https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=172.71.150.171&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T17:22:14ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1137:_RTL&diff=296911Talk:1137: RTL2022-10-17T17:20:45Z<p>172.71.150.171: </p>
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<div>&#x202e [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.171|172.71.150.171]] 17:20, 17 October 2022 (UTC)--<br />
There's a typo in the comic - hte should be eht for "the" spelled backwards -jars99<br />
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:Unless you consider "th" a single character, which by the way makes a lot of sense as it is derived from old-english "eth". {{unsigned|62.245.198.190}}<br />
::Unless you further consider that "they" doesn't share that in the comic, making it internally inconsistent. [[Special:Contributions/76.122.5.96|76.122.5.96]] 11:40, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::It should be noted that at some point, "the" was corrected. [[User:Rawmustard|Rawmustard]] ([[User talk:Rawmustard|talk]]) 16:42, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Acutally, unicode 202e doesn't "flip proceeding text back-to-front", it overrides the direction, setting it to "right-to-left" for the following text. It's back-to-front for most of us like "left-to-right" is to other writing systems. I know it's nitpicking, but xkcd readers should appreciate the symmetry. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 07:23, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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I don't see the reversed title. My window manager is not UTF-8 compatible, so when a window title is set to string containing UTF-8 characters, it doesn't change. This brings the question if it really is a browser problem or if the browsers behave as expected and the window manager is at fault. -- [[Special:Contributions/89.177.52.2|89.177.52.2]] 09:17, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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:It's not a ''problem'' per sec. Browsers that get the reversed title are processing the UTF symbol correctly, there's no bug there. And the window manager has no bearing on the title text except for maybe font. [[User:Davidy22|<span title="I want you."><u><font color="purple" size="2px">David</font><font color="green" size="3px">y</font></u><sup><font color="indigo" size="1px">22</font></sup></span>]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 09:32, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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::Well its the window manager that renders the window title, but it is composed by the Browser. I think that the browser should insert an appropriate number of U+202c characters, in this case it should be "xkcd: [U+202e]LTR[U+202c] - Mozilla Firefox". That would render as xkcd: RTL - Mozilla Firefox". By the way, the tab caption in Firefox is "xkcd: LTR". In Chromium and Opera it is shown correctly as "xkcd: RTL". [[User:Joha.ma|Joha.ma]] ([[User talk:Joha.ma|talk]]) 09:47, 21 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Another way to see this in effect is to try to type in this test page: http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/202e/browsertest.htm - and this also works in etherpad, as suggested in the caption.--[[User:Anarcat|Anarcat]] ([[User talk:Anarcat|talk]]) 00:09, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
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Black Hat seems to have used U+202b, not e. The individual characters are left-to-right. Check the D, E, L, N, S, and ? [[Special:Contributions/24.193.153.138|24.193.153.138]] 02:46, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:No, U+202e does not actually mirror the characters themselves, just the displayed order. U+202b only changes the order for characters that don't have embedded direction, such as the period, which can be used with multiple languages. [[User:Bugefun|Bugefun]] ([[User talk:Bugefun|talk]]) 05:00, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
::Actually, it does mirror some characters, namely those that have the ''mirrored'' property. For example, the parentheses or mathematical relations like the less-than sign. [http://www.unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/BidiMirroring.txt Here] is a list of them. --[[User:Ulm|Ulm]] ([[User talk:Ulm|talk]]) 12:34, 22 November 2012 (UTC)<br />
:::The text is not always mirrored - some browsers and font-sets do not 'understand' U+202E, so the text here might be displayed with a box before it. [[Special:Contributions/173.49.135.77|173.49.135.77]] 15:24, 27 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
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The title of this comic has an embedded RTL in the title, as has been noted somewhere. Because of this, Randall's Archive page is now screwed up, with all titles before this comic (listed after this comic on the Archive page in descending order) now being reversed. Ha, ha! He hacked himself!<br />
[[Special:Contributions/70.111.5.179|70.111.5.179]] 01:59, 14 January 2013 (UTC)larK<br />
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just randomly came across this comic today, and not only is the title LTR, but also preceeded by some gibberish characters: "‮LTR" using firefox, don't know how - i don't think it has always been like that on my machine... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.187|162.158.89.187]]<br />
:Same here (as in on Firefox). Kinda messed up my 'looking stuff up on explainxkcd' workflow... It also shows up like that on InternetExplorer.[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.110|108.162.229.110]] 15:21, 2 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
::It's working for me right now; title shows as RTL, and Firefox's title bar shows "xkcd: xoferiF allizoM - RTL". As for those gibberish characters, that's U+202e in the wrong encoding -- probably Windows-1252 instead of UTF-8. Check your browser's encoding if it's still happening. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]]) 23:54, 16 June 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::For me it is xkcd:emhorC eglooG - RTL --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 05:28, 17 June 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I can't remember which key to hold down while doing the 202e bit. So far, Ctrl, left-Alt, right-Alt, and Ctrl-Alt don't work. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.107|198.41.238.107]] 05:21, 7 December 2021 (UTC)</div>172.71.150.171https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2003:_Presidential_Succession&diff=2968152003: Presidential Succession2022-10-15T21:36:35Z<p>172.71.150.171: /* List of specific individuals */ Sudo retook the 2022 championship</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2003<br />
| date = June 6, 2018<br />
| title = Presidential Succession<br />
| image = presidential_succession.png<br />
| titletext = Ties are broken by whoever was closest to the surface of Europa when they were born.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
The {{w|United States presidential line of succession}} is the order of people who serve as president if the current incumbent president is incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office. <br />
<br />
The {{w|Presidential_Succession_Act#Presidential_Succession_Act_of_1947|Presidential Succession Act of 1947}} revised the presidential order of succession to its current order. This Act, though never challenged in the courts, may not be constitutional for two reasons. First, the Act names two members of Congress as successors. There are serious questions as to whether this violates the principle of Separation of Powers. The second issue is that the Act allows for anyone skipped over for succession to later assume the office if circumstances change to allow them to hold it. This would mean that the person in question could effectively unseat a sitting President, which raises serious constitutional issues. <br />
<br />
There are also practical concerns regarding the Act. The line of succession includes all members of the Cabinet in the order that their department was established, with the oldest departments first. No consideration is given to which departments would be most relevant to the Presidency, particularly considering that this type of succession would presumably involve a serious crisis, which the new president would need to be able to address immediately. The Department of Homeland Security is in charge of the security and protection of the United States and its citizens and would probably already be privy to sensitive intelligence and briefings related to national security, but because it is the latest of the Departments to have been established (in 2003), the Secretary of Homeland Security is last in the current Presidential line of succession, behind Secretaries in much less sensitive roles, such as those of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Education.<br />
<br />
Another concern is that, by including members of Congress immediately after the Vice President, there is a serious risk that the simultaneous death of the President and Vice President could cause the Presidency to change to the opposing party, which could lead to serious political instability at the precise moment when the country is facing a national crisis. It even presents the possibility that simultaneous assassinations of the President and Vice President could function as an effective coup, shifting power to their opponents. <br />
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Finally, there is the issue that, usually, everyone in the line of succession lives and works in Washington D.C. Hence, a sufficiently destructive attack or natural disaster impacting the city could realistically incapacitate all of them, leaving the USA leaderless at a time of extreme crisis. It is already established practice in the USA that everyone in this line not gather together at once. In cases where most senior government officials gather (such as the {{w| State of the Union}}), at least one member of the line of succession (referred to as the "designated survivor") is secured off-site, and would assume the presidency in the unlikely event that a {{w| mass casualty event}} were to kill or incapacitate everyone else in the line. However, disasters impacting an entire city remain a possibility, and no provision is made for them in current law.<br />
<br />
To correct these issues, a think tank known as the {{w| Continuity of Government Commission}} prepared a report recommending a new line of succession, which would not include members of Congress, would reorder the cabinet secretaries so that the most suitable roles would be the first successors, and would include people who do not live or work in Washington DC. The full text of their report can be found [https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/06_continuity_of_government.pdf here]. A short, readable summary, including the report's recommended new line of succession, is [https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-continuity-of-the-presidency-the-second-report-of-the-continuity-of-government-commission here]. <br />
<br />
The first six members of the commission's list are taken from the current line of succession, though the order is changed; they propose that after this, five new people should be appointed specifically for the purpose of assuming the presidency, if needed. Randall's list begins with these eleven people (combining the five new appointees into #7); afterwards, his list becomes increasingly comical and ridiculous.<br />
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Randall's list omits members of Congress, as well as other cabinet positions, in accordance with the report's concerns about constitutionality and qualifications. However, his other additions totally ignore these issues, including people with no apparent qualifications for the office (such as actors, athletes, and competitive eaters) and people who are constitutionally ineligible for the office. The US Constitution requires that the President of the United States must be a natural-born US citizen, at least 35 years of age, and have resided in the US for at least fourteen years. Randall's list includes many people who don't meet these requirements. Most notably, he includes the entire succession to the British crown, almost none of whom meet the requirement of being natural-born citizens of the United States.<br />
<br />
It may be expected that many of the athletes, musicians and actors on this list are likely to be ineligible as well. Most professional athletes in the relevant sports are under 35 years old, particularly those at the peak of their careers (when they'd likely win MVP awards), the most popular musicians also tend to be younger than 35, and many who meet these requirements were not born US citizens (and some many not even reside in the US). However, the existing line of succession can also contain ineligible people, who would simply be skipped over for succession. For example, at the comic's publication, {{w|Elaine Chao}} was the Secretary of Transportation and would normally be 14th in line, but because she is a naturalized citizen of the US, rather than native-born (she was born in Taiwan) she would not qualify for the office if the line came to her.<br />
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The title text mentions that ties will be broken by whoever was closest to the surface of {{w|Europa}} when they were born. Europa is a moon of Jupiter and one of the most likely locations in the Solar System for {{w|Habitability of natural satellites|potential habitability}}. This is likely a parody of systems in which ties are broken by semi-arbitrary rules (such as the older candidate automatically winning a tie) or a randomized ones (such as ties being decided by a coin flip). The position of Europa with respect to Earth at the time of one's birth depends on enough factors that it acts as a pseudo-random tie breaker, albeit a needlessly complicated one.<br />
<br />
The presidential line of succession was first mentioned in [[1933: Santa Facts]]<br />
<br />
==Order of succession==<br />
{| class="wikitable sortable"<br />
!#<br />
!Randall's order<br />
!Current order by the 1947 Act<br />
!Notes<br />
|-<br />
|1<br />
|{{w|POTUS|President}}<br />
|President<br />
|Not generally considered part of the line of succession, as incumbents cannot "succeed" to their own post. (This should really be item 0 on the list.)<br />
|-<br />
|2<br />
|{{w|POTUS|Vice president}}<br />
|Vice president<br />
|This is the same as in the actual line of succession. Succeeding the President is one of the only two roles assigned to the Vice President by the Constitution, the other being presiding over the Senate (including breaking ties), but Vice Presidents are often given additional roles during office.<br />
|-<br />
|3<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State}}<br />
|Speaker of the House of Representatives<br />
|Moved up from 5th position. This is likely a serious suggestion. As mentioned above, the existing Succession Act includes the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tempore of the Senate, which presents serious practical and constitutional issues. The Secretary of State is the chief officer responsible for the country's international relations and diplomatic missions, and would be a logical successor, particularly in times of crisis. <br />
|-<br />
|4<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense}}<br />
|{{w|President pro tempore of the United States Senate|President pro tempore of the Senate}}<br />
|Moved up from 7th position. Likely a serious suggestion. The existing succession places the Secretary of Defense behind the Secretary of the Treasury in succession. If the three preceding officials were simultaneously killed or incapacitated, there would be a high likelihood that the country was under attack, and other powers could easily try to take advantage of any power vacuum. Since the Secretary of Defense is most connected to the nation's military, and most in tune with information regarding potential threats and risks, this would be a logical succession. <br />
|-<br />
|5<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security|Secretary of Homeland Security}}<br />
|Secretary of State<br />
|Moved up from 19th position. Likely a serious suggestion. As with the Secretary of Defense, this officer would likely be closely aligned with the national emergency response infrastructure (including overseeing the {{w|Federal Emergency Management Agency}}), and would be well equipped to deal with a major attack or natural disaster. <br />
|-<br />
|6<br />
|{{w|United States Attorney General|Attorney General}}<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury}} <br />
|Moved up from 8th position. Likely a serious suggestion. The Attorney General oversees national law enforcement, and would be in a position to deal with internal chaos that could result from a disaster that impacted the federal government so deeply. <br />
|-<br />
|7<br />
|Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the President's term and confirmed by the Senate<br />
|Secretary of Defense<br />
|{{w|Washington, D.C.}} is the capital of the United States, and is where the {{w|White House}}, the President's residence, is located. Presumably this provision covers the case where much of the government, including positions 1–6 here, are killed by a natural disaster or attack in Washington, D.C.<br />
<br />
This suggestion establishes no qualifications for these people, but the fact that they'd need to be confirmed by the Senate suggests that they would be chosen to be competent for the role. It is also unclear if an order is determined among these five or if they take up a joint presidency. This suggestion is taken from the Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission to prevent the danger of the entire line of succession being removed in a single event. <br />
|-<br />
|8<br />
|{{w|Tom Hanks}}<br />
|Attorney General<br />
|Academy Award-winning American actor. This is the first unambiguously unserious suggestion.{{Citation needed}} Tom Hanks is very popular and considered exceptionally likeable by many Americans, but has never served in public office or displayed any particular affinity for politics. The implication is that Mr. Hanks would be easily accepted as a leader, based solely on his personal charm. It should also be noticed that Tom Hanks played Jim Lovell, who served in the navy before becoming an astronaut (Many early astronauts were former military members.), in ''Apollo 13'', a military captain in ''Saving Private Ryan'', a prison officer in ''The Green Mile'', a naval intelligence officer in ''James B. Donovan'', and a member of the House of Representatives in ''Charlie Wilson's War''; if Tom Hanks's appearances in movies counted as real-life experience, then he would be adequately qualified.<br />
|-<br />
|9<br />
|State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior}}<br />
|Also taken from Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission. At the time of publication, the last {{w|United States Census}} was the 2010 Census. As California is the most populous state, its Governor ({{w|Jerry Brown}} at the time of publication) would have been first in line. <br />
<br />
See also the {{w|2010_United_States_Census#State_rankings|state population rankings}} and the {{w|list of current United States governors}}. As worded, this criterion would exclude territorial governors (and the Mayor of Washington, D.C.).<br />
|-<br />
|10<br />
|Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of Agriculture|Secretary of Agriculture}}<br />
|Oscars, or {{w|Academy Awards}}, are annual film awards awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. At the time of publication, the only Oscar awarded for playing a governor was {{w|Broderick Crawford}}'s 1949 Best Actor award for the fictional Willie Stark in ''{{w|All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men}}'' (a character based on {{w|Huey Long}}). However, Crawford died in 1986, so would be unable to serve as President.<br />
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This may be a reference to the {{w|Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger}}: a highly-lauded actor who became governor of California, but did not win an Oscar or play a governor before being elected. (As a naturalized citizen, he is also ineligible for the Presidency.)<br />
There is also humor in suggesting that playing a governor delivers just as much expereince as being a governor. (Something similar was mentioned in the section about Tom Hanks, who played, among other things, a member of the House of Representatives.)<br />
|-<br />
|11<br />
|Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar<br />
|{{w|United States Secretary of Commerce|Secretary of Commerce}} <br />
|The {{w|Governors Awards}} are an annual award ceremony hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to present lifetime achievement awards within the film industry. As this award is a lifetime achievement award, it does not seem possible that an actor could win this award for simply playing someone named Oscar. Notwithstanding the nature of the award, at the time of publication, no recipient of a Governors Award has played a character named Oscar.<br />
<br />
Obviously, the joke is that changing the order of the words from the previous proposal produces something that could actually exist.<br />
|-<br />
|12<br />
|{{w|Kate McKinnon}}, if available<br />
|Secretary of Labor<br />
|Comedic actress famous for being a cast member on {{w|Saturday Night Live}}. She is known for her character work and celebrity impressions. She has recently done impersonations of members of the Trump administration including Spokeswoman {{w|Kellyanne Conway}} and Attorney General {{w|Jeff Sessions}}. She also played {{w|Hillary Clinton}} during the 2016 campaign and presumably would have played her when she was President had she won; but since Clinton lost, McKinnon has not actually played a President. At the time the comic was released, she was 34 years 5 months old; thus she was not "available" until seven months later. Being available could also refer to not already having an acting commitment, in which case the comic would be humorously implying that fulfilling her acting roles is more important than the country having leadership.<br />
|-<br />
|13<br />
|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)<br />
|Secretary of Health and Human Services <br />
|The {{w|Billboard Hot 100}} is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. The weekly data is aggregated into a cumulative {{w|Billboard Year-End}} (based on a "year" that ends the third week of November, in order to meet December publication deadlines). At the time of publication, the most recent such list was the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017}}.<br />
<br />
Based on that list, the artists considered for the presidential succession would be: {{w|Ed Sheeran}}, {{w|Luis Fonsi}}, {{w|Bruno Mars}}, {{w|Kendrick Lamar}}, Alex Pall (of {{w|The Chainsmokers}}), {{w|Quavo|Quavoius Keyate Marshall}} (of {{w|Migos}}), {{w|Sam Hunt}}, {{w|Dan Reynolds}} (of {{w|Imagine Dragons}}), and {{w|Post Malone}}. There are only nine names instead of ten because The Chainsmokers had two of the top 10 singles in 2017. Of these, only Luis Fonsi (40 years old, born in Puerto Rico) was legally eligible for the office; all the others were too young, and Sheeran is additionally from the United Kingdom.<br />
|-<br />
|14<br />
|The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time<br />
|Secretary of Housing and Urban Development <br />
|Astronauts are highly respected and rigorously selected, but most have little involvement in politics. According to [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-station-astronaut-record-holders NASA], the top 5 US astronauts by cumulative space time at the time of publication were: {{w|Peggy Whitson}}, {{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}}, {{W|Scott Kelly (astronaut)|Scott Kelly}}, {{w|Mike Fincke}}, and {{w|Mike Foale}}. However, it is unclear whether Foale would qualify as a natural-born citizen, as he was born in the United Kingdom to a British father and American mother.<br />
|-<br />
|15<br />
|{{w|Serena Williams}} (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)<br />
|Secretary of Transportation<br />
|As of the time of publication, Serena Williams was a top female tennis player. She is arguably the greatest female tennis player of all-time, winning 39 {{w|Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam}} titles, including 23 women's singles titles. At the time of publication Serena Williams did win her most recent match (2018 French Open, third round, on June 2nd), although she withdrew from her next match against Maria Sharapova (which perhaps should count as a loss, especially if she withdrew in order to preserve her place in the line of succession and killed everyone in place ahead of her).<br />
<br />
If her most recent defeat was to a non-US player, presumably she would be skipped over in line although this is not explicitly stated (the current succession list skips over anyone who would not normally qualify for not being a natural-born US citizen).<br />
|-<br />
|16<br />
|The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs<br />
|Secretary of Energy<br />
|MVP stands for {{w|Most Valuable Player}}. The 4 listed leagues are the major sports leagues in the United States, the {{w|National Basketball Association}} (NBA), the {{w|National Football League}} (NFL), {{w|Major League Baseball}} (MLB), and the {{w|National Hockey League}} (NHL). We're assuming that Randall meant the regular season MVPs of each league, as each league also awards MVPs for their respective championships (or in the case of the NHL's {{w|Conn Smythe Trophy}}, their entire playoffs).<br />
<br />
As of the time of publication, the most recent MVPs for the listed sports were {{w|Russell Westbrook}} (NBA), {{w|Tom Brady}} (NFL), {{w|José Altuve}} and {{w|Giancarlo Stanton}} (MLB has two, one for the American League and one for the National League), and {{w|Connor McDavid}} (NHL). Of these, only Brady would qualify for the list - Altuve and McDavid are Venezuelan and Canadian citizens respectively, and Westbrook (29) and Stanton (28) were too young.<br />
|-<br />
|17<br />
|{{w|Bill Pullman}} and his descendants by absolute primogeniture<br />
|Secretary of Education <br />
|American actor, known for playing President Thomas J. Whitmore in the 1996 film ''{{w|Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day}}''. <br />
<br />
Absolute primogeniture is a form of succession where the oldest direct descendant regardless of gender receives the title. This is contrasted to {{w|Male-preference primogeniture}}, in which males come before females in the order of the throne, whether the males were born first or not. This may be a reference to the British law {{w|Succession to the Crown Act 2013}}, which changed the order of the throne from male-preference primogeniture to absolute primogeniture. This act allows {{w|Princess Charlotte of Cambridge|Princess Charlotte}} to retain her place in line before {{w|Prince Louis of Cambridge|Prince Louis}}. <br />
<br />
At the time of publication, Pullman's immediate descendants consisted of three children, with Maesa Pullman being the oldest at age 29. Thus all but Bill Pullman himself were too young for the presidency.<br />
|-<br />
|18<br />
|The entire line of succession to the British throne<br />
|Secretary of Veterans Affairs <br />
|According to the Constitution, only a natural-born citizen of the United States can become President, which means that at least most of the line of succession to the British throne is ineligible. However, it is possible that someone in the line of succession to the British throne either is a dual citizen or is not British (a person from outside of Britain or Ireland can become King; for example, some, including George I, were from what is now Germany). <br />
<br />
The first 59 names on the list are {{w|Succession_to_the_British_throne#Current_line_of_succession|here}}. [https://lineofsuccession.co.uk/?date=2018-06-06 British Line of Succession on 6 June 2018] shows the list as it was at the comic's publication. American citizens [http://articles.latimes.com/1988-02-11/news/vw-42233_1_royal-house have, at times] been on the list, but no natural-born Americans were on the list when the comic was published. However, after this comic was published {{w|Archie Mountbatten-Windsor}} was born on May 6, 2019; he is currently seventh in the line of succession to the British throne and has US citizenship through his mother {{w|Meghan, Duchess of Sussex}}. As with Mark Foale, though, whether that qualifies as natural-born has not be tested (leaving aside his age and the fact that many royals in his position have historically relinquished their birthright US citizenship voluntarily, which he may choose to do once he reaches age 16). In theory, the full British succession list includes [http://www.wargs.com/essays/succession/2011.html several thousand people] (living descendants of {{w|Sophia of Hanover}} who are not Roman Catholic or otherwise disqualified), and it is possible that one or more such people would also be eligible to be President of the United States beyond Master Archie. Archie's sister Lillibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born in Santa Barbara, California, USA, on June 4, 2021, making her definitively a natural born US citizen, and thus, theoretically eligible to become US president upon turning 35.<br />
<br />
The humor here derives from the fact that the United States was established by declaring independence from the United Kingdom, with rejection of the British monarchy being a basic founding principle, and a core principle of US governance. To appoint the British monarchy to the American presidency would contradict the basic goals of American independence. Alternatively, it may reference the recent wedding of {{w|Prince Harry}} to {{w|Meghan Markle}}, although she is not in the order of succession. A similar sequence of events was the plotline of the comedy film ''{{w|King Ralph}}'', which saw an American become the British monarch after the death of the royal family.<br />
|-<br />
|19<br />
|The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest<br />
|Secretary of Homeland Security<br />
|The {{w|Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest}} is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition sponsored by {{w|Nathan's Famous}} held on July 4th. As of the time of publication, the most recent men's winner was {{w|Joey Chestnut}} and the women's winner was {{w|Miki Sudo}}. At the time of publication, neither was old enough to assume the office.<br />
<br />
The comic does not specify whether the men's or women's winner should take office, creating a tie that would be broken by distance from Europa at birth. Had they both been eligible, [https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/29132/was-earth-closer-to-europa-on-1983-11-25-or-1985-07-22 Sudo would have won] by between 0.125 and 2.2 {{w|Astronomical unit}}s.<br />
|-<br />
|20<br />
|All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament<br />
|''None''<br />
|Effective for a population up to 536,870,912 individuals (2^29) which would be enough to cover the entire US population (estimated at around 325 million at time of publication), although additional rounds can be added should the population grow further.<br />
<br />
This is probably a reference to the {{w|Matter of Britain}} (e.g., {{w|The Sword in the Stone (film)|The Sword in the Stone}}), where, after the death of Uther Pendragon, with no known successor to the throne of Britain (some versions of the legend refer incorrectly to England) for years, it is decided that the winner of a jousting tournament shall be crowned. However, Arthur, the Wart, pulls the Sword from the Stone.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
===List of specific individuals===<br />
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) '''as of the date the comic was published'''. <br />
#{{w|Donald Trump}} ({{w|President of the United States}})<br />
#{{w|Mike Pence}} ({{w|Vice President of the United States}})<br />
#{{w|Mike Pompeo}} ({{w|United States Secretary of State}})<br />
#{{w|Jim Mattis}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Defense}})<br />
#{{w|Kirstjen Nielsen}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}})<br />
#{{w|Jeff Sessions}} ({{w|United States Attorney General}})<br>As Donald Trump did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Sessions.<br />
#{{w|Tom Hanks}} (Tom Hanks) <br />
#{{w|Jerry Brown}} (Governor of California)<br />
#{{w|Greg Abbott}} (Governor of Texas)<br />
#{{w|Andrew Cuomo}} (Governor of New York)<br />
#{{w|Rick Scott}} (Governor of Florida)<br />
#{{w|Bruce Rauner}} (Governor of Illinois)<br />
#{{w|Tom Wolf}} (Governor of Pennsylvania)<br />
#{{w|John Kasich}} (Governor of Ohio)<br />
#{{w|Rick Snyder}} (Governor of Michigan)<br />
#{{w|Nathan Deal}} (Governor of Georgia)<br />
#{{w|Roy Cooper}} (Governor of North Carolina)<br />
#{{w|Phil Murphy}} (Governor of New Jersey)<br />
#{{w|Ralph Northam}} (Governor of Virginia)<br />
#{{w|Jay Inslee}} (Governor of Washington)<br />
#{{w|Charlie Baker}} (Governor of Massachusetts)<br />
#{{w|Eric Holcomb}} (Governor of Indiana)<br />
#{{w|Doug Ducey}} (Governor of Arizona)<br />
#{{w|Bill Haslam}} (Governor of Tennessee)<br />
#{{w|Mike Parson}} (Governor of Missouri)<br />
#{{w|Larry Hogan}} (Governor of Maryland)<br />
#{{w|Scott Walker (politician)|Scott Walker}} (Governor of Wisconsin)<br />
#{{w|Mark Dayton}} (Governor of Minnesota)<br />
#{{w|John Hickenlooper}} (Governor of Colorado)<br />
#{{w|Kay Ivey}} (Governor of Alabama)<br />
#{{w|Henry McMaster}} (Governor of South Carolina)<br />
#{{w|John Bel Edwards}} (Governor of Louisiana)<br />
#{{w|Matt Bevin}} (Governor of Kentucky)<br />
#{{w|Kate Brown}} (Governor of Oregon) <br> Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.<br />
#{{w|Mary Fallin}} (Governor of Oklahoma)<br />
#{{w|Dannel Malloy}} (Governor of Connecticut)<br />
#{{w|Kim Reynolds}} (Governor of Iowa)<br />
#{{w|Phil Bryant}} (Governor of Mississippi)<br />
#{{w|Asa Hutchinson}} (Governor of Arkansas)<br />
#{{w|Jeff Colyer}} (Governor of Kansas)<br />
#{{w|Gary Herbert}} (Governor of Utah)<br />
#{{w|Brian Sandoval}} (Governor of Nevada)<br />
#{{w|Susana Martinez}} (Governor of New Mexico)<br />
#{{w|Jim Justice}} (Governor of West Virginia)<br />
#{{w|Pete Ricketts}} (Governor of Nebraska)<br />
#{{w|Butch Otter}} (Governor of Idaho)<br />
#{{w|David Ige}} (Governor of Hawaii)<br />
#{{w|Paul LePage}} (Governor of Maine)<br />
#{{w|Chris Sununu}} (Governor of New Hampshire)<br />
#{{w|Gina Raimondo}} (Governor of Rhode Island)<br />
#{{w|Steve Bullock (American politician)|Steve Bullock}} (Governor of Montana)<br />
#{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}} (Governor of Delaware)<br />
#{{w|Dennis Daugaard}} (Governor of South Dakota)<br />
#{{w|Bill Walker (U.S. politician)|Bill Walker}} (Governor of Alaska)<br />
#{{w|Doug Burgum}} (Governor of North Dakota)<br />
#{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}} (Governor of Vermont)<br />
#{{w|Matt Mead}} (Governor of Wyoming) <br> Entries 10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible living members. <br> Kate McKinnon was only 34 years 5 months old at the time the comic was released, making her unavailable.<br />
#{{w|Luis Fonsi}} (Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2017, #2 artist) <br> Fonsi is the only eligible individual under the Billboard criterion.<br />
#{{w|Peggy Whitson}} (Astronaut, 665 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}} (Astronaut, 534 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Scott Kelly}} (Astronaut, 520 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Mike Fincke}} (Astronaut, 382 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Mike Foale}} (Astronaut, 374 days in space) <br> Foale was born in the UK but his mother is an American, and he holds dual citizenship with both countries. It isn't clear legally whether this situation would qualify him as being a "natural-born" citizen as US courts have never definitively ruled on what the term means, so similar to Governor Kate Brown his name is included in the list until further notice.<br />
#{{w|Serena Williams}} <br> Serena's place on this list assumes that you do not count her withdrawal against Maria Sharapova as a ''loss''; if that counts as a loss, then subsequent entries move up one position (as Sharapova is ineligible).<br />
#{{w|Tom Brady}} ({{w|National Football League Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP}}) <br> The MVPs of all other listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality.<br />
#{{w|Bill Pullman}} (Bill Pullman) <br> None of his children are old enough to become President at this time.<br />
#''line of succession to the British throne''<br> Assumes that no eligible member of the British order of succession exists due to citizenship issues. The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating champions were too young to hold the office.<br />
#''everyone else'' (Jousting tournament) <br />
<br />
Based on the comic's defined criteria for the order of succession, these are the specific individuals in that order, including only people who are otherwise eligible to be the President of United States (35 year old and natural born US citizens who lived in US for last 14 years) '''as of the current date'''. (Last updated on 26 January 2022)<br />
#{{w|Joe Biden}} ({{w|President of the United States}})<br />
#{{w|Kamala Harris}} ({{w|Vice President of the United States}})<br />
#{{w|Antony Blinken}} ({{w|United States Secretary of State}})<br />
#{{w|Lloyd Austin}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Defense}})<br />
#{{w|Alejandro Mayorkas}} ({{w|United States Secretary of Homeland Security}}) <br />
#{{w|Merrick Garland}} ({{w|United States Attorney General}})<br> As Joe Biden did not appoint anyone to fill position #7 on Randall's line of succession, Hanks immediately follows after Garland.<br />
#{{w|Tom Hanks}} (Tom Hanks) <br />
#{{w|Gavin Newsom}} (Governor of California)<br />
#{{w|Greg Abbott}} (Governor of Texas)<br />
#{{w|Ron DeSantis}} (Governor of Florida)<br />
#{{w|Kathy Hochul}} (Governor of New York)<br />
#{{w|Tom Wolf}} (Governor of Pennsylvania)<br />
#{{w|J. B. Pritzker}} (Governor of Illinois)<br />
#{{w|Mike DeWine}} (Governor of Ohio)<br />
#{{w|Brian Kemp}} (Governor of Georgia)<br />
#{{w|Roy Cooper}} (Governor of North Carolina)<br />
#{{w|Gretchen Whitmer}} (Governor of Michigan)<br />
#{{w|Phil Murphy}} (Governor of New Jersey)<br />
#{{w|Glenn Youngkin}} (Governor of Virginia)<br />
#{{w|Jay Inslee}} (Governor of Washington)<br />
#{{w|Doug Ducey}} (Governor of Arizona)<br />
#{{w|Charlie Baker}} (Governor of Massachusetts)<br />
#{{w|Bill Lee (Tennessee politician)|Bill Lee}} (Governor of Tennessee)<br />
#{{w|Eric Holcomb}} (Governor of Indiana)<br />
#{{w|Larry Hogan}} (Governor of Maryland)<br />
#{{w|Mike Parson}} (Governor of Missouri)<br />
#{{w|Tony Evers}} (Governor of Wisconsin)<br />
#{{w|Jared Polis}} (Governor of Colorado)<br />
#{{w|Tim Walz}} (Governor of Minnesota)<br />
#{{w|Henry McMaster}} (Governor of South Carolina)<br />
#{{w|Kay Ivey}} (Governor of Alabama)<br />
#{{w|John Bel Edwards}} (Governor of Louisiana)<br />
#{{w|Andy Beshear}} (Governor of Kentucky)<br />
#{{w|Kate Brown}} (Governor of Oregon) <br> Born in Spain to a member of the US Air Force, should be considered a natural-born citizen until proven otherwise.<br />
#{{w|Kevin Stitt}} (Governor of Oklahoma)<br />
#{{w|Ned Lamont}} (Governor of Connecticut)<br />
#{{w|Spencer Cox (politician)|Spencer Cox}} (Governor of Utah)<br />
#{{w|Kim Reynolds}} (Governor of Iowa)<br />
#{{w|Steve Sisolak}} (Governor of Nevada)<br />
#{{w|Asa Hutchinson}} (Governor of Arkansas)<br />
#{{w|Tate Reeves}} (Governor of Mississippi)<br />
#{{w|Laura Kelly}} (Governor of Kansas)<br />
#{{w|Michelle Lujan Grisham}} (Governor of New Mexico)<br />
#{{w|Pete Ricketts}} (Governor of Nebraska)<br />
#{{w|Brad Little}} (Governor of Idaho)<br />
#{{w|Jim Justice}} (Governor of West Virginia)<br />
#{{w|David Ige}} (Governor of Hawaii)<br />
#{{w|Chris Sununu}} (Governor of New Hampshire)<br />
#{{w|Janet Mills}} (Governor of Maine)<br />
#{{w|Gina Raimondo}} (Governor of Rhode Island)<br />
#{{w|Greg Gianforte}} (Governor of Montana)<br />
#{{w|John Carney (politician)|John Carney}} (Governor of Delaware)<br />
#{{w|Kristi Noem}} (Governor of South Dakota)<br />
#{{w|Doug Burgum}} (Governor of North Dakota)<br />
#{{w|Mike Dunleavy (politician)|Mike Dunleavy}} (Governor of Alaska)<br />
#{{w|Phil Scott (politician)|Phil Scott}} (Governor of Vermont)<br />
#{{w|Mark Gordon (politician)|Mark Gordon}} (Governor of Wyoming)<br />
#{{w|Kate McKinnon}} (Kate McKinnon) <br> If she is available. Entries 10 and 11 on Randall's list have no eligible living members.<br />
#{{w|Bruno Mars}}<br/> All other artists on the {{w|Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 2021}} were too young.<br />
#{{w|Peggy Whitson}} (Astronaut, 665 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Jeffrey Williams (astronaut)|Jeff Williams}} (Astronaut, 534 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Scott Kelly}} (Astronaut, 520 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Mike Fincke}} (Astronaut, 382 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Christopher Cassidy}} (Astronaut, 378 days in space)<br />
#{{w|Bill Pullman}} (Bill Pullman) <br> None of Bill Pullman's children are old enough to become President at this time.<br>{{w|Serena Williams}} lost the final match of her career against {{w|Ajla Tomljanović}}, who is ineligible due to age and nationality.<br />
#{{w|Aaron Rodgers}} ({{w|National Football League Most Valuable Player Award|NFL MVP}}) <br>The MVPs of all other listed sports leagues are ineligible for the office due to age or nationality.<br />
#''line of succession to the British throne''<br />
#{{w|Miki Sudo}} (Women’s champion of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest; listed first due to being closer to Europa at birth)<br />
#{{w|Joey Chestnut}} (Men's champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest)<br />
#''everyone else'' (Jousting tournament) <br> Assumes that the number of eligible US Citizens does not exceed 536,870,912.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
: A proposal for a new presidential line of succession<br />
: Current politics aside, most experts agree the existing process is flawed. The Presidential Succession Act of 1947 is probably unconstitutional on several counts, and there are many practical issues with the system as well.<br />
: <span style="color:gray">(For more, see the surprisingly gripping ''Second Report of the Continuity of Government Commission'', June 2009.)</span><br />
: Proposed line of succession:<br />
:# President<br />
:# Vice president<br />
:# Secretary of State<br />
:# Secretary of Defense<br />
:# Secretary of Homeland Security<br />
:# Attorney General<br />
:# Five people who do not live in Washington DC, nominated at the start of the president's term and confirmed by the Senate<br />
:# Tom Hanks<br />
:# State Governors, in descending order of state population at last census<br />
:# Anyone who won an Oscar for playing a governor<br />
:# Anyone who won a Governor's award for playing someone named Oscar<br />
:# Kate McKinnon, if available<br />
:# Billboard year-end Hot 100 singles artists #1 through #10 (for groups, whoever is credited first in name, liner notes, etc)<br />
:# The top 5 US astronauts in descending order of total spaceflight time<br />
:# Serena Williams (or, if she lost her most recent match, whoever beat her)<br />
:# The most recent season NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL MVPs<br />
:# Bull Pullman and his descendants by absolute primogeniture<br />
:# The entire line of succession to the British throne<br />
:# The current champion of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest<br />
:# All other US citizens, chosen by a 29-round single-elimination Jousting tournament<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Politics]]</div>172.71.150.171https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2684:_Road_Space_Comparison&diff=2965852684: Road Space Comparison2022-10-13T15:26:03Z<p>172.71.150.171: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2684<br />
| date = October 12, 2022<br />
| title = Road Space Comparison<br />
| image = road_space_comparison_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 740x1157px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = I wonder how hard it would be to ride an electric scooter in a hamster ball.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a WALKABLE ELECTRIC HAMPSTER BALL ENJOYER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
The comic is a parody of a common comparison done in arguments for walkable cities - the amount of usable space taken up by cars and car-centric infrastructure that could be eliminated for other useful public amenities. The first of these may be from 1965[https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/posters/item/1983-4-7561].<br />
<br />
The first 4 images are common, real-life comparisons involving people walking, people on bicycles, public transport, and cars, which distinctly show how cars take up significantly more space for the same number of people than the other methods of transport. However, from this point the comic becomes more and more absurd in its comparisons.<br />
<br />
The 5th one shows 50 people on a tandem cycle. This would obviously be impractical in a city due to the tandem's sheer length and would not be able to work with fewer people due to its sheer mass. The longest tandem bicycle holds 52 people<ref>https://www.active.com/articles/bicycle-built-for-52-pedals-into-guinness-book</ref>.<br />
<br />
The 6th one involves 20 people driving 40 cars, with each person driving 2 cars at a time by straddling them in the middle. Besides being unwieldy and impractical, it would also be extremely dangerous as the cars could go out of control at any time. Perhaps the cars would be a paired mix of left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive models, although with enough push-rods/levers (to also reach the traditional foot controls, and also gearsticks unless ''fully'' automatic) this might not be as important. However, even if the cars were perfectly safe to drive, it would be unsafe to drive them on most roads; roads with only one lane per direction are common, everywhere from city streets to exit ramps, and attempts to drive a pair of cars down such a road side by side are unlikely to end well.<br />
<br />
(Of course, worse than any of these petty safety concerns is the fact that each person takes up twice as much road space, making most infrastructure a bit less efficient.)<br />
<br />
The 7th one has 30 cars riding on 6 buses by stacking them on top of each other. Assuming the same people-per-car/bus from the earlier examples, this arrangement would have about 345 people riding on the same road! (Unless, of course, the busses are carrying 30 cars ''instead of'' their normal passengers.) In addition, people getting out of the cars when they reach their destination would be a problem for most cars in this arrangement due to them being stacked under other cars or surrounded by them. And as in the previous example, it would be impossible to safely drive anywhere without two clear lanes...and the body count would be considerably higher.<br />
<br />
The 8th panel has 50 people in hamster balls. Randall has shown his interest in human sized [[:Category:Hamster Ball|hamster ball]] transportation before, and indeed this would be an enjoyable way to traverse a road, provided no other hamster balls try to drive into you and knock you off the road. The image shows 39 hamster balls, implying that roughly one in four has a passenger; under these constraints, they appear to be slightly more efficient than cars.<br />
<br />
The 9th panel has 40 tiny cars pulling a big one. Such feats of strengths are a common sight while setting world records, so maybe this is a world record attempt by the cars in question. It is unknown how many people fit in the big car; judging by its size, it likely fits more than a single bus and less than three.<br />
<br />
The 10th panel is a 50 person variation on the classic {{w|wolf, goat and cabbage problem}} (which has also been [[2348: Boat Puzzle|referenced before]] by Randall) except this one involves 30 goats, 20 cabbages and 10 wolves trying to cross the now-flooded road with a single boat. It is not known how many people (or cabbages for that matter) the boat fits, but since humans significantly outnumber the goats, cabbages and wolves, it seems like a much simpler problem, though not necessarily without difficulty. it is, however, rather off that it appears the road runs directly into the body of water involved.<br />
<br />
The title text proposes a problem related to another alternative form of transport &mdash; the electric scooter. Randall wonders how well an electric scooter would function when run inside the hamster ball. This would probably function like some sort of spherical {{w|monowheel}}.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
[Overhead views of many traffic scenarios are shown, with the last one being part of a river with road on either side.]<br />
{|class="wikitable" style="marginauto"<br />
|+Road space comparision<br />
|-<br />
!50 people walking!!50 people riding bikes!!50 people riding a bus!!50 people in 33 cars!!50 people on one tandem bicycle<br />
|-<br />
|[A picture of 50 people walking on the left lane of a road.]||[A picture of 50 bicycles with people on them on the left lane of a road.]||[A picture of a single bus.]||[A picture of 33 cars filling the road.]||[A picture of 50 people on one long tandem bicycle.]<br />
|-<br />
!20 people driving 40 cars!!30 cars riding on 6 buses!!50 people in human-sized hamster balls!!One giant car pulled by 40 smaller ones!!50 people with 30 goats, 20 cabbages, and 10 wolves<br />
|-<br />
|[A picture of 40 cars with 20 people between them with one leg in each side window.]||[A picture of 30 cars stacked as to fit on 6 buses.]||[50 hamster balls, each containing a person.]||[A large car connected to 40 normal cars by rope.]||[A picture of a road separated by a river. In said river is a dock and boat, and on the side closest to us are 50 people, 30 goats, 20 cabbages, and 10 wolves.]<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Hamster Ball]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>172.71.150.171https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2684:_Road_Space_Comparison&diff=296545Talk:2684: Road Space Comparison2022-10-12T22:13:42Z<p>172.71.150.171: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
Hold on, I'm trying to concoct an interesting 30 goats/20 cabbages/10 wolves problem... [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 20:53, 12 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
S3C0ND P0ST [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.131|172.71.150.131]] 21:12, 12 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
You have no idea how many car-centric infrastructure arguments happen in my discord servers, this is a fantastic comic to post for that[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.55|188.114.102.55]] 21:23, 12 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What if the last panel also references other river crossing puzzles like the "Missionaries and cannibals problem" or the Flash "Japanese River Crossing" puzzle so you have extra rules for each member of each species? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.97|172.71.98.97]] 22:11, 12 October 2022 (UTC) Alex<br />
<br />
My name is GreyFox, and I added the transcript for this page. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.171|172.71.150.171]] 22:13, 12 October 2022 (UTC)</div>172.71.150.171https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2684:_Road_Space_Comparison&diff=296544Talk:2684: Road Space Comparison2022-10-12T22:13:02Z<p>172.71.150.171: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
Hold on, I'm trying to concoct an interesting 30 goats/20 cabbages/10 wolves problem... [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 20:53, 12 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
S3C0ND P0ST [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.131|172.71.150.131]] 21:12, 12 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
You have no idea how many car-centric infrastructure arguments happen in my discord servers, this is a fantastic comic to post for that[[Special:Contributions/188.114.102.55|188.114.102.55]] 21:23, 12 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What if the last panel also references other river crossing puzzles like the "Missionaries and cannibals problem" or the Flash "Japanese River Crossing" puzzle so you have extra rules for each member of each species? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.97|172.71.98.97]] 22:11, 12 October 2022 (UTC) Alex<br />
<br />
My name is GreyFox, and I added the transcript for this page.</div>172.71.150.171https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2684:_Road_Space_Comparison&diff=2965392684: Road Space Comparison2022-10-12T21:54:10Z<p>172.71.150.171: /* Transcript */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2684<br />
| date = October 12, 2022<br />
| title = Road Space Comparison<br />
| image = road_space_comparison_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 740x1157px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = I wonder how hard it would be to ride an electric scooter in a hamster ball.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CHAD WALKABLE CITIES ENJOYER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
The comic is a parody of a common comparison done in arguments for walkable cities - the amount of usable space taken up by cars and car-centric infrastructure that could be eliminated for other useful public amenities. It may be inspired by a parody that compares the space taken up by 50 people on different modes of transportation, to 150,000 bats flying over the roadway. Like the parody, this strip devolves further into absurdity.<br />
<br />
The first 4 ones are common, real-life comparisons involving people walking, people on bicycles, public transport and private car ownership, which distinctly show how all the alternatives to cars take up significantly less space than cars do for the same amount of people. However it is from this point the comic starts becoming more and more absurd in its comparisons.<br />
<br />
The 5th one shows 50 people on a tandem cycle. This would obviously be impractical in a city due to its sheer length and would not be able to work with less people due to its sheer mass. The longest tandem bicycle holds about 20 people{{Actual citation needed}} which this bicycle outstrips by a significant margin.<br />
<br />
The 6th one involves 20 people driving 40 cars, with each person driving 2 cars at a time by straddling them in the middle. Besides being unwieldy and impractical it is also extremely dangerous as the cars could go out of control at any time. Its also results in a really bad traffic jam.<br />
<br />
The 7th one has 30 cars riding on 6 buses by stacking them on top of each other. Assuming the same people-per-car/bus ratio from the earlier examples, this arrangement would have about 345 people riding across the same road! However, people getting out of the car when they reach somewhere is a problem for most cars in this arrangement however due to them being stacked under other cars or surrounded by them.<br />
<br />
The 8th panel has 50 people in hamster balls. Randall has shown his interest in human sized [[:Category:Hamster Ball|hamster ball]] transportation before, and indeed this would be an enjoyable way to traverse a road, provided no other hamster balls try to drive into you and knock you off the road.<br />
<br />
The 9th panel has 40 tiny cars pulling a big one. Such feats of strengths are a common sight while setting world records, so maybe this is a world record attempt by the cars in question. It is unknown how many people fit in the big car.<br />
<br />
The 10th panel is a 50 person variation on the classic Boat Crossing Puzzle, which has also been [[2348: Boat Puzzle|referenced before]] by Randall, except this one involves 30 goats, 20 cabbages and 10 wolves trying to cross the now-flooded road with a single boat. It is not known how many people (or cabbages for that matter) the boat fits, but since humans significantly outnumber the goats, cabbages and wolves it doesn't seem like too much of a problem.<br />
<br />
The title text proposes a problem related to another alternative form of transport - the electric scooter. Randall wonders how well an electric scooter would function when run inside the hamster ball. This would probably function like a monowheel of sorts.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|I promise I will finish it! -- GreyFox}}<br />
[A picture of many traffic scenarios are shown, with the last one being part of a river with road on either side.]<br />
{|class="wikitable" style="marginauto"<br />
|+Road space comparision<br />
|-<br />
!50 people walking!!50 people riding bikes!!50 people riding a bus!!50 people in 33 cars!!50 people on one tandem bicycle<br />
|-<br />
|A picture of 50 people walking on the left lane of a road.||A picture of 50 bicycles with people on them on the left lane of a road.||A picture of a single bus.||A picture of 33 cars filling the road||A picture of 50 people on one long tandem bicycle.<br />
|-<br />
|}<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Hamster Ball]]</div>172.71.150.171https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2680:_Battery_Life&diff=2960802680: Battery Life2022-10-04T23:53:59Z<p>172.71.150.171: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2680<br />
| date = October 3, 2022<br />
| title = Battery Life<br />
| image = battery_life_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 264x251px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = It's okay, I'm at 10%, so I'm good for another month or two.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT WITH ONE MONTH OF BATTERY LIFE LEFT. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
Smartphones run on batteries that require frequent charging; they may also be frequently replaced with a newer model by their user, though for various reasons other than the battery life. In this comic, instead of charging his phone every day for a few years and then buying a new phone, [[Cueball]] has obtained a phone with a battery big enough to last supposedly until the phone will be replaced after a few years. This appears to make for a phone of cumbersome weight and size. According to the caption, 10% of battery life correspondents to 1–2 months; this suggests a total battery life and hence product life of 10–20 months, which is not a few years.{{Citation needed}} However, [https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/09/07/how-much-energy-does-your-iphone-and-other-devices-use-and-what-to-do-about-it/?sh=6f8e6fed2f70 a smartphone requires around 2 kWh per year], so this 12 kWh battery could have been expected to last longer. A 12 kWh battery weighing 100 pounds (45 kg) has an energy density of 264.6 Wh/kg, about equal to the high-estimate of the energy density of {{w|Lithium-ion battery|lithium-ion batteries}} of 100–265 Wh/kg. However, it is well below the practically achievable energy densities of (non-rechargeable, as befits the application) {{w|Zinc-air battery|zinc-air batteries}} at around 400 Wh/kg. Unfortunately, {{w|Self-discharge}} means that if this battery is lithium polymer, it will lose on average 5% of its charge per month, which totals to 46% lost each year. If this were a non rechargeable battery such a lithium metal, its battery life could be much longer.<br />
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This may be a commentary on very large external portable charging devices. At present (October, 2022) the largest cell-phone sized charging devices [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09H4GLZXT/ hold almost 40000mAh and can weigh almost a pound]. Even [https://www.amazon.com/Jackery-Explorer-Portable-capacity-Emergency/dp/B0B8ZLZ53M larger devices are available weighing over 40 lbs] in different form factors. We buy cell phones because of their small size and convenience{{Citation needed}}, and end up buying extra external battery power for them that adds significant extra weight and bulk.<br />
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[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Phones]]<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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:[Cueball carries a gigantic battery with a phone in it in three different positions in frame.]<br />
:[Text on battery in first image:] 12 kWh<br />
:[Caption:] Plugging in my phone is a pain, so I got one with a 100lb battery, and when it runs out of charge every few years I just upgrade.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>172.71.150.171https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2016:_OEIS_Submissions&diff=2960692016: OEIS Submissions2022-10-04T17:44:50Z<p>172.71.150.171: /* Explanation */ linked first two sequences</p>
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<div><noinclude>:''"2016", this comic's number, redirects here. For the comic named "2016", see [[1624: 2016]].''</noinclude><br />
{{comic<br />
| number = 2016<br />
| date = July 6, 2018<br />
| title = OEIS Submissions<br />
| image = oeis_submissions.png<br />
| titletext = SUB[59]: The submission numbers for my accepted OEIS submissions in chronological order<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
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The {{w|OEIS}} is the [https://oeis.org/ Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences], a listing of hundreds of thousands of sequences of integers, generally of real mathematical interest, such as {{w|prime number}}s ([https://oeis.org/A000040 A000040]) or {{w|Armstrong number}}s ([https://oeis.org/A005188 A005188]). The OEIS normally expects submissions to be accompanied by references to scholarly articles about, or at least referencing, the sequence. They would not be interested in the personal or idiosyncratic sequences proposed by Randall, though they do have the [https://oeis.org/A000053 list of subway stops on the New York City Broadway line (IRT #1)], perhaps because a NY Times article mentioned that they don't. <br />
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Randall is trying to put his integer sequences on the OEIS website, including making OEIS reveal its password.<br />
;sub[43] - All integers which do not appear in the example terms of another OEIS sequence<br />
:Every OEIS sequence lists several example terms to demonstrate the content of said sequence. This request wants to list all integers which are ''not'' used as examples elsewhere. Any numbers used as example terms for this sequence are not counted, so this list is not self-disqualifying. It is well-defined at any given time. Like many other OEIS sequences, it has infinitely many terms (more precisely, it includes all integers except a finite number). However, it may change at any time, whenever a new sequence or a new example is added to the OEIS. If included, it would therefore have to be constantly updated. <br />
:Such integers are sometimes called "{{w|Interesting number paradox|uninteresting numbers}}" in mathematical terms, and attempts have been made to count them. The list changes, but [http://math.crg4.com/uninteresting.html#note4 in July 2009] it began 11630, 12067, 12407, 12887, 13258...<br />
;sub[44] - Integers in increasing order of width when printed in Helvetica<br />
:This sequence is not uniquely defined as it depends on the specific version of the {{w|Helvetica}} font used, its point size, the software used to render it (e.g. kerning algorithm), the handling of equal widths by the sorting algorithm and possibly other parameters. Also, all digits usually have the same width, with the exception of the sequence "11", which is a tiny bit narrower because a kerning pair exists in Helvetica. Without an additional tie-breaker for equal width numbers, the order is: 1 to 9 in no particular order, 11, 10 and 12 to 99 in no particular order and so on; for a particular choice of parameters the first 50 terms might be: 1, 9, 6, 2, 8, 5, 0, 7, 3, 4, 11, 61, 71, 91, 21, 51, 81, 41, 31, 19, 13, 18, 10, 12, 15, 16, 14, 17, 69, 63, 68, 79, 60, 62, 65, 73, 78, 99, 93, 98, 66, 70, 72, 75, 29, 90, 92, 95, 23, 28... <br />
:Despite all of the above issues, and as a direct response to this comic, a well-defined version of this sequence was [https://oeis.org/A316599 added to the OEIS].<br />
;sub[45] - The digits of Chris Hemsworth's cell phone number<br />
:An attempt to {{w|Phishing|phish}} the phone number of actor {{w|Chris Hemsworth}}. Luckily for the OEIS there is a loophole to this request: the correct ordering of the digits isn't specified.<br />
;sub[46] - All integers, in descending order<br />
:To list all integers in descending order, you would have to begin at the largest integer, but there is no largest integer, so this is impossible. It is equally impossible to list all integers in ''ascending'' order, for that matter.<br />
:On the other hand, [https://oeis.org/A001477 A001477] is the sequence of all nonnegative integers in ascending order, as there is the smallest nonnegative integer. Also, [https://oeis.org/A001057 A001057] is the sequence of all integers, but in canonical order (i.e. by increasing absolute value).<br />
;sub[47] - The digits of the OEIS serial number for this sequence<br />
:This sequence is only important tautologically. <br />
;sub[48] - 200 terabytes of nines<br />
:This submission appears to be a joke on common video game limits for, e.g., currency or ammunition, in which the maximum a player can carry is one less than a power of 10. This sequence would be entirely useless, as there is no mental effort required to conceive a list that consists only of a single repeated term, however arbitrarily large. Such a list is also incredibly wasteful; to give a comparison, [https://phys.org/news/2016-05-math-proof-largest-terabytes.html this very large math proof from 2016] is also 200 terabytes, and requires a supercomputer to hold in its entirety.<br/><br />
:200 terabytes is equal to 2&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>14</sup> bytes. In UTF-8, each ASCII character, including control characters such as ␂ (start of text) and ␍ (carriage return), can be represented by a single byte. If the list is presumed to be formatted as "␂9␍9␍9 ... 9␍9␃", the first term would take up 3 bytes, and all other terms would take up 2 bytes. Assuming Randall wants the file size to be 200 terabytes ''minimum'', the resulting list would be a minimum of 1&nbsp;×&nbsp;10<sup>14</sup>, or 100 trillion, terms long.<br />
:Curiously, OEIS does in fact contain an entry that lists "[https://oeis.org/A010734 all nines]" which contains this proposal as a subsequence.<br />
;sub[49] - The decimal representation of the bytes in the root password to the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences server<br />
:This would give any user the password to OEIS. Anyone can {{w|Internet troll|easily forecast}} what happens next. Perhaps the idea is to hack OEIS on the premise that accepting this sequence will force OEIS staff to populate it.<br />
;sub[59] (title text) - The submission numbers for my accepted OEIS submissions in chronological order<br />
:This would only be useful to Randall. If all of his submissions have been rejected, this would be an empty set. However, if this submission is accepted, the set would, by definition, include at least one number (except that this would not be known at the time of submission). Thus, as in the Russell Paradox, this set would be out of date as soon as it was accepted, since the set of accepted submission numbers would change at that point.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:SUB[43]: All integers which do not appear in the example terms of another OEIS sequence<br />
:SUB[44]: Integers in increasing order of width when printed in Helvetica<br />
:SUB[45]: The digits of Chris Hemsworth's cell phone number<br />
:SUB[46]: All integers, in descending order<br />
:SUB[47]: The digits of the OEIS serial number for this sequence<br />
:SUB[48]: 200 terabytes of nines<br />
:SUB[49]: The decimal representation of the bytes in the root password to the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences server<br />
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:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:OEIS keeps rejecting my submissions<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]</div>172.71.150.171