{w|Uranus}}' five round satellites, and it's {{w|Verona Rupes|a bit rough around the edges}} and also has an unusually high orbital inclination that is difficult to explain. Also possibly a [[Firefly|''Firefly'' reference]] since {{w|List of Firefly planets and moons#Miranda|Miranda}} is also the name of a planet in {{w|Serenity (film)|''Serenity''}}, a film basedion the {{w|Firefly (TV series)|''Firefly''}} TV series.<br />
|-<br />
| Did Uranus and Neptune change places?<br />
| ...<br />
| The {{w|Nice model}} is a theory of how our solar system formed, which suggested the possibility of Uranus and {{w|Neptune}} having swapped places before reaching their current positions. Work by Professor S. Desch [http://dusty.la.asu.edu/~desch/publications/2007/Desch2007.pdf also came to this result].<br />
|-<br />
| Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Late Heavy Bombardment}}<br />
|-<br />
| Did life start before it?<br />
| ...<br />
| For some speculation on this topic, see [http://www.livescience.com/5426-life-survived-earth-early-bombardment.html].<br />
|-<br />
| Is Europa covered in Ice Spikes?<br />
| ...<br />
|Dr Daniel Hobley has put forward a [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21341176 theory] that Jupiter's icy moon, {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}, has the right conditions to form ice spikes called {{w|penitentes}} of up to 10m in height.<br />
|-<br />
| Why haven't we built a big inflatable Extreme Sports Complex on The Moon?<br />
| ...<br />
| See, e.g., ''{{w|The Menace From Earth}}'', a 1957 short story by Robert Heinlein.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the {{w|2015 FIFA Women's World Cup}} which was won by USA a day before. The nylon wings and flying may be a reference to two passages from 3001: The Final Odyssey, one where Frank Poole tries out various wings while in an extremely low gravity environment, and one where he remarks while watching Swan Lake that Tchaikovsky could never have imagined a performance where the dancers were actually flying (due to aforementioned low gravity). This is also a reference to the last point on the list, because if we had such a stadium on the moon, maybe it would be possible to use such wings to make very long floating leaps.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:'''Questions I have'''<br />
:'''about the solar system'''<br />
:(some answered)<br />
<br />
:{| class="wikitable" style="border: 0px;"<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the the Moon so blotchy?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Lava<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are all the blotches on the near side?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Mars have seas?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Yes (briefly?)<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Was there life on Mars?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Titan like?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What was Earth like during the Hadean?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the Sun's corona so hot?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Something about magnets?<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are comets like?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Precipitous<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where's Philae, exactly?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Pluto like?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" rowspan="2" | [Soon!]<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Charon like?<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Ceres like?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | [Working on it!]<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Europa so wierd-looking and pretty?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Ice over a water ocean<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Io so weird-looking?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are those spots on Ceres?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's in the seas under Europa's ice?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Which of the other moons have seas?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Several<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Heat from the RTG<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Oscillating<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is there so much air on Titan?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Iapetus weird-colored?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does Iapetus have a belt?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's the deal with Miranda?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Uranus and Neptune change places?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did life start before it?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is Europa covered in ice spikes?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why haven't we built a big inflatable<br> extreme sports complex on the moon?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
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[[Category:Astronomy]]</div>141.101.99.74https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1547:_Solar_System_Questions&diff=971421547: Solar System Questions2015-07-07T16:56:08Z<p>141.101.99.74: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1547<br />
| date = July 6, 2015<br />
| title = Solar System Questions<br />
| image = solar_system_questions.png<br />
| titletext = My country's World Cup win was exciting and all, but c'mon, what if the players wore nylon wings and COULD LITERALLY FLY?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation== <br />
{{incomplete|1) Explain "in the wrong places" re: Io's volcanoes.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a list of questions which [[Randall]] has about the Solar System, which at first glance may appear to be things that Randall would like to learn about.<br />
In actuality most of the questions have not been satisfactorily answered or proven by anyone in the {{w|List_of_unsolved_problems_in_physics#Astronomy_and_astrophysics|scientific community}}.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Question given<br />
! Answer given by Randall (in Red)<br />
! Comments<br />
|-<br />
| Why is the the Moon so blotchy?<br />
| Lava<br />
| The {{w|Moon}} is in synchronous rotation with Earth, which means that we always can see only one half of the surface of the Moon. And on that side we can see large {{w|lunar maria}} formed by lava from big volcanoes. This surface is very different to all other celestial bodies we know in our Solar system. The double "the the" could be a Randallism — intended or unintended.<br />
|-<br />
| Why are all the blotches on the near side?<br />
| ...<br />
| The nearside of the Moon is dominated by the blotchy 'seas' or maria, the far side by craters. {{w|Far_side_of_the_Moon#Differences|Several explanations}} for this have been proposed, including an overabundance of impacts obliterating the blotches on the more exposed far side, different compositions of heat-producing elements, large collisions, or heat produced by the still-cooling Earth.<br />
|-<br />
| Did Mars have seas?<br />
| Yes (briefly?)<br />
| Recent explorations have confirmed there was once standing (and also flowing) water on {{w|Mars}}. Many rovers and orbiters on Mars give us the evidence on this early development of that planet, but it is still unknown how long such conditions existed in its history.<br />
|-<br />
| Was there life on Mars?<br />
| ...<br />
| One of the big mysteries, {{w|Life on Mars|not yet answered}}.<br />
|-<br />
| What's Titan like?<br />
| Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)<br />
| The {{w|Cassini–Huygens}} mission confirmed the presence of {{w|Lakes_of_Titan|lakes and rivers}} on {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}. The {{w|Huygens_(spacecraft)#Findings|Huygens}} lander itself returned some very yellow images of a dry lake bed from Titan's surface.<br />
|-<br />
| What was Earth like during the Hadean?<br />
| ...<br />
| The {{w|Hadean}} was the first geologic era on earth, the planet had just formed and not much is known of that period of Earth. But since it was the time when Earth was formed it was mainly very hot with extreme volcanic activity, with the entire surface melted. This is why the era is named after {{w|Hades}} the ancient Greek god of the underworld.<br />
|-<br />
| Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?<br />
| ...<br />
| The {{w|Oort Cloud}} is a theoretical spherical cloud of icy planetesimal, maybe dust, and also larger objects at a distance of up to around 100,000 {{w|Astronomical units|AU}} to our Sun. We can see similar clouds at other stars, but there is still no evidence that this cloud exists in our Solar System.<br />
|-<br />
| Why is the Sun's corona so hot?<br />
| Something about magnets?<br />
| The {{w|corona}} of the sun is hotter than it theoretically should be. The looping magnetic fields in this area could be responsible.<br />
|-<br />
| What are comets like?<br />
| Precipitous<br />
| The {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae lander}} is next to a cliff...<br />
|-<br />
| Where's Philae, exactly?<br />
| ...<br />
| ...but we're not sure ''which'' cliff.<br />
|-<br />
| What's Pluto like?<br />
| rowspan="2" | [Soon!]<br />
| rowspan="2" | The probe {{w|New Horizons}} may be about to answer both of these questions, as it will reach its closest approach to both {{w|Pluto}} and {{w|Charon (moon)|Charon}} just eight days after the release of this comic.<br />
|-<br />
| What's Charon like?<br />
|-<br />
| Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?<br />
| ...<br />
| There is a size-gap between the rocky {{w|terrestrial planets}} up to Earth size and the {{w|gas giants}} very much larger than Earth in our Solar System.<br />
There are many known {{w|exoplanets}} (planets in other solar systems) filling in the range between our rocky planets and our gas giants, known as [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Exoplanet_Mass-Radius_Scatter_Super-Earth.png Super-Earths]<br />
|-<br />
| What's Ceres like?<br />
| [Working on it!]<br />
| The {{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn probe}} is currently exploring the {{w|dwarf planet}} {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}} and reveals unseen surface features.<br />
|-<br />
| Why is Europa so weird-looking and pretty?<br />
| Ice over a water ocean<br />
| {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}} is a moon of {{w|Jupiter}} and the surface is basically thick pack ice covered in {{w|lineae}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Why is Io so weird-looking?<br />
| Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)<br />
| The moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}} is also orbiting Jupiter and is close enough that {{w|tidal forces}} make it the most volcanic object in the solar system. The moon is mainly yellow but there a several other colors on the surface, for instance spots and streaks of bright red color that comes from {{w|sulfur}} which is ejected by the volcanoes.<br />
|-<br />
| Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?<br />
| ...<br />
| Many objects in the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} have a reddish hue. A possible explanation is that they are [http://www.space.com/9418-icy-red-objects-solar-system-edge-point-life-building-blocks.html| covered in organic molecules] formed by the irradiation of their surface ices. The New Horizons probe might also shed light on this.<br />
|-<br />
| What are those spots on Ceres?<br />
| ...<br />
| The Dawn probe found some mysterious spots on the Ceres. These [http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA19568.jpg white spots] are still not understood, but the mission is still running and we may figure out the source of the glowing white features.<br />
|-<br />
| What's in the seas under Europa's ice?<br />
| ...<br />
| The European {{w|ESA}} selected the mission {{w|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer|Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE)}} to Jupiter. The moon Europa is one target for that mission. But we have to wait, its launch target is 2022 and the arrival at Jupiter is planned for 2030. But that's not uncommon for missions like this, New Horizons or {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} did also travel approx. ten years to reach their target. And before such a mission can start many preparations have to be done.<br />
|-<br />
| Which of the other moons have seas?<br />
| Several<br />
| Depending on the definition of 'sea', other less obviously 'frozen water world' moons such as {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}} may have {{w|Ganymede (moon)#Subsurface oceans|subsurface}} [http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27151-aurora-reveals-jupiter-moons-secret-subsurface-sea.html oceans] of liquid water or other substance liquid at the relevant temperature.<br />
|-<br />
| What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Lakes of Titan}}<br />
|-<br />
| What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?<br />
| ...<br />
| <br />
|-<br />
| What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Great Red Spot}}<br />
|-<br />
| What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?<br />
| Heat from the RTG<br />
| Discussed as the {{w|Pioneer anomaly}}. RTG stands for {{w|Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator}}.<br />
|-<br />
| What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?<br />
| ...<br />
| Several spacecraft experienced unexplained speed increases during Earth flybys. This is called the {{w|flyby anomaly}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?<br />
| Oscillating<br />
| {{w|Solar neutrino problem}}<br />
|-<br />
| Why is there so much air on Titan?<br />
| ...<br />
| Titan has an atmospheric pressure 1.45 times that of Earth, but 1/7th of the surface gravity (that's less than Earth's own, practically airless, Moon). Hence the confusion! In fact, Titan actually has almost 20% more atmosphere (by mass) than Earth, and ''seven times'' more atmosphere across a given surface area!<br />
Less influence from the more distant Sun probably helps retain more of the atmosphere's gasses (mostly nitrogen), and {{w|cryovolcanoes}} may replenish the methane fraction (which should by now have ''all'' been converted into the other hydrocarbons present) from subsurface reservoirs. But further studies are required to properly answer this question.<br />
|-<br />
| Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?<br />
| ...<br />
| A reference to the {{w|Kuiper Cliff}}.<br />
|-<br />
| Why is Iapetus weird-colored?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Iapetus (moon)|Iapetus}} is a moon of {{w|Saturn}} and has a white side and a dark side.<br />
|-<br />
| Why does Iapetus have a belt?<br />
| ...<br />
| Iapetus has a 13 km high ridge around most of the equator, and a number of 10 km high mountains where the ridge is interrupted.<br />
|-<br />
| What's the deal with Miranda?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Miranda_(moon)|Miranda}} is the smallest of {{w|Uranus}}' five round satellites, and it's {{w|Verona Rupes|a bit rough around the edges}} and also has an unusually high orbital inclination that is difficult to explain. Also possibly a [[Firefly|''Firefly'' reference]] since {{w|List of Firefly planets and moons#Miranda|Miranda}} is also the name of a planet in {{w|Serenity (film)|''Serenity''}}, a film basedion the {{w|Firefly (TV series)|''Firefly''}} TV series.<br />
|-<br />
| Did Uranus and Neptune change places?<br />
| ...<br />
| The {{w|Nice model}} is a theory of how our solar system formed, which suggested the possibility of Uranus and {{w|Neptune}} having swapped places before reaching their current positions. Work by Professor S. Desch [http://dusty.la.asu.edu/~desch/publications/2007/Desch2007.pdf also came to this result].<br />
|-<br />
| Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?<br />
| ...<br />
| {{w|Late Heavy Bombardment}}<br />
|-<br />
| Did life start before it?<br />
| ...<br />
| For some speculation on this topic, see [http://www.livescience.com/5426-life-survived-earth-early-bombardment.html].<br />
|-<br />
| Is Europa covered in Ice Spikes?<br />
| ...<br />
|Dr Daniel Hobley has put forward a [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21341176 theory] that Jupiter's icy moon, {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}, has the right conditions to form ice spikes called {{w|penitentes}} of up to 10m in height.<br />
|-<br />
| Why haven't we built a big inflatable Extreme Sports Complex on The Moon?<br />
| ...<br />
| See, e.g., ''{{w|The Menace From Earth}}'', a 1957 short story by Robert Heinlein.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the {{w|2015 FIFA Women's World Cup}} which was won by USA a day before. The nylon wings and flying may be a reference to two passages from 3001: The Final Odyssey, one where Frank Poole tries out various wings while in an extremely low gravity environment, and one where he remarks while watching Swan Lake that Tchaikovsky could never have imagined a performance where the dancers were actually flying (due to aforementioned low gravity). This is also a reference to the last point on the list, because if we had such a stadium on the moon, maybe it would be possible to use such wings to make very long floating leaps.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:'''Questions I have'''<br />
:'''about the solar system'''<br />
:(some answered)<br />
<br />
:{| class="wikitable" style="border: 0px;"<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the the Moon so blotchy?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Lava<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are all the blotches on the near side?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Mars have seas?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Yes (briefly?)<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Was there life on Mars?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Titan like?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Cold, yellow, lakes + rivers (methane)<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What was Earth like during the Hadean?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is the Oort Cloud a real thing?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is the Sun's corona so hot?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Something about magnets?<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are comets like?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Precipitous<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where's Philae, exactly?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Pluto like?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" rowspan="2" | [Soon!]<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Charon like?<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why don't we have in-between-sized planets?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's Ceres like?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | [Working on it!]<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Europa so wierd-looking and pretty?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Ice over a water ocean<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Io so weird-looking?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Sulfur volcanoes (? in the wrong places?)<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why are so many Kuiper Belt objects red?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are those spots on Ceres?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's in the seas under Europa's ice?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Which of the other moons have seas?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Several<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What are the big white things in Titan's Lakes?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What do Jupiter's clouds look like up close?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's all that red stuff in the Great Red Spot?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's pushing the Pioneer Probes?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Heat from the RTG<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What pushes spacecraft slightly during flybys?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Where are all the Sun's Neutrinos?<br />
| style="border: 0px; color:red;" | Oscillating<br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is there so much air on Titan?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does the Kuiper Belt Stop?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why is Iapetus weird-colored?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why does Iapetus have a belt?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | What's the deal with Miranda?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did Uranus and Neptune change places?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did the Late Heavy Bombardment happen?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Did life start before it?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Is Europa covered in ice spikes?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|-<br />
| style="border: 0px; text-align: right" | Why haven't we built a big inflatable<br> extreme sports complex on the moon?<br />
| style="border: 0px;" | <br />
|}<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
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[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]</div>141.101.99.74https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1529:_Bracket&diff=94027Talk:1529: Bracket2015-05-25T12:46:24Z<p>141.101.99.74: </p>
<hr />
<div>What's the connection between Rip Torn and Natalie Imbruglia? {{unsigned ip|108.162.238.183}}<br />
:Answer: Her song, Torn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1XWJN3nJo-{{unsigned|Stumpy}} <br />
<br />
Any pairings that you'd add, given the opportunity? Personally I always confuse [[wikipedia:Wilson Pickett|Wilson Pickett]] and [[wikipedia:Wilson Phillips|Wilson Phillips]]. [[User:Studley|Studley]] ([[User talk:Studley|talk]]) 08:28, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
[[wikipedia:Will Ferrell|Will Ferrell]] and [[wikipedia:Pharrell Williams|Pharrell Williams]] for me! -{{unsigned|Stumpy}}<br />
<br />
Why do some first round pairings have more than two people? Beyoncé starts at the third round, so it can't be just because of the number of people. There has to be a joke in them but I don't see it. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.176|141.101.104.176]] 08:45, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Possibly an in-joke at the NCAA bracket's First Four round. Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers is a more "traditional" reference to the First Four. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.103|108.162.219.103]] 10:32, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Perhaps it's worth adding to a trivia section that (assuming every person/thing has an equal chance of winning every matchup, Beyonce has the highest odds of winning (1/32 = 3.125%) while Kurt Russell, Russell Crowe, Russell Brand, and Russell Simmons are all tied for having the worst starting odds (1/256 = .391%).[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.91|108.162.219.91]] 09:19, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I may be worth mentioning that the bracketing trees resemble hierarchical clustering dendrograms in which some string similarity metric was used as a distance function.<br />
<br />
Although the comic is formatted as a tournament bracket, there are hints that it is in fact a dendrogram based on string similarity, in a similar way to how trees of evolutionary relationships between proteins are formed. We see this especially in the "Russell" group where there is equal similarity between any name containing "Russell" and so that group is not resolved into two separate forks. If readers wish to recreate such an analysis for themselves they can take the text on [http://pastebin.com/DRqjaDHH here] paste it into a [http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/msa/clustalw2/ multiple sequence aligner], press Submit, then after processing click Phylogenetic Tree and scroll down. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.74|141.101.99.74]] 12:46, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
=== Title text discussion ===<br />
Changed the reference of the Title Text from Doctor Who (who is already listed in the comic) to Dr. Dre, as the phrasing of the Title Text seems like a very direct reference to the 2001 song "Forgot About Dre." {{unsigned|Conquistador}}<br />
:Probably would have been better to add it as an option since we're clearly far from certain -{{unsigned|Stumpy}} <br />
<br />
Why not Zoidberg? --RhyvenNZ [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.41|198.41.238.41]] 09:55, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Pretty sure Doctor Who is covered by "The Doctor". He doesn't go by "Who" in the show. He's just the Doctor. I think the missing doctor is House. {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.127}}<br />
<br />
Dr. Pepper, maybe? Does "staring" or "forgotten" have to do with it? {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.156}}<br />
<br />
Whatagainnow? {{unsigned ip|108.162.222.178}}<br />
<br />
Dr. Oz? Dr. Phil? Dr. Watson? Dr. Kavorkian? Dr. Seuss? Wasn't there a famous literary work, The Lost Island of Dr. Moreau? I agree that Dr. House and/or house calls could be a missing candidate for the bracket. But then, there are a ton of 'Sirs' that didn't make the list. <!--GAKDragon 06:43, 25 May 2015 (UTC)GAKDragon--> {{unsigned|GAKDragon||please sign your posts appropriately with the appropriate user and talk page links using <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>}}<br />
<br />
Or is "The Doctor" http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/The_Doctor? {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.108}}<br />
:The Doctor is already in the bracket. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.49|141.101.99.49]] 10:40, 25 May 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It's Doctor House - definitely and finally! {{unsigned|Raydleemsc}}<br />
<br />
Definitely "Doc" Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Brown {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.171}}<br />
<br />
Could the joke simply be "there are way too many famous doctors", so even though it's arguably the most numerous category in the bracket, some are still "forgotten"?<br />
<br />
Probably not talking about doctor who, however he could be referencing The Silence, which is a an alien race, on that show, which you immediately forget about after losing sight of it. {{unsigned|KroniK907}}</div>141.101.99.74https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1529:_Bracket&diff=940201529: Bracket2015-05-25T12:11:21Z<p>141.101.99.74: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1529<br />
| date = May 25, 2015<br />
| title = Bracket<br />
| image = bracket.png<br />
| titletext = I'm staring at the "doctor" section, and I can't help but feel like I've forgotten someone.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|New comic}}<br />
A {{w|Bracket (tournament)|Tournament bracket}} shows the planned series of games in a tournament. In this comic Randall has shown a plan for a tournament between a wide range of cultural icons, both real and fictional, based mostly on similarities in their names. Various internet groups have speculated on who would win in a fight between characters from different films. It may be relevant that the film {{w|Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice}} is soon to be released.<br />
<br />
The [[title text]] is possibly talking about {{w|Dr. Dre}}, particularly as a reference to his 2001 song "{{w|Forgot About Dre}}". Alternatively, the title text could simply be a reference to the large number of pop culture references that include the word "Doctor", such as {{w|Leonard McCoy}}, {{w|Julius Erving|Dr. J}}, {{w|Dr Pepper}}, {{w|Doctor Doom}}, and others. Another possibility is that the [[title text]] is supposed to make the readers ask themselves "{{w|Doctor who}}?", even though {{w|The Doctor}} is already listed.<br />
<br />
Although the comic is formatted as a tournament bracket, there are hints that it is in fact a dendrogram based on string similarity, in a similar way to how trees of evolutionary relationships between proteins are formed. We see this especially in the "Russell" group where there is equal similarity between any name containing "Russell" and so that group is not resolved into two separate forks. If readers wish to recreate such an analysis for themselves they can take the text on [http://pastebin.com/DRqjaDHH here] paste it into a [http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/msa/clustalw2/ multiple sequence aligner], press Submit, then after processing click Phylogenetic Tree and scroll down.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable" style="background:transparent;border:none;width:100%;"<br />
| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|<br />
:{{w|Louis Armstrong}}<br />
:{{w|Neil Armstrong}}<br />
:{{w|Lance Armstrong}}<br />
:{{w|Stretch Armstrong}}<br />
<br />
:{{w|Jeff Gordan}}<br />
:{{w|Jeff Bridges}}<br />
<br />
:{{w|Jeff Daniels}}<br />
:{{w|Jack Daniels}}<br />
<br />
:{{w|Orson Welles}}<br />
:{{w|H.G. Wells}}<br />
<br />
:{{w|Geroge Orwell}}<br />
:{{w|Wells Fargo}}<br />
<br />
:{{w|Kurt Russell}}<br />
:{{w|Russell Brand}}<br />
:{{w|Russell Crowe}}<br />
:{{w|Russell Simmons}}<br />
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:{{w|Richard Simmons}}<br />
:{{w|Gene Simmons}}<br />
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:{{w|Gene Hackman}}<br />
:{{w|Hugh Jackman}}<br />
:{{w|Alan Rickman}}<br />
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:{{w|Alan Parsons}}<br />
:{{w|Alan Partridge}}<br />
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:{{w|Jenny McCarthy}}<br />
:{{w|Joseph McCarthy}}<br />
:{{w|Eugene McCarthy}}<br />
:{{w|Eugene V. Debs}}<br />
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:{{w|Gene Wilder}}<br />
:{{w|Olivia Wilde}}<br />
:{{w|Oscar Wilde}}<br />
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:{{w|Oscar De La Renta}}<br />
:{{w|Oscar De La Hoya}}<br />
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:{{w|Jack Nicklaus}}<br />
:{{w|Jack Nicholson}}<br />
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:{{w|Phil Mickelson}}<br />
:{{w|Nicholas Nickelby}}<br />
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:{{w|Ryan Adams}}<br />
:{{w|Bryan Adams}}<br />
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:{{w|Chubby Checker}}<br />
:{{w|Fats Domino}}<br />
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:{{w|Colin Firth}}<br />
:{{w|Colin Farrell}}<br />
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:{{w|Will Ferrell}}<br />
:{{w|The Farrelly Brothers}}<br />
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:{{w|Joseph Gordon-Levitt}}<br />
:{{w|Jennifer Love Hewitt}}<br />
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:{{w|Danny Glover}}<br />
:{{w|Donald Glover}}<br />
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:{{w|Donnie Wahlberg}}<br />
:{{w|Mark Wahlberg}}<br />
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:{{w|Mark Ruffalo}}<br />
:{{w|Mark Shuttleworth}}<br />
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| style="background:transparent;border:none;"|<br />
:{{w|Philip Pullman}}<br />
:{{w|Bill Pullman}}<br />
:{{w|Bill Paxton}}<br />
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:{{w|Bill Murray}}<br />
:{{w|Dan Aykroyd}}<br />
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:{{w|Ginger Rogers}}<br />
:{{w|Mister/Fred Astaire/Rogers}}<br />
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:{{w|Mister Spock}}<br />
:{{w|Doctor Spock}}<br />
:{{w|Doctor Octopus}}<br />
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:{{w|Doctor Manhatten}}<br />
:{{w|Doctor Strangelove}}<br />
:{{w|Doctor Strange}}<br />
<br />
:{{w|Dr. No}}<br />
:{{w|The Doctor}}<br />
:{{w|Cory Doctorow}}<br />
<br />
:{{w|Jerry Lee Lewis}}<br />
:{{w|Jerry Lewis}}<br />
<br />
:{{w|Jenny Lewis}}<br />
:{{w|Xeni Jardin}}<br />
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:{{w|Chris Evans}}<br />
:{{w|Chris Hemsworth}}<br />
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:{{w|Chris Pine}}<br />
:{{w|Chris Pratt}}<br />
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:{{w|Shallots}}<br />
:{{w|Scallops}}<br />
:{{w|Scallions}}<br />
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:{{w|Siouxie Sioux}}<br />
:{{w|Suzanne Vega}}<br />
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:{{w|Tom Arnold}}<br />
:{{w|Arnold Palmer}}<br />
:{{w|Amanda Palmer}}<br />
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:{{w|Wes Craven}}<br />
:{{w|Wes Anderson}}<br />
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:{{w|Paul Thomas Anderson}}<br />
:{{w|Poul Anderson}}<br />
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:{{w|Sir Walter Scott}}<br />
:{{w|Sir Walter Raleigh}}<br />
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:{{w|Sir Francis Drake}}<br />
:{{w|Frank Drake}}<br />
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:{{w|Van Halen}}<br />
:{{w|Van Morrison}}<br />
:{{w|Van Wilder}}<br />
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:{{w|Robert Van Winkle}}<br />
:{{w|Rip Van Winkle}}<br />
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:{{w|Rip Torn}}<br />
:{{w|Natalie Imbruglia}}<br />
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:{{w|The Body Shop}}<br />
:{{w|Bath and Body Works}}<br />
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:{{w|Bed Bath and Beyond}}<br />
:{{w|Beyond Thunderdome}}<br />
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:{{w|Beyoncé}}<br />
|}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Charts]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>141.101.99.74https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1501:_Mysteries&diff=88124Talk:1501: Mysteries2015-04-02T18:19:37Z<p>141.101.99.74: </p>
<hr />
<div>Here's a list of wikipedia links I compiled that will be useful for anyone wanting to update this page. http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/2zog5d/xkcd_1501_mysteries/cpktray {{unsigned ip|141.101.106.155}}<br />
<br />
And I've got a solar eclipse to see (explainable, but weird!) but I started to compile things. Haven't got any links sorted yet, and percentages are (badly) done by eye. If someone does it better, ignore it.<br />
<br />
<!-- Who Carly Simon is singing about in ''You're So Vain''<br />
A song allegedly about a specific person, but it remains a closed secret exactly who.<br />
95% No explanation (There are many theories.)<br />
100% Not weird (It's 'just' a song.)<br />
UVB-76<br />
?<br />
60% No explanation<br />
25% Not weird<br />
Lindberg Baby<br />
A notorious kidnapping case (or some would say ''purported'' kidnapping) that has remained unsolved.<br />
50% No explanation (It could be as advertised, or it might be merely a trivial coverup to a family tragedy).<br />
75% Not that weird (Rich people who were obvious targets for kidnappers, or easily able to engineer a fake one.)<br />
Toynbee Tiles<br />
??<br />
30% No explanation<br />
60% Not weird<br />
Jimmy Hoffa<br />
A notorious missing person case<br />
15% No explanation (Easily understood links to Mob activities.)<br />
100% Not weird (People often vanished, or were made to vanish, in such circumstances.)<br />
MH370<br />
A passenger plane that went missing with very few good signs of why or where.<br />
100% No explanation (No physical evidence.)<br />
100% Weird (The best guess for its last verified location is well off its intended flight-path.)<br />
Lead Masks Case<br />
??<br />
80% No explanation<br />
100% Weird<br />
DB Cooper<br />
A plane hijacker who was never found, dead or alive.<br />
70% No explanation (He and (most of) his money disappeared, never to be seen again.)<br />
50% Weird (The circumstances of his crime and fate.)<br />
The WOW Signal<br />
A single, unrepeated, signal that has yet to be adequately pinned down.<br />
70% No explanation (It doesn't match anything obvious.)<br />
10% Weird (...Which leads to the ''posibility'' that it's not something so obvious.)<br />
The Mary Celeste<br />
A sailing vessel discovered 'abandonded' in the middle of the ocean.<br />
10% No explanation (There's worse things that happen at sea.)<br />
30% Weird (But the tale as often told suggests that it wasn't any of the more common circumstances.)<br />
Voynich Manuscript<br />
??<br />
30% Cear<br />
30% Not weird<br />
JFK<br />
The assasination of John F. Kennedy is a standard in the conspiracy theory stable.<br />
60% clear (He was shot, and there's an obvious susupect. As there is with who shot the obvious suspect.)<br />
20% Not weird (Some people think there was more to it, but Randall obviously thinks that it's simple, if not straightforward.)<br />
Why I keep putting ice cream back in the fridge instead of the freezer<br />
Ice-cream should be kept frozen, not just cool.<br />
100% clear (Randall obviously knows why he does it. Maybe it's convenience, laziness or some kind of mental block against the obvious reasoning.)<br />
120% Not weird (And apparently he knows he ''will'' do it. Despite everything.)<br />
Oak Island Money Pit<br />
??<br />
100% Clear<br />
30% Not weird<br />
Zodiac Letters<br />
??Serial killer thing??<br />
20% Clear<br />
20% Weird<br />
Amelia Earhart<br />
A female pilot who went missing on a long-distance flight<br />
40% Clear (It was in earlier days of aeornautics when tragedy could easily strike.)<br />
10% Weird (But there's no obvious wreckage, so we don't know what ''did'' happen.)<br />
Lost Colony<br />
??Early Americas colonisation effort??<br />
50% Clear (There were many dangers that easily beset such exploration/colonisation efforts.)<br />
50% Weird (The signs that were left behind were ambiguous at best.)<br />
Kentucky Meat Shower<br />
??Rain of meat??<br />
75% Clear<br />
80% Weird (This kind of thing just ''is'' weird.)<br />
Bigfoot<br />
Cryptozoological creature. An ape-man occasionally 'seen' in various North American forested areas.<br />
95% Clear (Probably ultimately a hoax, with a little bit of misidentification and misinterpretation mixed in.)<br />
20% Weird (Still not exactly normal.)<br />
Loch Ness Monster<br />
Cryptozoological creature. A marine creature allegedly inhabiting a Scottish freshwater body.<br />
100% Clear (Almost certainly a hoax/misidentification.)<br />
30% Weird (Extra credit for being a supposed dinosaur remnant?)<br />
Dyatlov Pass Incident<br />
??<br />
100% Clear<br />
100% Weird<br />
<br />
--><br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 09:33, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:(Whoops, pasted the flatfile format version by accident, in my rush, rather than the more Wikifriendly one that I discarded. Commenting it out until/unless I redo it. But you should still be able to see the details via the Talk Edit pages if you're bothered. Oh, and there was really too much cloud to see the eclipse for what it was. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:29, 20 March 2015 (UTC))<br />
<br />
::I dropped the image into our CAD system and plotted the point co-ordinates. I've filled in the resulting percentages, which should be somewhere about right with a little rounding. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:35, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Exactly right. (Although I didn't read the zero/zero crossing point is supposed to be maybe 50% on both scales, but instead ±zero. Still, doesn't matter. And perhaps displays/sorts better.) And looks like I don't need to recover my formatted notes after all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 11:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.176|199.27.128.176]] 09:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC) XKCD has explained the Voynich Manuscript before: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/593:_Voynich_Manuscript<br />
<br />
:XKCD has also 'explained' DB Cooper before ([[1400: D.B. Cooper]]) if that is worth mentioning. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.167|108.162.250.167]] 12:06, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have to wonder if Randall has ever seen http://keithledgerwood.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using and if so, whether he simply doesn't believe it. Not to sabotage his 100%-100% example if he wants to keep it there, but I'd put it at only 50% weird and 10% unexplainable. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.27|199.27.133.27]] 14:02, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
: Oh lawdy, the tinfoil hat brigade has arrived. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.202|173.245.56.202]]<br />
<br />
Anyone else reminded of [[Fuck Grapefruit]]? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.203|199.27.128.203]] 00:19, 24 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Carly Simon<br />
<br />
The Carly Simon explanation includes the text "This sets up a paradox in which the song is and isn't about the vain person." This isn't correct. The song is definitely about the person. Carly is thus asserting that the subject's vanity will lead him to a correct interpretation of the song. Going to change the explanation. [[User:EverVigilant|EverVigilant]] ([[User talk:EverVigilant|talk]]) 14:51, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't see why this is on Randall's chart. The Wikipedia article is all the explanation the world needs. And Warren Beatty's reaction to the song simply seals it for me. No Big Deal. Move On. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:41, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''<br />
<br />
;WOW signal<br />
<br />
It now says "This is the strongest evidence to date of extraterrestrial radio signals.", which is technically incorrect. We observe radio signals from outer space all the time, they originate from young stars, Big Bang, active galaxies, and so on. This should probably be rephrased to something about extraterrestrial intelligence, but I'm not sure if it deserves to be called "evidence". [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 16:18, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Regarding the "evidence" bit, I'd go so far as to say that it's a single signal that can't actually be tied down (even in the light of further study) to: a) receiver error/interference; b) terrestrial(/orbital) origin; c) natural universal processes. (In the latter case, especially, c.f. Pulsars, which were ''tentatively'' blamed on "Little Green Men" at first, but are now understood for what they are.) Maybe if we'd have had some more WOWs (or longer to listen to the one that we had) we could have analysed it, but it remains a mystery because neither is true. Pretty much everything else has been explained as "not evidence for aliens" (definitively, or on the balance of probability there's a better working theory that it's not) leaving this as... an anomoly. Not 'evidence', but not ''explained'', either. For now! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 20:45, 21 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I agree with Jolindbe. Extraterrestrial only means "not of terrestrial origin," which applies to all natural radio sources, as well as extraterrestrial intelligence. It's too broad a phrase to be used in this way. A better description might be "This radio signal is the strongest candidate to date as evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 14:25, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Dyatlov Pass Incident<br />
<br />
Um, Wikipedia regards avalanche as most plausible explanation of the Dyatlov Pass incident, and it appears to be most widespread and down-to-earth explanation that doesn't involve the supernatural or secret soviet weapons test, things like that. Shouldn't we include mention of the avalance then, perhaps? I mean, with such high "explainability" rating it's pretty clear that Randall probably assumes avalanche, since if he assumed other, less widespread theory he probably would downgrade the "explainability" to account for the fact that it's more disputed version. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.222|141.101.89.222]] 18:13, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:The Key points of the accident were: hypothermia, fatal injuries from strong force, tent that ripped from within, traces of wandering, weird tan, lost tongue, lack of clothing. The most scientific and easiest explanation I know was: Avalanche that accounts for fatal injuries; Snow glare that accounts for weird tan; paradoxical undressing and hypothermia that accounts for lack of clothing and signs of wandering; and Scavenging animals that accounts for the lost tongue and ripped tent. [[User:Kagakujinjya|Kagakujinjya]] ([[User talk:Kagakujinjya|talk]]) 02:54, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Actually Wikipedia really seems to suggest secret USSR military tests both parachute mines and nuclear missile related. Beyond being between two test facilities, the soviet conspiracy would imply secret operations, if it were just an avalanche, the USSR wouldn't have covered details up. It's not that extreme to believe the USSR did some secret testing, because it's more or less fact. Therefore, the idea secret testing was involved isn't *that* strange or unreasonable. Occam's Razor, given the difficulty for some of those things, like the tent being torn from the inside out, or the tan. <br />
Also ball lightning is worth mentioning in your quest for not Secret Soviet test or supernatural in nature. <br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.26|173.245.55.26]] 04:53, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Though I can't say anything about supernatural nature of the incident because I don't have proof,(well, I don't have any proof at all because the incident was happened in 1959) I think I can give you an argument about the weapon test and the cover up. Occam's Razor. I mean, weapon test normally done in secured military area, not out in public area. All the more reason if you want to test a secret weapon. Basically, there's no point of doing weapon test there. Furthermore, 1959 was a time when government very sensitive about data, I'd say that they would even declare the recipe of a pie as a national secret. And since we probably read the same source that is Wikipedia, I don't know where they suggest the weapon test theory since the first sentence under the subtitle 'theories' unambiguously say that "avalanche damage is considered one of the more plausible explanation for this incident". Then, about the ball of lightning and (if I may) radioactivity, since I'm pretty sure that none of that stuff turns up in the original documents from the incident, I'll argue that those were added later by people who just can't resist making things spookier than the incident actually are. [[User:Kagakujinjya|Kagakujinjya]] ([[User talk:Kagakujinjya|talk]]) 06:53, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
As a semi-professional mountaineer and a last-year medical student, I'd like to point out some commonly and erroneusly believed data. Surely I'm not a professional and I underline that I still can't explain what really happened there. But some facts should be understood. Firstly, I don't think the Avalanche explanation is reasonable. It's very clear that 4 of dead bodies found in a place which about 1.5 kilometers away from the tent. If it's really an avalanche, I assure you, you cannot be able to run away (like 1.5 kilometers!) before it catches and bury you under the snow. Plus, such an avalanche should bury all the tent under the snow level, not particially. Yet, sometimes it isn't an avalanche, I mean, an amount of snow comes down from the peak, makes a loud noise and terrifies you to the bones as you worngly fear that "Avalanche is coming and will bury me alive".. and may partly covers the tent. Yes, this is more reasonable. The tent might have been covered up with the snow and made it all fallen-down, frightening the Dyatlov squad so bad that they tore the tent to get out immediately. But, there I need to object. These nine peole are a group of experienced mountaineers. When got out from the hole of the tent, experienced mountaineers should have easily seen that it wasn't an avalanche. They should have relax and, after enough time, start mocking each other for how he/she pissed off like a kitty. But they ran down the hill for 1.5 kilometers without their suitable clothes and equipment! No sir, I don't think such replacement of snow levels in this amount, would make the Dyatlov squad to act this way. In the diary of the squad, a member of group wrote they had settled the tent on a low degree of slope on the eastern façade of the mountain, which makes the avalanche and snow replacement less possible. By the way, I have seen four different avalanches so far. I have seen a couple mountaineers died of it. Yet, I don't see any possibility of such avalanche may cause a spot and penetrative head injury as it happened in the incident. An avalanche smashes you. The snow gets in your nostrils and ears, makes you paralyzed with permanant necrosis in your extremites, usually damages your urinary tracts, causes mesenteric ischemia due to the shock, applies pressure on your ribs (rarely can make fractures, either) But it doesn't make your skull crashed. It'll be more realistic to say spot injuries on skull needs spot or high-pressured impacts, not blunt ones. (A better and more detailed account for this point is also can be read on the official document)<br />
<br />
And secondly, scavenging animal idea can be an explanation for the lost tongue, true. However, in autopsy report (I didn't save the link for the original report, I wish I did), it said that the loss of tongue starts from glottal root, which makes whole thing another debate. During the process of decay, soft tissues like tongue degenerate and regress. It would be normal if a smaller tongue was found. And a missing part in the tongue could mean wolves, rats or pigeons had had a feast of fresh human meat. But even after many years of decay, corpse should still obtain some amount of tongue tissue. And unless you're an animal obsessive with the little red worm in the hunt's mouth, you don't spend extra effort to eat it all starting from the root. You prefer more muscled and delicious parts like femoral area or abdominal organs. In the conclusion, after 56 years, nothing really explains a lack of tongue in the mountaineer's dead mouth. <br />
<br />
Yet, the general scientific idea for the weird shade of skin is right, I think. All the decay processes includes this so-called "tanning". Furthermore, the radiation issue is explained with Kyshtym disaster happened 18 months before the incident and not very distant to the mountain pass. I don't know how radiation effects on the material like in these occasions, even months later. But it seems satisfying to me. It's not mentioned here but another theory is based on the foamy saliva seen on the perioral region of Igor Dyatlov's dead body. I don't know if we can use Occam's Razor on this finding but when I was a student in Forensic Medicine Rotation, we were tought that most basic explanation for foamy saliva is toxication. So if we'll talk about Occam's Razor, signs of dread and delirium in the squad, panic-caused runaway from the tent, injuries could be caused of it and the foamy saliva may lead us to the toxication of gas, which is compatible with "Soviet weapon" claims. <br />
<br />
I don't want to support any of the theories without many other possible evidences to be declared. But I really can't accept the claim that an avalanche was the reason. You can't escape out of an avalanche and a non-avalanche snow replacement doesn't make you so frightened. Moreover, this explanation is not a real explanation for heavy injuries. Actually, many specialists of the first expedition equip in 1959 thought it had not be able to be an avalanche happened there when they considered the geography of the mountain they discovered the tent (You can have a little trip on Google to find the thoughts of the specialists) While this remains a mystery, how do we think the incident so explainable ? <br />
<br />
I know some people wants such incidents to remain mysterious. Nevertheless, I see sometimes we skeptical people are over-simplistic to have an explanation. So, unlike Randall do, I see no point of marking the Dyatlov Pass Incident as "Very Explainable". However, I guess this all has an explanation in the Russian goverment secret archieves. In 2008, the official TV channel of Russian federation opened up the case again. In many interviews it was told, some curious people during 1980s digged deeper to reach further investigations but all of them was confronted a goverment block and strictly advised to stay out of this case. I don't know, it seems more scientific to say there is some more hidden behind locked doors and document boxes for some reason in this incident than carelessly insisting on avalanche, wolves and paradoxical undressing. <br />
I apologize for my bad English grammar. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.74|141.101.99.74]] 18:14, 2 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Off the chart up and to the right<br />
<br />
How the Universe came into existence (the physics and math behind "Why is there something rather than nothing?") is far weirder with less of an explanation than anything on Randall's chart – scientists' claims, which redefine "nothing," notwithstanding. And then how life started and evolved (the chemistry and biology – and quantum physics? – at the transition point between inanimate amino acids and cells and the subsequent arrival of ''homo sapiens'') is almost as strange as the Big Bang. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:34, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''<br />
:Yep. And how to make a star. And how to make a planet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 11:19, 21 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Hydrogen + Time [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 14:28, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::Plus... magic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 05:22, 24 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Inaccurate explainability rating<br />
<br />
I've read the Russian wikipedia article on Dyatlov Pass Incident and not only it's incredibly weird (much more details than condensed English article), but also no plausible explanation is provided that would account for all the incredibly weird stuff going on. I have no idea how that could be awarded 96% explainability.<br />
<br />
UVB-76, on the other hand, is a pretty easy to explain as one-time-pad encrypted military broadcast, with buzzing to occupy the frequency and discourage others from using it. How is that just 23% explainable, I have no idea. That's what I've found in Russian sources, anyway.<br />
<br />
Also, the Toynbee Tiles mystery is pretty much solved if you trust "Duerr, Justin. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles" as a source.<br />
<br />
There are even more inconsistencies pointed out above. At first I've suspected that the scale is accidentally inverted, but D.B. Cooper story is pretty poorly explained, so it's more like the whole thing is just randomly messed up.<br />
--[[User:Shnatsel|Shnatsel]] ([[User talk:Shnatsel|talk]]) 19:54, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;UVB-76<br />
<br />
Is it seriously that hard to explain the "UVB-76" thing? I've been listening to this thing for a year now and even have explained how it works from the innards a few months back. Besides, it's not even called UVB-76, it was a mishear of UZB-76, and it's not even that callsign anymore. The callsign has changed to MDZhB and it is a marker to occupy the frequency of the "Codename Vulkan" communications channel. The way this thing works is that it is a bunch of gears that control a buzzer, when the Buzzer goes down you can hear it winding down and the repairmen screwing in some things when they come in.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Obvious: one of at least three such stations used by the Russian military(see also the pip and the squeaky wheel)<br />
The less obvious: the purpose being either secret communication, time synchronization, measuring ionosphere changes, emergency Russian military mobilization with a dead man's switch style of constant commmunication to keep the frequency clear of other users as well as in case Moscow (or in this case Pskov [crazy side note: sister city of Roanoke, Virginia]), or something else<br />
Unclear: other things about it<br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.26|173.245.55.26]] 05:16, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Lost Colony<br />
<br />
Before the Roanoke colonists left, they carved "Croatan" into a post. The Croatan were a small native tribe living on the coast, who'd had friendly relations with the colonists. They disappeared along with them. A generation or two later, a completely new tribe called the Lumbee were found living further inland, with some caucasian features and using European farming techniques. It's pretty obvious what happened. [[User:Shanek|Shanek]] ([[User talk:Shanek|talk]]) 19:20, 21 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; MH370<br />
<br />
I had no idea that *'''nothing'''* of MH370 was ever found (or at least so far). Reading up on the wikipedia article makes me even more confused: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MH370_initial_search_Southeast_Asia.svg this map] shows the plane going westward basically towards india but then [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MH370_SIO_search.png this map] shows the searches *'''west of Australia'''* and going *'''down to Antartica'''*! WTF?? What the hell happened to that plane?! It's now been a *'''year'''* and *'''nothing'''* was found at all. Totally weird and unexplained. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 23:50, 21 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: ... and here's the explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_search_for_MH370.png. Still freaking mind-boggling if you ask me. That thing could as well be in Khazakstan for all we know. Terrifying. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 00:02, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; sort order<br />
<br />
The arrangement of entries in the table seemed random to me. I moved them around so the weirdest entries are at the beginning and the most easily explained are at the end. Thus the joke entry is last, as a punch line. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 01:18, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; The Taman Shud Case<br />
<br />
This is one of the weirdest mysteries I've come across. I'd be surprised if Randall hasn't heard of it, though. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Shud_Case Wikipedia]. [[User:Mark314159|Mark314159]] ([[User talk:Mark314159|talk]]) 01:22, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; z axis<br />
<br />
Too bad that comics can't be 3D (or at least not convincingly) since an axis<br />
"Time you wasted on googling around on topic X after reading the comic" would<br />
be very interesting...I browsed on Songfacts more than all else combined -<br />
talk about priorities :-) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.240|198.41.243.240]] 16:13, 26 March 2015 (UTC)</div>141.101.99.74https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1501:_Mysteries&diff=88115Talk:1501: Mysteries2015-04-02T18:14:37Z<p>141.101.99.74: </p>
<hr />
<div>Here's a list of wikipedia links I compiled that will be useful for anyone wanting to update this page. http://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/2zog5d/xkcd_1501_mysteries/cpktray {{unsigned ip|141.101.106.155}}<br />
<br />
And I've got a solar eclipse to see (explainable, but weird!) but I started to compile things. Haven't got any links sorted yet, and percentages are (badly) done by eye. If someone does it better, ignore it.<br />
<br />
<!-- Who Carly Simon is singing about in ''You're So Vain''<br />
A song allegedly about a specific person, but it remains a closed secret exactly who.<br />
95% No explanation (There are many theories.)<br />
100% Not weird (It's 'just' a song.)<br />
UVB-76<br />
?<br />
60% No explanation<br />
25% Not weird<br />
Lindberg Baby<br />
A notorious kidnapping case (or some would say ''purported'' kidnapping) that has remained unsolved.<br />
50% No explanation (It could be as advertised, or it might be merely a trivial coverup to a family tragedy).<br />
75% Not that weird (Rich people who were obvious targets for kidnappers, or easily able to engineer a fake one.)<br />
Toynbee Tiles<br />
??<br />
30% No explanation<br />
60% Not weird<br />
Jimmy Hoffa<br />
A notorious missing person case<br />
15% No explanation (Easily understood links to Mob activities.)<br />
100% Not weird (People often vanished, or were made to vanish, in such circumstances.)<br />
MH370<br />
A passenger plane that went missing with very few good signs of why or where.<br />
100% No explanation (No physical evidence.)<br />
100% Weird (The best guess for its last verified location is well off its intended flight-path.)<br />
Lead Masks Case<br />
??<br />
80% No explanation<br />
100% Weird<br />
DB Cooper<br />
A plane hijacker who was never found, dead or alive.<br />
70% No explanation (He and (most of) his money disappeared, never to be seen again.)<br />
50% Weird (The circumstances of his crime and fate.)<br />
The WOW Signal<br />
A single, unrepeated, signal that has yet to be adequately pinned down.<br />
70% No explanation (It doesn't match anything obvious.)<br />
10% Weird (...Which leads to the ''posibility'' that it's not something so obvious.)<br />
The Mary Celeste<br />
A sailing vessel discovered 'abandonded' in the middle of the ocean.<br />
10% No explanation (There's worse things that happen at sea.)<br />
30% Weird (But the tale as often told suggests that it wasn't any of the more common circumstances.)<br />
Voynich Manuscript<br />
??<br />
30% Cear<br />
30% Not weird<br />
JFK<br />
The assasination of John F. Kennedy is a standard in the conspiracy theory stable.<br />
60% clear (He was shot, and there's an obvious susupect. As there is with who shot the obvious suspect.)<br />
20% Not weird (Some people think there was more to it, but Randall obviously thinks that it's simple, if not straightforward.)<br />
Why I keep putting ice cream back in the fridge instead of the freezer<br />
Ice-cream should be kept frozen, not just cool.<br />
100% clear (Randall obviously knows why he does it. Maybe it's convenience, laziness or some kind of mental block against the obvious reasoning.)<br />
120% Not weird (And apparently he knows he ''will'' do it. Despite everything.)<br />
Oak Island Money Pit<br />
??<br />
100% Clear<br />
30% Not weird<br />
Zodiac Letters<br />
??Serial killer thing??<br />
20% Clear<br />
20% Weird<br />
Amelia Earhart<br />
A female pilot who went missing on a long-distance flight<br />
40% Clear (It was in earlier days of aeornautics when tragedy could easily strike.)<br />
10% Weird (But there's no obvious wreckage, so we don't know what ''did'' happen.)<br />
Lost Colony<br />
??Early Americas colonisation effort??<br />
50% Clear (There were many dangers that easily beset such exploration/colonisation efforts.)<br />
50% Weird (The signs that were left behind were ambiguous at best.)<br />
Kentucky Meat Shower<br />
??Rain of meat??<br />
75% Clear<br />
80% Weird (This kind of thing just ''is'' weird.)<br />
Bigfoot<br />
Cryptozoological creature. An ape-man occasionally 'seen' in various North American forested areas.<br />
95% Clear (Probably ultimately a hoax, with a little bit of misidentification and misinterpretation mixed in.)<br />
20% Weird (Still not exactly normal.)<br />
Loch Ness Monster<br />
Cryptozoological creature. A marine creature allegedly inhabiting a Scottish freshwater body.<br />
100% Clear (Almost certainly a hoax/misidentification.)<br />
30% Weird (Extra credit for being a supposed dinosaur remnant?)<br />
Dyatlov Pass Incident<br />
??<br />
100% Clear<br />
100% Weird<br />
<br />
--><br />
[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 09:33, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:(Whoops, pasted the flatfile format version by accident, in my rush, rather than the more Wikifriendly one that I discarded. Commenting it out until/unless I redo it. But you should still be able to see the details via the Talk Edit pages if you're bothered. Oh, and there was really too much cloud to see the eclipse for what it was. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 10:29, 20 March 2015 (UTC))<br />
<br />
::I dropped the image into our CAD system and plotted the point co-ordinates. I've filled in the resulting percentages, which should be somewhere about right with a little rounding. --[[User:Pudder|Pudder]] ([[User talk:Pudder|talk]]) 10:35, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:::Exactly right. (Although I didn't read the zero/zero crossing point is supposed to be maybe 50% on both scales, but instead ±zero. Still, doesn't matter. And perhaps displays/sorts better.) And looks like I don't need to recover my formatted notes after all. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.63|141.101.98.63]] 11:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.176|199.27.128.176]] 09:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC) XKCD has explained the Voynich Manuscript before: http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/593:_Voynich_Manuscript<br />
<br />
:XKCD has also 'explained' DB Cooper before ([[1400: D.B. Cooper]]) if that is worth mentioning. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.167|108.162.250.167]] 12:06, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have to wonder if Randall has ever seen http://keithledgerwood.com/post/79838944823/did-malaysian-airlines-370-disappear-using and if so, whether he simply doesn't believe it. Not to sabotage his 100%-100% example if he wants to keep it there, but I'd put it at only 50% weird and 10% unexplainable. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.27|199.27.133.27]] 14:02, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
: Oh lawdy, the tinfoil hat brigade has arrived. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.56.202|173.245.56.202]]<br />
<br />
Anyone else reminded of [[Fuck Grapefruit]]? [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.203|199.27.128.203]] 00:19, 24 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Carly Simon<br />
<br />
The Carly Simon explanation includes the text "This sets up a paradox in which the song is and isn't about the vain person." This isn't correct. The song is definitely about the person. Carly is thus asserting that the subject's vanity will lead him to a correct interpretation of the song. Going to change the explanation. [[User:EverVigilant|EverVigilant]] ([[User talk:EverVigilant|talk]]) 14:51, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I don't see why this is on Randall's chart. The Wikipedia article is all the explanation the world needs. And Warren Beatty's reaction to the song simply seals it for me. No Big Deal. Move On. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:41, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''<br />
<br />
;WOW signal<br />
<br />
It now says "This is the strongest evidence to date of extraterrestrial radio signals.", which is technically incorrect. We observe radio signals from outer space all the time, they originate from young stars, Big Bang, active galaxies, and so on. This should probably be rephrased to something about extraterrestrial intelligence, but I'm not sure if it deserves to be called "evidence". [[User:Jolindbe|Jolindbe]] ([[User talk:Jolindbe|talk]]) 16:18, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Regarding the "evidence" bit, I'd go so far as to say that it's a single signal that can't actually be tied down (even in the light of further study) to: a) receiver error/interference; b) terrestrial(/orbital) origin; c) natural universal processes. (In the latter case, especially, c.f. Pulsars, which were ''tentatively'' blamed on "Little Green Men" at first, but are now understood for what they are.) Maybe if we'd have had some more WOWs (or longer to listen to the one that we had) we could have analysed it, but it remains a mystery because neither is true. Pretty much everything else has been explained as "not evidence for aliens" (definitively, or on the balance of probability there's a better working theory that it's not) leaving this as... an anomoly. Not 'evidence', but not ''explained'', either. For now! [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.192|141.101.98.192]] 20:45, 21 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:I agree with Jolindbe. Extraterrestrial only means "not of terrestrial origin," which applies to all natural radio sources, as well as extraterrestrial intelligence. It's too broad a phrase to be used in this way. A better description might be "This radio signal is the strongest candidate to date as evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence."[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 14:25, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Dyatlov Pass Incident<br />
<br />
Um, Wikipedia regards avalanche as most plausible explanation of the Dyatlov Pass incident, and it appears to be most widespread and down-to-earth explanation that doesn't involve the supernatural or secret soviet weapons test, things like that. Shouldn't we include mention of the avalance then, perhaps? I mean, with such high "explainability" rating it's pretty clear that Randall probably assumes avalanche, since if he assumed other, less widespread theory he probably would downgrade the "explainability" to account for the fact that it's more disputed version. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.89.222|141.101.89.222]] 18:13, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:The Key points of the accident were: hypothermia, fatal injuries from strong force, tent that ripped from within, traces of wandering, weird tan, lost tongue, lack of clothing. The most scientific and easiest explanation I know was: Avalanche that accounts for fatal injuries; Snow glare that accounts for weird tan; paradoxical undressing and hypothermia that accounts for lack of clothing and signs of wandering; and Scavenging animals that accounts for the lost tongue and ripped tent. [[User:Kagakujinjya|Kagakujinjya]] ([[User talk:Kagakujinjya|talk]]) 02:54, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Actually Wikipedia really seems to suggest secret USSR military tests both parachute mines and nuclear missile related. Beyond being between two test facilities, the soviet conspiracy would imply secret operations, if it were just an avalanche, the USSR wouldn't have covered details up. It's not that extreme to believe the USSR did some secret testing, because it's more or less fact. Therefore, the idea secret testing was involved isn't *that* strange or unreasonable. Occam's Razor, given the difficulty for some of those things, like the tent being torn from the inside out, or the tan. <br />
Also ball lightning is worth mentioning in your quest for not Secret Soviet test or supernatural in nature. <br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.26|173.245.55.26]] 04:53, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Though I can't say anything about supernatural nature of the incident because I don't have proof,(well, I don't have any proof at all because the incident was happened in 1959) I think I can give you an argument about the weapon test and the cover up. Occam's Razor. I mean, weapon test normally done in secured military area, not out in public area. All the more reason if you want to test a secret weapon. Basically, there's no point of doing weapon test there. Furthermore, 1959 was a time when government very sensitive about data, I'd say that they would even declare the recipe of a pie as a national secret. And since we probably read the same source that is Wikipedia, I don't know where they suggest the weapon test theory since the first sentence under the subtitle 'theories' unambiguously say that "avalanche damage is considered one of the more plausible explanation for this incident". Then, about the ball of lightning and (if I may) radioactivity, since I'm pretty sure that none of that stuff turns up in the original documents from the incident, I'll argue that those were added later by people who just can't resist making things spookier than the incident actually are. [[User:Kagakujinjya|Kagakujinjya]] ([[User talk:Kagakujinjya|talk]]) 06:53, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
As a semi-professional mountaineer and a last-year medical student, I'd like to point out some commonly and erroneusly believed data. Surely I'm not a professional and I underline that I still can't explain what really happened there. But some facts should be understood. Firstly, I don't think the Avalanche explanation is reasonable. It's very clear that 4 of dead bodies found in a place which about 1.5 kilometers away from the tent. If it's really an avalanche, I assure you, you cannot be able to run away (like 1.5 kilometers!) before it catches and bury you under the snow. Plus, such an avalanche should bury all the tent under the snow level, not particially. Yet, sometimes it isn't an avalanche, I mean, an amount of snow comes down from the peak, makes a loud noise and terrifies you to the bones as you worngly fear that "Avalanche is coming and will bury me alive".. and may partly covers the tent. Yes, this is more reasonable. The tent might have been covered up with the snow and made it all fallen-down, frightening the Dyatlov squad so bad that they tore the tent to get out immediately. But, there I need to object. These nine peole are a group of experienced mountaineers. When got out from the hole of the tent, experienced mountaineers should have easily seen that it wasn't an avalanche. They should have relax and, after enough time, start mocking each other for how he/she pissed off like a kitty. But they ran down the hill for 1.5 kilometers without their suitable clothes and equipment! No sir, I don't think such replacement of snow levels in this amount, would make the Dyatlov squad to act this way. In the diary of the squad, a member of group wrote they had settled the tent on a low degree of slope on the eastern façade of the mountain, which makes the avalanche and snow replacement less possible. By the way, I have seen four different avalanches so far. I have seen a couple mountaineers died of it. Yet, I don't see any possibility of such avalanche may cause a spot and penetrative head injury as it happened in the incident. An avalanche smashes you. The snow gets in your nostrils and ears, makes you paralyzed with permanant necrosis in your extremites, usually damages your urinary tracts, causes mesenteric ischemia due to the shock, applies pressure on your ribs (rarely can make fractures, either) But it doesn't make your skull crashed. It'll be more realistic to say spot injuries on skull needs spot or high-pressured impacts, not blunt ones. (A better and more detailed account for this point is also can be read on the official document)<br />
<br />
And secondly, scavenging animal idea can be an explanation for the lost tongue, true. However, in autopsy report (I didn't save the link for the original report, I wish I did), it said that the loss of tongue starts from glottal root, which makes whole thing another debate. During the process of decay, soft tissues like tongue degenerate and regress. It would be normal if a smaller tongue was found. And a missing part in the tongue could mean wolves, rats or pigeons had had a feast of fresh human meat. But even after many years of decay, corpse should still obtain some amount of tongue tissue. And unless you're an animal obsessive with the little red worm in the hunt's mouth, you don't spend extra effort to eat it all starting from the root. You prefer more muscled and delicious parts like femoral area or abdominal organs. In the conclusion, after 56 years, nothing really explains a lack of tongue in the mountaineer's dead mouth. <br />
<br />
Yet, the general scientific idea for the weird shade of skin is right, I think. All the decay processes includes this so-called "tanning". Furthermore, the radiation issue is explained with Kyshtym disaster happened 18 months before the incident and not very distant to the mountain pass. I don't know how radiation effects on the material like in these occasions, even months later. But it seems satisfying to me. It's not mentioned here but another theory is based on the foamy saliva seen on the perioral region of Igor Dyatlov's dead body. I don't know if we can use Occam's Razor on this finding but when I was a student in Forensic Medicine Rotation, we were tought that most basic explanation for foamy saliva is toxication. So if we'll talk about Occam's Razor, signs of dread and delirium in the squad, panic-caused runaway from the tent, injuries could be caused of it and the foamy saliva may lead us to the toxication of gas, which is compatible with "Soviet weapon" claims. <br />
<br />
I don't want to support any of the theories without many other possible evidences to be declared. But I really can't accept the claim that an avalanche was the reason. You can't escape out of an avalanche and a non-avalanche snow replacement doesn't make you so frightened. Moreover, this explanation is not a real explanation for heavy injuries. Actually, many specialists of the first expedition equip in 1959 thought it had not be able to be an avalanche happened there when they considered the geography of the mountain they discovered the tent (You can have a little trip on Google to find the thoughts of the specialists) While this remains a mystery, how do we think the incident so explainable ? <br />
<br />
I know some people wants such incidents to remain mysterious. Nevertheless, I see sometimes we skeptical people are over-simplistic to have an explanation. So, unlike Randall do, I see no point of marking the Dyatlov Pass Incident as "Very Explainable". However, I guess this all has an explanation in the Russian goverment secret archieves. In 2008, the official TV channel of Russian federation opened up the case again. In many interviews it was told, some curious people during 1980 digged deeper to reach further investigations but all of them was confronted with a goverment block and strictly advised to stay out of this case. I don't know, it seems more scientific to say there is some more hidden behind locked doors and document boxes for some reason in this incident than carelessly insisting on avalanche, wolves and paradoxical undressing. <br />
I apologize for my bad English grammar. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.74|141.101.99.74]] 18:14, 2 April 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Off the chart up and to the right<br />
<br />
How the Universe came into existence (the physics and math behind "Why is there something rather than nothing?") is far weirder with less of an explanation than anything on Randall's chart – scientists' claims, which redefine "nothing," notwithstanding. And then how life started and evolved (the chemistry and biology – and quantum physics? – at the transition point between inanimate amino acids and cells and the subsequent arrival of ''homo sapiens'') is almost as strange as the Big Bang. ''– [[User:Tbc|tbc]] ([[User talk:Tbc|talk]]) 18:34, 20 March 2015 (UTC)''<br />
:Yep. And how to make a star. And how to make a planet. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 11:19, 21 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
::Hydrogen + Time [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.192|108.162.216.192]] 14:28, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:::Plus... magic? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.158|108.162.249.158]] 05:22, 24 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Inaccurate explainability rating<br />
<br />
I've read the Russian wikipedia article on Dyatlov Pass Incident and not only it's incredibly weird (much more details than condensed English article), but also no plausible explanation is provided that would account for all the incredibly weird stuff going on. I have no idea how that could be awarded 96% explainability.<br />
<br />
UVB-76, on the other hand, is a pretty easy to explain as one-time-pad encrypted military broadcast, with buzzing to occupy the frequency and discourage others from using it. How is that just 23% explainable, I have no idea. That's what I've found in Russian sources, anyway.<br />
<br />
Also, the Toynbee Tiles mystery is pretty much solved if you trust "Duerr, Justin. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles" as a source.<br />
<br />
There are even more inconsistencies pointed out above. At first I've suspected that the scale is accidentally inverted, but D.B. Cooper story is pretty poorly explained, so it's more like the whole thing is just randomly messed up.<br />
--[[User:Shnatsel|Shnatsel]] ([[User talk:Shnatsel|talk]]) 19:54, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;UVB-76<br />
<br />
Is it seriously that hard to explain the "UVB-76" thing? I've been listening to this thing for a year now and even have explained how it works from the innards a few months back. Besides, it's not even called UVB-76, it was a mishear of UZB-76, and it's not even that callsign anymore. The callsign has changed to MDZhB and it is a marker to occupy the frequency of the "Codename Vulkan" communications channel. The way this thing works is that it is a bunch of gears that control a buzzer, when the Buzzer goes down you can hear it winding down and the repairmen screwing in some things when they come in.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.9|108.162.219.9]] 20:49, 20 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The Obvious: one of at least three such stations used by the Russian military(see also the pip and the squeaky wheel)<br />
The less obvious: the purpose being either secret communication, time synchronization, measuring ionosphere changes, emergency Russian military mobilization with a dead man's switch style of constant commmunication to keep the frequency clear of other users as well as in case Moscow (or in this case Pskov [crazy side note: sister city of Roanoke, Virginia]), or something else<br />
Unclear: other things about it<br />
[[Special:Contributions/173.245.55.26|173.245.55.26]] 05:16, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Lost Colony<br />
<br />
Before the Roanoke colonists left, they carved "Croatan" into a post. The Croatan were a small native tribe living on the coast, who'd had friendly relations with the colonists. They disappeared along with them. A generation or two later, a completely new tribe called the Lumbee were found living further inland, with some caucasian features and using European farming techniques. It's pretty obvious what happened. [[User:Shanek|Shanek]] ([[User talk:Shanek|talk]]) 19:20, 21 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; MH370<br />
<br />
I had no idea that *'''nothing'''* of MH370 was ever found (or at least so far). Reading up on the wikipedia article makes me even more confused: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MH370_initial_search_Southeast_Asia.svg this map] shows the plane going westward basically towards india but then [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MH370_SIO_search.png this map] shows the searches *'''west of Australia'''* and going *'''down to Antartica'''*! WTF?? What the hell happened to that plane?! It's now been a *'''year'''* and *'''nothing'''* was found at all. Totally weird and unexplained. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 23:50, 21 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: ... and here's the explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_search_for_MH370.png. Still freaking mind-boggling if you ask me. That thing could as well be in Khazakstan for all we know. Terrifying. --[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 00:02, 22 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; sort order<br />
<br />
The arrangement of entries in the table seemed random to me. I moved them around so the weirdest entries are at the beginning and the most easily explained are at the end. Thus the joke entry is last, as a punch line. [[User:Pesthouse|Pesthouse]] ([[User talk:Pesthouse|talk]]) 01:18, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; The Taman Shud Case<br />
<br />
This is one of the weirdest mysteries I've come across. I'd be surprised if Randall hasn't heard of it, though. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Shud_Case Wikipedia]. [[User:Mark314159|Mark314159]] ([[User talk:Mark314159|talk]]) 01:22, 23 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
; z axis<br />
<br />
Too bad that comics can't be 3D (or at least not convincingly) since an axis<br />
"Time you wasted on googling around on topic X after reading the comic" would<br />
be very interesting...I browsed on Songfacts more than all else combined -<br />
talk about priorities :-) [[Special:Contributions/198.41.243.240|198.41.243.240]] 16:13, 26 March 2015 (UTC)</div>141.101.99.74