https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=MAP&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T21:14:45ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2868:_Label_the_States&diff=3308662868: Label the States2023-12-15T16:16:29Z<p>MAP: Took out some redundancy.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2868<br />
| date = December 15, 2023<br />
| title = Label the States<br />
| image = label_the_states_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 740x500px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = Even with a blank map, a lot of people can only name 45-50 of the 64 states.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a LEONIDA MAN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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:Geography Challenge: Can you label all the states?<br />
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:[A map of the United States, but instead of 50 states, there are borders for 64.]<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:US maps]]</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2868:_Label_the_States&diff=330865Talk:2868: Label the States2023-12-15T16:14:39Z<p>MAP: Lakes</p>
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I have not counted the states, but I deeply hope reaching the 64-state count involves splitting Michigan's mitten and peninsula in separate states. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.130|108.162.241.130]] 16:02, 15 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I have now counted them. Sadly, with a Unified Michigan, there are 64 states, plus DC, plus those 3 enclave-looking bits in California, Utah and Florida that have the darker outlines. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.214.73|172.69.214.73]] 16:09, 15 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
::Those "enclave" parts are large bodies of water that actually exist. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 16:14, 15 December 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2866:_Snow&diff=330716Talk:2866: Snow2023-12-13T22:02:41Z<p>MAP: Was Dec 6, the FIRST snow in Boston this year?</p>
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"This comic is a interesting comic about how most people get childishly excited about snow, including Randall." Really, that's the best you can come up with? Can we all please either try a little harder than that or leave the explanation for others? [[User:Darkwolf0218|Darkwolf0218]] ([[User talk:Darkwolf0218|talk]]) 04:39, 12 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
:But it's snow. SNOW.<br />
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I don't think the graph actually plateaus, to me it still seems to be (very slightly) rising at the end. I expect Cueball's "apparent age" is asymptotically approaching the original value. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:28, 12 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I superimposed the portions of the graph in question in image-processing software. The result is ambiguous ... this <i>is</i> a cartoon, after all, not a scientifically-rigorous depiction. The asymptotic approach hypothesis is reasonable, especially if "t" is as short (days? hours?) as it appears to be. Also reasonable is the hypothesis below, in which "apparent age" approaches the original value episodically, via events inverse to the original. An earlier version of the explanation mentioned these points, but these explanations have been edited out; indeed, the entire paragraph in question has been replaced. I suppose they can be put back. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.247|172.70.210.247]] 17:03, 12 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Regarding the lower plateau, what isn't shown is the negative effects of having to go and shovel the drive or the disappointment when the snow melts. These will reset his age and may overshoot the other way :'( [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 08:40, 12 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Furthermore, if the recovery state were lower after every snowfall, and he's seen hundreds, then he should be like a baby now. Wouldn't it be cool if snowstorms were the cause of Benjamin Buttons Disease? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 17:11, 12 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Is it worth noting that it [https://boston25news.com/news/local/massachusetts-snow-totals-so-far-dec-6-2023/UYUUDAZQGNE3JAOBKPIQVWCOKI/ snowed in Boston on December 6]? [[User:Nedlum|Nedlum]] ([[User talk:Nedlum|talk]]) 21:46, 13 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:I thought of this as well. I live a little North and West of Randall (the nearest corner of Vermont) and had a few earlier snow falls this year, but the December 6 snowfall may have been the first this year for Randall. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 22:02, 13 December 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2866:_Snow&diff=330628Talk:2866: Snow2023-12-12T06:28:14Z<p>MAP: May not really be a plateau.</p>
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"This comic is a interesting comic about how most people get childishly excited about snow, including Randall." Really, that's the best you can come up with? Can we all please either try a little harder than that or leave the explanation for others? [[User:Darkwolf0218|Darkwolf0218]] ([[User talk:Darkwolf0218|talk]]) 04:39, 12 December 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think the graph actually plateaus, to me it still seems to be (very slightly) rising at the end. I expect Cueball's "apparent age" is asymptotically approaching the original value. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:28, 12 December 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2853:_Redshift&diff=328624Talk:2853: Redshift2023-11-10T21:08:26Z<p>MAP: Just wondering...</p>
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Does it make any sense to try and relate the two Z values to a more "normal" time? [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 21:08, 10 November 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2841:_Sign_Combo&diff=326163Talk:2841: Sign Combo2023-10-17T04:11:49Z<p>MAP: Added a humorous anecdote about Boston traffic.</p>
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I was a driver in the Boston area (where Randall lives) for nearly a quarter of a century and this sign combo would not be that unusual to come across. I remember one three way intersection of streets in downtown Boston where all three streets were one-way _out_ of the intersection; there had been a fourth street by which you once could have entered the intersection, but it got closed off by the construction of a new building. There was another intersection in nearby Somerville where as you approached (on a one-way street four lanes wide) you saw three traffic lights spread out on the far side of the intersection, which displayed at one point in the cycle three red lights over three different green arrows, one pointing each way; so the red lights weren't stopping you from doing anything, you were allowed to go in any direction according to the green arrows, so why were there stop lights on? [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 04:11, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Theoretically you can get around this limitation by turning off the road before the sign and doing whatever maneuvers you need to out in the wide open area to the right or left of the road. It's not a U-turn if you're not on the road, and you didn't enter a restricted part of a road either, and didn't stop on the road. After which you calmly make a turn onto the road when traffic is clear. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.207|108.162.245.207]] 02:34, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I'm pretty sure swerving off of a road is also illegal. [[User:SteveTheNoob|SteveTheNoob]] ([[User talk:SteveTheNoob|talk]]) 04:41, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
:: You can always just pull over - if a cop asks, just tell him you were lost or tired or had to take a phone call. And then take the opportunity to ask about the bloody sign! Anonymous 07:30, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
So does making a three point turn count as a u-turn? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.66|172.69.58.66]] 02:40, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
Wouldn't putting it in reverse stop you briefly as you switched from forward acceleration to reverse?<br />
:Yes, this is also an example of Rolle's theorem as seen in [[2042]]. [[User:SteveTheNoob|SteveTheNoob]] ([[User talk:SteveTheNoob|talk]]) 04:56, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immelmann_turn Immelmann!] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stall_turn Hammerhead!] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_eight Half Cuban Eight!] [[User:Jordan Brown|Jordan Brown]] ([[User talk:Jordan Brown|talk]]) 03:21, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
:After clicking on your comment, I watched the gif on the right before reading the article. I was expecting some advanced driving technique or something. Imagine my surprise! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.102.143|172.71.102.143]] 11:15, 16 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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You could obey the title text if it was 45 miles per hour and 65 meters per hour, respectively. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.96|162.158.90.96]] 04:04, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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: Perhaps so, but anyone deliberately occupying a travel lane while going 0.06 kph (0.04 mph = 200 feet per hour) in a 45 mph zone would [ahem] rapidly attract attention for other reasons. If it were 65 *kilometers* per hour (40 mph), you'd have a narrow window of legality (I do drive on a road that has a max 45 / min 30 speed limit). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.43|172.70.214.43]] 18:15, 15 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Take notice of the road markings too. At least here in Europe double white lines are not to be crossed. And they go past the point of the sign.--[[User:Henke37|Henke37]] ([[User talk:Henke37|talk]]) 07:06, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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: Aye - doesn't that combination of dashed and solid lines imply that there will be opposing traffic? Ie, the markings on the road expect traffic to enter past the sign, despite what the signs are saying, which adds another layer of absurd (Ignore the pole signs and use the lane on the right, otherwise the lane on the right can never be used?)<br />
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I can't be the only one that sees a Gaza strip evacuation subttext to this. <br />
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:Double lines are also "do not cross" in America. And I think in this case it's supposed to be yellow, the dashed-and-solid combo indicates a one-sided passing zone into a lane with on-coming traffic, and double lines in general are only use to separate anti-parallel lanes of traffic, both of which use yellow. "Solid double white lines" do exist, but are only used in very specific cases. Near me, there's a very congested exit, and the solid double whites are used to indicate "no really, you should have switched lanes ages ago, it's too late now!", but since it isn't a Jersey barrier or a line of rods or even a full on median, nobody actually follows the rule. Anonymous 07:30, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:: BTW in Europe, yellow lines are reserved for temporary use, and then take precedence over any existing white lines. Makes lots of sense, because there are so many construction sites here. (And the yellow lines are actually just adhesive tape.) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.87.102|162.158.87.102]] 08:28, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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::: Back when elephants had fur, road markings in the USA were white. Starting in the 1950s, road crews throughout the USA began using yellow rather than white paint. From memory, it took about a decade for the transition to be completed, with more rural roads the last to go yellow. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.161|162.158.90.161]] 18:18, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Speaking of lines ... in the USA, "Do Not Enter" signs on open roadways usually signal that the road ahead is one-way traffic coming at you. A driver is thereby warned (for example) not to enter the "exit" ramp of a freeway. However, the road striping indicates that passing is permitted for drivers proceeding forward past the sign ... which is nonsensical if the only legal traffic is coming at the viewpoint driver. I am reminded of the ancient comedy routine, "Somebody went to the Army-Navy store, got himself a sign, looked out his living room window, 'Look, Martha, we caught somebody!'" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.186.118|162.158.186.118]] 19:19, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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And I completely forgot why I was posting in the first place: I think there's good reason to create a full "traffic signs" or "road signs" tag, not just "traffic lights". I know there's a page with a very complicated "this is what the road ahead looks like" sign that just says "good luck", and of course there's "Next Five Miles" and "Ahead Stop". Thoughts? Anonymous 07:58, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I would support that. I wanted to put this comic into a category but I couldn't find an appropriate one. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.3|172.69.58.3]] 23:11, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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More thoughts: if you must not make a U-turn to the left, you should do it to the right.<br />
And then return on the same lane, because of the double line.<br />
And finally, the sign itself may be valid and not contradicting itself; it is your fault if you got on this road. ;) --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.87.102|162.158.87.102]] 08:28, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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In the Netherlands, the message on signs are only valid behind the sign (with the exception of the "precedence way" (voorrangsweg), where outside of built-up areas, the signs are after a junction (though technically... way before the ''next'' junction) , so a driver stopping /u-turning here wouldn't be violating anything except the double white lines. <br />
Also, stopping out of necessity (e.g. the car in front is also stopped) is ''never'' illegal. [[User:IIVQ|IIVQ]] ([[User talk:IIVQ|talk]]) 09:06, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:Stopping on a road with double white lines to your left may count as obstructing the road, which I can imagine to be illegal in many places? [[User:Gpvos|Gpvos]] ([[User talk:Gpvos|talk]]) 10:02, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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If I had to comply with these instructions, I would just put the car into reverse and argue that I was never "stopped". If I actually saw this in real life, I think I'd just slow down, put on my hazard lights, and make a u-turn when appropriate.[[User:Jsnider3|Jsnider3]] ([[User talk:Jsnider3|talk]]) 10:52, 14 October 2023 (UTC<br />
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UK equivalents: [[File:UK_traffic_sign_616.svg|50px]][[File:UK_traffic_sign_614.svg|50px]][[File:UK_traffic_sign_642.svg|25px]]<br />
(Mounted vertically, obviously, and the Clearway would have to be the small version as a repeater/reminder, already being active).<br />...and Title Text would require suitable numeric alterations on: [[File:UK_traffic_sign_670V20.svg|50px]][[File:UK_traffic_sign_672.svg|50px]]<br/>[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.23|162.158.74.23]] 11:51, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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"''Depending on the jurisdiction, signs may only apply to the road after them''" - uh, in which jurisdictions is that not the case? How could you adhere to the signage before you see them? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.196|172.68.110.196]] 15:01, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
: I don't know US signage, but there are times over here in my locale when there's repeater/reminder signage, the situation (such as not being allowed to stop) already being in effect past a prior point. Or even "this is information you, as a driver, should already be able to infer from the rules of the road, but some of you are idiots and need A BIG HINT about something that you clearly have forgotten since the time you had to pass your driving test..." erected by the authorities. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.6|141.101.99.6]] 19:49, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Since the lanes are separated by white lines instead of yellow, that means that the two lanes of traffic are going in the same direction. There isn't any roadway visible onto which one could make a U-turn even if it were permitted. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.204|172.69.59.204]] 23:07, 14 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
: That sort of thing varies by jurisdiction. White and yellow are common because they work well and are cheap. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.58|162.158.74.58]] 07:30, 15 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Don't minimum speeds require the vehicle to ''be able'' to go that fast, but not actually ''drive'' this fast at all times? --[[User:Coconut Galaxy|Coconut Galaxy]] ([[User talk:Coconut Galaxy|talk]]) 07:42, 15 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Am I the only one who sees a Gaza Strip evacuation subtext in this? --[[User:GregXKCD|GregXKCD]] ([[User talk:GregXKCD|talk]]) 15:33, 15 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Possibly. There was a similar comment above, but that was also posted by you. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.91|172.70.178.91]] 20:06, 15 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:ha! thought it failed to post first time, wasn't really trying to belabor the point. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.178|172.71.150.178]] 21:32, 15 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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This is pretty much the plot of every Irish saga, except with geasa instead of road signs. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.158|172.71.94.158]] 17:13, 15 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Not even that uncommon. I find no U-turn signs get placed places where a lot of people do u-turn, often because they NEED to make a u-turn due to another previous sign issue. So having to do u-turns where no u-turn signs are, is like the f'ing default.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.95.187|162.158.95.187]] 08:41, 16 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Now, I don't have my driving license, but I'm pretty sure the law of the principle of explosion allows you to ignore all rules in this scenario. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.98.94|172.71.98.94]] 11:26, 16 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
:[[File:UK_traffic_sign_622.8.svg|50px]] No vehicles carrying explosives allowed... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.197|141.101.99.197]] 18:15, 16 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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== "No stopping at any time" and max/min speed contradiction ==<br />
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The "No stopping at any time" never applies if it is not possible to continue. If there's a traffic jam, nobody expects you to continue going and hitting a preceding vehicle. I'm pretty sure this meaning is the same in USA as it is in Europe.<br />
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In Europe, speed limit takes absolute precedence over minimum speed, and for clarification, minimum speed only means that vehicles that cannot sustain minimum speed are not permitted on the road. It also signifies that if the road is clear and weather permitting, it is safe to drive at that speed.<br />
But, if you're not confident in your driving ability, or in inclement weather, or if there is traffic, or for any other reason, you're not expected to continue driving at that speed.<br />
Motorways and expressways in Europe have an implied minimum speed of about 60 km/h, but if there are roadworks which have a posted 50 km/h or 40 km/h speed limit, you're not expected to drive 60 km/h and you'll be violating the law if you do.<br />
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To Obey the signs you need to "Drive like Xeno", approach the signs at ever decreasing speed without actually come to rest, or passing the no entry sign. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.30|108.162.249.30]] 00:52, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
: Self-driving test car running overtrained metamodels approaches the signs. Time itself begins to slow down in proportion to nearness. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.143|172.70.126.143]] 01:06, 17 October 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2819:_Pronunciation&diff=322122Talk:2819: Pronunciation2023-08-25T17:14:57Z<p>MAP: Added a silly semi-personal anecdote.</p>
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These are all heteronyms<br />
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(/ɪ/|/t/)+(/ɪ/|/juː/)+(/ɛ/|/ɨ/)+(/s/|/z/)+(/t/|/d/)+(/eɪ/|/æ/)+(/aɪ/|???) ...what's the alternate (anglophone) pronunciation for the 'y' in "gyro"? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.81|141.101.98.81]] 19:03, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:...oh, ok, now there's an explanation on this. Not convinced by the alternate 'y' at all. And I pronounce "putting" exactly like "putting", as well. Consider me additionally confused. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.90|172.70.90.90]] 19:22, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:gyro as in the sandwich (pronounced like Euro), or gyro as in short for gyroscope.<br />
::Never even heard of a "gyro" sandwich. (And "Euro" can be YOU-ro, OY-ro, ERR-oh, etc, depending on which country you're(-oh) in.) Clearly something very Leftpondian, this comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.90|172.70.90.90]] 21:51, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::Oh man! Come on, we're going to the grocery store. You're one of today's lucky 10,000.- [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.172|172.70.131.172]] 22:43, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::It's a Greek dish similar to a shawarma. It's pronounced YEE-ro, I believe. (Which is kind of similar to that first pronunciation of "Euro", so that's probably what they were going for.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.118|172.70.43.118]] 22:04, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
::::Putting/putting - think southern England if you want to appreciate the difference. The golfing sense is somewhere between "patting" and "potting"; the placing sense more like...well, like "putting". "Pooting," I suppose, with a "book" type "oo".[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 22:46, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::::It's actually gyros, or γύρος using Greek spelling, there is no singular form because it is uncountable, like news. It's not like you can have one new. It's still probably the same word but I guess the meat is more likely to be pronounced in the original Greek way while words like gyroscope, which is a device originally used to measure (scope) the rotation (gyros) of the earth, have been anglicized in their pronunciation. [[User:Tharkon|Tharkon]] ([[User talk:Tharkon|talk]]) 23:25, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
::::::So in English, is it gyros meat or gyro meat?<br />
::::::The "original" Greek way would be /gyros/, but the word for the sandwich was borrowed from modern Greek, while the word for the device was borrowed by way of Latin and maybe French. And English has this silly habit of treating mass nouns with final /z/ or /s/ as plural count nouns, especially if the masses are made of many countable objects, like pease and cherise. Anonymous11:54, 24 August 2023 (UTC) <br />
::Also, Most Americans pronounce it /hiɹoʊ/, as in "I need a hero", a pun Arby's made ample use of when they started selling gyros. I presume this also where the name "hero" for a sub comes from, despite the fact that most gyros I'm familiar with look more like Greek tacos than subs. Anonymous11:54, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::OED has references to the hero sandwich from 1938. Arby's was founded in 1964, and references in English to gyro sandwiches only date back to 1971. So it's unlikely that the hero sandwich is derived from gyro. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:44, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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In Finland that's not far away. By starting with T and removing æ you are almost correct. Tuesday in Finnish /Ti:stai/<br />
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Someone has GOT to find a better joke than "TOMATO BOTATO" - [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.83|172.69.59.83]] 22:41, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I think maybe the {{w|Ghoti|counter-example}} of orthography might work for everyone? I linked it, for those who might still be confused. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.94|172.70.90.94]] 22:48, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::That's a lot better, and I feel like an idiot for not thinking of it, since I was just watching Tom Fawkes last night when he mentioned Ghoti of the Deep Beyond.- [[Special:Contributions/172.71.255.24|172.71.255.24]] 01:52, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Does someone familiar with the IPA have a silly-looking but reasonably accurate transcription of /ɪɛstæaɪ/ they want to add to the page? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 23:19, 23 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Listening to the IPA reader, it sounds almost like "yesterday", which is interesting because the comic was posted on Wednesday... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 00:04, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I think for the 'e' he means the 'schwa' (ə) sound, basically an unstressed neutral vowel sound (as in the 'a' in 'about', the 'e' in 'taken', the 'i' in 'pencil', the 'o' in 'havoc', the 'u' in 'supply', the 'y' in 'sibyl', or sometimes not even written as in 'rhythm') [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 01:31, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Wait, it's a penn-sill, not a penn-sull! <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:13, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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My naive reading of this is: the T in buffet is silent. U in minute is UH, E in record is EH, S in use is Z, D in moped is T, A in bass is AH, Y in gyro is YI. together this makes: UHEZTAYI [[Special:Contributions/172.68.4.169|172.68.4.169]] 04:23, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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There's a more modern [//youtu.be/gtnlGH055TA semivocalic analysis of English diphthongs] that could affect how the T and Y are interpreted. The video focuses on British dialects, but anecdotally, the main principles also apply to General American, so they may be more intuitive here. Not sure if this is worth going against convention to incorporate, but I figured it'd be worth suggesting.<br />
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The relevant transcriptions would become ''buffet'' /-fej/, ''minute'' /majˈn(j)uwt/, ''use'' /juw-/, ''moped'' /mow-/, ''bass'' /bejs/, ''gyro'' /jij- dʒaj-/; and in the prose, ''pronounce'' /-aw-/, ''wound'' /wawnd wuwnd/. In the mispronunciation of ''Tuesday'', the /-æaj/ would correctly look like a sequence of two vowels instead of three.<br />
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Since E doesn't usually represent /ej/, Great Vowel Shift and all, you might analyze the T of ''buffet'' as corresponding to the /-j/ rather than being silent. That would add an extra phone at the start of the mispronunciation. Maybe that's a bit ghoti, though.<br />
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Anyway, for readers who don't know the IPA, my attempt at a pronunciation respelling would be (y)ih~ess-ta~eye. I can't think of a foolproof way to evoke unchecked /æ/ instead of /ə ɑ ej/. I tried adding silent GH, but that can also yield /ij/ as in ''shillelagh''. <span style="background:#0064de;font-size:12px;padding:4px 12px;border-radius:8px;">[[User talk:AgentMuffin|<span style="color:#f0faff;">~AgentMuffin</span>]]</span><br />
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Is it worth adding a note about the old "ghoti" being pronounced as "fish" thing? That was my first exposure to deliberately pathological pronunciations in English, but I'm not sure if that's common? The joke is that you take "gh" from "enough", "o" from "women", and "ti" from "nation", to get "ghoti" = "fish".<br />
:This joke is essentially the opposite of "ghoti". Rather than taking unusual pronunciations and creating a weird spelling from them, it takes a normal spelling and finds words where those letters have unusual pronunciations. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:54, 24 August 2023 (UTC) <br />
:Wait, doesn't ehvehrreewunn pronounce the "wo" in "women", the same as in "wet"? I think of it as a "wooeh" sound. <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:13, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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The "y" in Tuesday doesn't really have a sound, it just serves to make the "a" long. That doesn't correspond to either of the "gyro" pronunciations. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:54, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
:So, you pronounce "da" in words like "propaganda", "Andromeda", "Canada", "soda", "agenda" just like "day" in "Tuesday", but with a shorter "a"? :) [[User:BytEfLUSh|BytEfLUSh]] ([[User talk:BytEfLUSh|talk]]) 15:17, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
::Those are pronounced more like "dah", but clipped. It's in between the short "a" in "dad" and a schwa. But if you were to add a "y" they would sound like you were a Canadian. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:40, 25 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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This reminds me of a joke my Dad used to tell. "A as in Aye", "S as in Sea", etc. [[User:Shamino|Shamino]] ([[User talk:Shamino|talk]]) 15:15, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Until reading this explanation, I never noticed how many people say "recorded", 'wrongly': "wreck-OR-dedd" sure seems wrong to me (even though I see ''some'' pronunciation guides that OK it). Shouldn't that be "ree-KOR-dedd"? <br />
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:19, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
: I most often say r'-KOR-dedd with a schwa sound on the first syllable, and occasionally say ree-KOR-dedd as you suggest. I never heard anyone say wreck-OR-dedd. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 12:52, 25 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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For Dairy Queen, the final day the Cows grased on the range was the most important day for their milk. But for all others, it was Juice Day.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.86.21|162.158.86.21]] 23:42, 24 August 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Not really relevant to the comic, but a fun thing others might enjoy... I have used the nickname "MAP" (my initials) since about 1970, it occurs twice in my email address. When spelling it out (to someone where it'll work), I give it as: "M as in mnemonic, A as in aesthetic, P as in pneumonia" and when doing it the second time in my email, I end with "P as in ... psyche!" [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 17:14, 25 August 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2804:_Marshmallow&diff=318100Talk:2804: Marshmallow2023-07-20T04:46:54Z<p>MAP: Graham refers to crackers, not a number.</p>
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Made a start, not sure if the heating up science is completely correct though [[User:MrCandela|MrCandela]] ([[User talk:MrCandela|talk]]) 13:54, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Because I'm a nitpicker, I kind of want to see some mention in this blurb about how reentry is usually a communications blackout period, due to the plasma sheath blocking all radio waves and so talking with Houston *during* reentry is unrealistic. I strongly suspect Randall knew this, though and ignored it for the sake of the joke. [[User:Trimeta|Trimeta]] ([[User talk:Trimeta|talk]]) 14:08, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:In the case of the space shuttle it was possible to circumvent the problem of radio blackout by relaying the radio through satellites (the plasma blocks the radio waves downwards, but there was be a window upwards). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_blackout#Spacecraft_reentry [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 15:39, 19 July 2023 (UTC) <br />
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:The current explanation suggests that Mission Control would be concerned by the lack of communication from the capsule, but given that they would be aware of the effects of reentry, there's no particular reason why this should cause them concern.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.134|141.101.99.134]] 15:58, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Some things that should probably be added:<br />
The comic was likely published in anticipation of the 54th anniversary of the first moon landing on the 20th of July 1969<br />
In reality, the marshmallow, exposed to the vaccum of space, would expand due to the internally trapped gasses until its structural integrity failed https://youtu.be/MYAmPRQ4eWo?t=285<br />
The title text should probably direct reference to {{w|Kessler syndrome}}, in which a single collision of orbiting objects causes a chain reaction filling low earth orbit with debris, in this case, tasty stacks [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.71|162.158.155.71]] 14:30, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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IMO, "Reentry Marshmallow Toasting Module" refers only to the Marshmallow arm and any necessary associated parts (covers, actuators, etc.), not the whole spacecraft (as the way it is currently written suggests). That is, as for instance, Apollo had a command module, a service module, etc.(?) in this case, there is this extra module. I think it is not unusual to have experiments or sensors piggy-backing in a existent spacecraft or probe. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 15:55, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed - I'd just amended the article to that effect before coming down here and reading this. :o) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.134|141.101.99.134]] 15:59, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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"the marshmallow has been on the outside of the module for the entire journey, exposed to the vacuum of space. In this situation, it would have radiated all its heat energy away, reaching temperatures near absolute zero" I think this is incorrect: the side of the spacecraft in the shadow gets quite cold, although probably not ~3ºK (cosmic background temperature), since in low-earth orbit you have a warm body (the Earth) radiating some heat some (most?) of the time. But the sun side gets quite hot. Apollo used "Passive Thermal Control" (informally, it was called “barbecue roll”) to even out the temperature. [[User:Rps|Rps]] ([[User talk:Rps|talk]]) 16:11, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I wonder if Randall played Outer wilds recently. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:00, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think the specific choice of graham crackers is a reference to anything scientific. That's the usual cracker used to make s'mores. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 02:35, 20 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:I completely agree. I'm sure that the S'mores Randall is familiar with would have been made with Graham crackers and that's what he's referring to. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 04:46, 20 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
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An Apollo capsule returning from a lunar mission would be traveling at approximately escape velocity. If you think about it, how would it lose all the velocity it gained falling from lunar orbit, except by atmospheric friction? (Luna is at approximately infinity in terms of velocity needed to reach L1. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 02:55, 20 July 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2795:_Glass-Topped_Table&diff=3165852795: Glass-Topped Table2023-06-29T21:38:26Z<p>MAP: Fixed simple typo.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2795<br />
| date = June 28, 2023<br />
| title = Glass-Topped Table<br />
| image = glass_topped_table.png<br />
| titletext = You can pour a drink into it while hosting a party, although it's a real pain to fit in the dishwasher afterward.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a pair of GLASSES.}}<br />
A play on the common term for a table, such as a dining or coffee table, that has a glass surface. "Glass-topped table" usually means the table top is made of glass, but in this comic the phrase represents, instead, a table with a glass surface where surface has been "topped" with a drinking glass. Notably, the glass is part of the table top, merged with the regular glass surface so that the glass can not be lifted off of the table. This would thus require the use of a straw to drink from it or to lift the entire table. <br />
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Furthermore, the otherwise normal-looking drinking glass looks like it has been placed over the edge of the table and is about to fall off. This could make anyone unfamiliar with the table likely to automatically reach out for the glass to prevent what appears to be an imminent disaster. This could potentially have unfortunate consequences, since the glass is not independently movable without shifting the entire table. Assuming the person does not hurt their hand or arm from the unexpected load as they take the strain through sheer reflex, they may successfully move the glass ''and entire table'' to cause other things on/adjacent to the table to be toppled/struck sideways.<br />
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It is not certain if the advertisement for this item makes this configuration clear. By its name alone, buyers might expect to get an ordinary table with a glass surface, but few of them would be interested in buying one when they discover the extra glass attached{{citation needed}} and the caption says this is the least popular item in their furniture store. At first glance, in a store, most people would be drawn to 'prevent the imminent accident' and end up thwarted or creating other problems. In a web-page/catalogue picture, the glass would just look like part of the scenic depiction presentation of the table, albeit a weird one. It is not unusual that a table in a commercial would feature glasses, or other accessories artfully placed upon it, to give it a sense of scale and contextual use, but the dissonance of the 'carelessly' positioned glass would work against the usual advertising pressures employed. Anyone who still ordered the table, without establishing the true nature of its permanent feature, is also then likely to complain and negotiate a refund/replacement (negating whatever sales were actually made) and write bad reviews (discouraging others from even looking at the product).<br />
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The title text adds to this by saying it would be difficult to put the glass in a dishwasher, since you would need to bring the table with it. There are dishwashers [https://www.thekbzine.com/pages/13317/worlds_largest_dishwasher_unveiled/#:~:text=Bosch%20unveiled%20the%20world's%20largest,water%20and%20stay%20perfectly%20dry big enough] to fit tables, but they are not for regular households.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Debate] And that won't make moving the table any easier. Cleaning the glass after a drink would thus have to be done by hand, and the water in the glass has to be sucked out, mopped up or drained by inverting the whole table (or entire top, if detachable) in a non-damaging way.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
:[The comic shows a square table with a glass surface. The glass surface is not clear enough to see through. A drinking glass stands nearly half-way over the right edge of the table, so it looks like it is in 'danger' of falling. Apparently, however, it seems that this glass is merged with the glass surface of table, thus it cannot fall off. There is a caption below the panel:]<br />
:The least popular item at my furniture store is probably the table with a decorative drinking glass built into the edge of the glass top.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:Food]]<br />
[[Category:Puns]]</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2791:_Bookshelf_Sorting&diff=315826Talk:2791: Bookshelf Sorting2023-06-21T18:58:38Z<p>MAP: Orderings other than the one used are just confusing.</p>
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Oh wow, literally 14 captchas to save my edit? Sorry if someone else was working on it too, apparently someone added transcript while I was doing captchas, and when it finally went through it might have overwritten something. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.97|141.101.98.97]] 22:05, 19 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I fixed a lot of the typos, but should we use color or colour? [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 22:11, 19 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Because Randall is 'Merkin, full Webster-inspired leftpondian spelling tends to be the norm. (Including people editing correct-for-the-author Discussion contributions... which they really shouldn't!) But I'm happy to see "colour", "centre", "aluminium", etc for as long as nobody has yet decided to normalise(/normalize) everything. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.184|172.69.79.184]] 23:06, 19 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::Have no idea what the previous means but Randall is American so this page uses American English spelling. So color, center and aluminum etc (and Normalize) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:03, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::I just said what you said, but additionally putting in my oar in about non-standard (to me!) English spelling occasionally forced on us by them damnyankees. :P [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.34|172.70.85.34]] 09:29, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Does the mirroring of the order of the covers mean that there is a secondary sort order? The longest book is first. {{unsigned ip|172.70.91.65 }}<br />
:Good eye that the small books are nested inside the large. Should go in the explanation imo. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.91|172.70.131.91]] 00:47, 21 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I'm pretty sure, that the total length (in pages/sheets) is the secondary order. In fact, I find the first half of the paragraph with all the discussion of other possible choices that obviously don't match the drawing a great distraction before the actual ordering is disclosed. I would just delete that stuff, or move it to a following paragraph with a "Other orderings that _could_ have been used..." lead in. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 18:58, 21 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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It looks like all of the front covers are at the left and the back covers are sorted by the number of pages in the book.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.139|172.71.222.139]]<br />
:It looks like each group of pages is sorted randomly. Note that each book has a unique height. You can see the height distributions change as books end at their back covers and are no longer included in clumps. The books seem short? A careful eye may be able to identify the location of every page. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.154|172.69.59.154]] 01:53, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::To me it looks like the longest books are really really long and that it doesn't match the size of the front. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:03, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::The last "pages and rear cover" is obviously the real thickness of the end bit of the last book (where it is the only representative). The penultimate pages section is therefore 2x the thickness of the pages from either book which has such pages (give or take paper-quality/weight), and so on until the first paper-bundle is eleven times the thickness of the books that all ''have'' pages one-to-whatever.<br />
:::Which means it should be 'easy' (...FCVO) to reconstruct the uncollated and re-bound individual book widths from pixel measurements alone (and use the visibly cyclic nature of the initial 11-collated page 1s, 2s, etc to estimate the 'page density' to even get a good approximation of page-counts). But I must admit that there seems a lot more paper there than eleven books would normally have. Unless peculiarly short-and-fat.<br />
:::In fact, I'm glancing at a bookshelf unit opposite where I'm sitting. It looks narrower than the drawing (just measured: 750mm, or 2'5½" internal to its sides; I reckon the comic bookshelf is the traditional 3ft/yard length, though obviously less the end bits where unobtrusive bookends could be for an 'open' version like that) and yet it has ''thirty'' books crammed in on one of its levels, and some of those being 'mighty tomes' (830 pages, 469, 454, 944, 778... just by 'last numbered'). Thinnest book in the sequence is 122 pages. The whole lot is a mixture of hardbacks, paperbacks and those intermediate 'card-bound' types that I forget the name of. If they were all hardback, I'd have to lose at least one (maybe two) of the thinner ones, but can't account for anything above a dozen of the difference, that way. Similar for the other levels of shelving, and I've got more (and thicker, at first glance) books on other shelves in this room and elsewhere.<br />
:::So artistic licence, probably, but I get the impression that the mix of relative proportions are probably taken from RL, just exagerated for drawability.<br />
:::And an unbound book, leaf torn assunder from fellow-folio leaf, probably gains a bit of 'air gap', now that it has no spine to help 'bookend the book', the standing-power of singular hardback covers alone can't be that stable to resist all that paper wanting to domino-lean outwards, like a reasonably long book or two can to retain thinner works within the central part of the shelving. It looks like an engineering problem, in miniature, working with tolerances and margins (NPI!) to not have everything decide to schluff sideways; and possible off the shelf entirely! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.34|172.70.85.34]] 09:29, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::::Did you skillfully defuse my nerd snipe regarding mapping the page locations? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.91|172.70.131.91]] 00:47, 21 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::I added my observations about the order of the books to the explanation. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 17:10, 21 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Why not sort by ISO 2108? {{unsigned|Hamslabs}}<br />
:By ISBN? You mean order by the publishers' registration date? Lol. No, that's useless unless you're trying to make a point about publishing industry consolidation, which you could more effectively do by sorting on parent company identity. ([https://www.authorsalliance.org/2021/12/08/the-consolidation-of-publishing-houses-past-and-present/ But making that point would be a pretty good idea.][https://stevelaube.com/who-owns-whom-in-publishing/]) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.47|172.71.154.47]] 06:29, 20 June 2023 (UTC) <br />
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There are so many drawbacks from destroying books to sort the pages and zero advantages (except to horrify book people with the destruction of books), so all the crap about the good and bad is not relevant! I will delete it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:06, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Go for it, [https://gizmodo.com/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-moderators-landed-gentry-1850546737 landed gentry]! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.22|172.71.155.22]] 06:09, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:: I agree that adding supposed "advantages" to the sorting method is probably superfluous, but I instinctively added a summary of the disadvantages, since that is what we usually do on ExplainXKCD. It can often be illuminating to actually break down the reasons why something is bad - even if it seems obvious, I often discover nuances that I'd never even considered this way. [[User:Hawthorn|Hawthorn]] ([[User talk:Hawthorn|talk]]) 13:03, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:The content of the shelf happens when somebody digitizes a personal library by cutting the bindings off books and feeding large clumps of their pages through a document scanner. You’ve already digitized them, so the loose pages are a novelty rather than the primary source for the content. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.91|172.70.131.91]] 00:44, 21 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
... books? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.135|162.158.90.135]] 06:51, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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[https://www.semicoop.com/comic/color-coding/ There's a compromise between sorting by colour and sorting by topic.] --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.146.11|172.68.146.11]] 14:14, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Are there any famous books where the first line is "Aaaaaaahhhh", thereby making it first in Randall's bookshelf? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.226|172.70.175.226]] 18:15, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I don't know. But I haven't written any part of {{w|Earthly Powers}}. "Sorry, but we can't advertise your book."--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.114.11|172.71.114.11]] 21:30, 20 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I would think the obvious way to sort books would be alphabetically by most important word. For genre fiction, that would be the 40000th word, since that is the one that makes it eligible for a Nebula Award for Best Novel.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.45|172.69.247.45]] 05:13, 21 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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== Number of covers ==<br />
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Can someone help me....count? The number of front covers don't match the number of back covers, correct?<br />
:I count 11 front and 11 back covers. The last two books are around the same color and may look like a thicker book, but are actually one extra-skinny shorter book next to one taller one. Click on the picture (twice) for a larger version where you can see it more clearly. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 17:09, 21 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::That was the one, thanks. (although, I was secretly hoping that it was a secret in-joke) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.59.153|172.69.59.153]] 17:58, 21 June 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2789:_Making_Plans&diff=315485Talk:2789: Making Plans2023-06-16T06:42:28Z<p>MAP: Agreeing with an existing point...</p>
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Help, I can't move my comment down! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.146.54|AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA]] 01:28, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Here I was expecting something about cryptography and how Charlie just invited himself along.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.146.146|172.71.146.146]] 04:08, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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The alphabetical citation bias occurred in psychology but not biology or geoscience. (Biologist married to psychologist, gloating.) ---- {{unsigned ip|162.158.186.213}}<br />
:I think the Wikipedia quote and reference link may be obsolete. It was a big deal when it was published half a decade ago, but editors took note, and now almost every peer reviewed paper gets references listed by the order they occur in the text, don't they? Surely there must be some post-2018 sources on this from journals saying they've changed their style guides we can include? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.155.42|172.71.155.42]] 22:06, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I disagree with the explanation about the alphabetical sorting of Cueball on Yvonne's phone. AFAIK, Cueball is only the fan nickname given on this wiki, and not an in-universe name, right? <br />
Names starting with R would be pretty far down an alphabetical list, like in Rob... or Randall<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.69|162.158.233.69]] 06:49, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I agree and have already deleted this. Made a comment on my changes along the idea you wrote here. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:04, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like a better reference point for this than academic citations or ballot paper ordering would be old paper phone directories, where you'd find companies calling themselves things like 'AAA Assistance' in order to appear at the top of their sector listings. Can anyone find a non-anecdotal reference for this?[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.137|172.71.178.137]] 09:06, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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If only people were like books... (I have (re)read far more Asimov and Clarke than Wells and Zelazny, but none of them complain!) ...but clearly ''no'' absolute ordering is perfect. "Most recently contacted" suffers from the problem of some new contacts shuffling someone out of the current head-of-list spot and then they plummet to the 'old' end. "''Least'' recently contacted" would be better, but would 'auto-ghost' everyone the moment contact is re-established (or attempted, if it was based upon your reaching out, not their deigning to reach back again).<br />
<br />Perhaps a "rolling road-block" method of (say) today starting at A, tomorrow starting at B(/wherever you left off today), and so on until it wraps around Z->A again. Or half your "social management" spent at the top-end, a quarter of it jumps half way down, an eighth of it half of the rest of the way, a sixteenth by jumping a further half of the remainder, with discretion to look up and down from the proposed landing-point to choose a neighbouring contact with more hopefulbcontactability... That latter would work even better on a "by most recent contact" sort, as well, as it churns and refreshes the current social circles to regain valuable 'lost' contacts without overly penalising the current circle of recent acquaintences in such a paradoxical manner.<br />
<br />Of course... the fewer friends you have, the simpler the problem! I have never been so happy to be a sub-Dunbar individual, and so not have all the anxieties that those with exceedingly active social lives must have! Even if it means I might just have to phone my water-company up, every now and then, to bitch about how my telephone company forgot my birthday and is now refusing to return my calls... ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.69|172.70.91.69]] 09:29, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Wouldn't it be easier just to have randomised ordering each time you load? Of course, all of this overlooks the primary reason for having them alphabetical in the first place - to be able to locate a specific contact when you have a specific reason for contacting them, which any of these other systems would make a pain in the arse.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.170|172.70.91.170]] 09:34, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::But ''which'' (pseudo-)random reordering? Can you guarantee thst your LCG/LFSR/Mersenne implementation, and how it is consulted to shuffle and reprioritises your contacts, has sufficiently long cycle-periodicity to avoid you still entirely neglecting someone because they still usually end up below any cut-off point?!? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.136|172.70.85.136]] 09:47, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::Depends, obviously, on how long the list is, but I think that would be VERY unlucky. That said, more deterministic order could be more reliable. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:58, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:Clearly, the correct is an AI social helper who will remind you to reach out to friends you haven't contacted recently, along with keeping track of birthdays, anniversaries, and other special reasons to contact everyone in your social circle. All the while, it would be learning your language patterns and voice, so that you can eventually just let it take over your social life entirely. You can hang out with your three real friends while your AI hangs out with the AIs of the fifty people in your contact list that you don't actually remember. (Is it obvious I'm an introvert?) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.44|172.69.247.44]] 10:11, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
::("... three real friends"? You socialite. If only I were such a shameless party animal!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.7|172.70.86.7]] 10:27, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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::Speaking about birthdays ... if you always contact person on birthday, you have practical guarantee you won't have anyone not contacted more than year! -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:58, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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As a person with an A name, I find I often get pocket-dialed by various people. Discussing this with people whose names start at the other end of the alphabet, they observed that they never got pocket-dialed. Is this another example of the same phenomenon, or do I have a case of innaccurate anecdotal evidence? [[User:Thisfox|Thisfox]] ([[User talk:Thisfox|talk]]) 22:48, 15 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Genuine question; do we actually need an explanation of the various reasons why someone might not have heard back yet about an event? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.167.20|172.71.167.20]] 05:44, 16 June 2023 (UTC)<br />
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: I agree. I came to the discussion primarily because I thought the enumeration of why some non-responses might happen was completely beside the point. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:42, 16 June 2023 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2773:_Planetary_Scientist&diff=3125902773: Planetary Scientist2023-05-08T18:49:45Z<p>MAP: Minor typo</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2773<br />
| date = May 8, 2023<br />
| title = Planetary Scientist<br />
| image = planetary_scientist_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 303x349px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = This rumpled fabric at the corner looks like evidence of ongoing tectonic activity.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT THAT'S PROBABLY FULL OF WATER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Ponytail, a {{w|planetary scientist}}, is shopping at a mattress store. The store clerk seems to be giving her a guided tour of various models of mattress, including the most popular model shown in the comic.<br />
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Ponytail asks if the bed is a {{w|waterbed}}, a type of mattress which is filled with water instead of the usual solid material. The clerk begins to explain to her that it's actually a hybrid made of foam (among other things, maybe water), but Ponytail interrupts him, saying that she believes it actually is a waterbed based on "how it moves."<br />
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The comic caption reveals the punchline, that because {{w|planetary oceanography|subsurface oceans}} have become so ubiquitous in the study of planetary science (especially because they serve as an indicator for the potential for life on another planet), Ponytail is starting to see them ''everywhere'', even in clearly unrelated contexts such as mattresses. Here, the water in the waterbed is analogous to a planet's subsurface ocean (i.e. both being water underneath a solid outer layer).<br />
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The title text goes in a similar direction with planetary science, having Ponytail tell the now-confused clerk that the rumpled fabric on one part of the bed seems like "evidence of ongoing tectonic activity," referencing {{w|plate tectonics}} and how protruding geographic formations (such as mountains) are formed through it. Again, the punchline is the relentless permeation of Ponytail's occupation into her everyday life.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2717:_L6_Lagrange_Point&diff=303674Talk:2717: L6 Lagrange Point2022-12-30T02:36:25Z<p>MAP: Unusual timing?</p>
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Daily comics. —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&printable=yes printable version] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:While_False&action=info page information] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Special:WhatLinksHere/User:While_False what links there] | [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:RecentChangesLinked&days=30&from=&target=User%3AWhile_False related changes] | a late contribution | current time: {{CURRENTTIME}}) 19:05, 27 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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This came out about a year after JWST was launched, and it's stationed at a Lagrange point of the Sun and Earth. It might be related to the anniversary, although it would make more sense if it came out in a month, on the anniversary of the telescope reaching L2. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:49, 27 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Missed opportunity to reference [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Grange,_Texas La Grange, Texas], the basis of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Grange_(song) song] by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZZ_Top ZZ Top]. [[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 21:13, 27 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Well I hear it's fine, if you got the time [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.5|108.162.249.5]] 13:55, 28 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Not ''probable'' but maybe a reference to the recent "Ohio" meme?[[Special:Contributions/172.71.82.41|172.71.82.41]] 22:14, 27 December 2022 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
: Probably not on purpose but it definitely fits in with the rest of the “Ohio” memes 22:38 27 December 2022 (ETC) Comi123<br />
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;Can I use a subscript notation in the transcript?<br />
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Any clues where to find the code? Comic seems to have the numeral portions of "L1" to "L6" as subscripts. Is that a standard notation for Lagrange points, if so should we also use it in the main article? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.66.102|172.68.66.102]] 06:14, 28 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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:Sure. Use HTML &lt;sub> tags. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.39|172.71.154.39]] 07:41, 28 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Why Cleveland? Well, Yakov Smirnoff said, "In every country, they make fun of city. In U.S. you make fun of Cleveland. In Russia, we make fun of Cleveland." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.168|172.71.26.168]] 12:14, 28 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The center of the Earth is also a Lagrange point (I think I'll call it L<sub>0</sub>). So Lagrange, OH is only 4,000 miles off, which should be close enough for many astronomers. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.135.100|172.70.135.100]] 16:12, 28 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Well, LaGrange, OH is in a stable orbit around L<sub>0</sub>, so would this also be a Halo orbit? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.5|141.101.77.5]] 09:26, 29 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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And I thought La Grange was in Texas I should not listen to three wise men with beards, even at this time of year. Wikipedia tells m there are over 25 across the US. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.223|172.71.242.223]] 10:38, 29 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Two men with beards, one man named Beard. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.77|172.70.46.77]] 11:35, 29 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Normally cartoons come out MWF, but this came out on a Tuesday. Any known (or hypothesized) reason. Should the unusual timing get a mention. No comic in the normal Wed slot. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 02:36, 30 December 2022 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2711:_Optimal_Bowling&diff=301453Talk:2711: Optimal Bowling2022-12-16T05:12:49Z<p>MAP: Some explanation of different types of bowling</p>
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Who cares about rules? I mean, I'm pretty sure your score won't count according to rules if you bowl from establishment uphill from bowling alley. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:36, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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If the ball has a diameter of 8.5 inches (multiplied by 2.54 and Pi makes about 67.8cm circumference) the rpm is also limited by the speed of light of the surface (reached at about 6.4x10^9rpm).<br />
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Please elaborate on how widespread the aforementioned destruction would be. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.38|172.71.154.38]] 10:50, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
: See What-If #1 (https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/) for reference. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 11:01, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Randall is clearly overestimating the mass range at which "equipment damage" would occur. Even 10^3 kilos is a //car//. I'm pretty sure that throwing a bowling ball the mass of a car would do a lot of equipment damage. I believe the 10^10 to 10^20 range should be "widespread destruction" (already a category above) and between that and the Schwarzchild mass should be something like "all life on Earth destroyed" because 10^20 kilos is plenty large enough for a global killer asteroid (admittedly its velocity would be much smaller... but still, I don't see how you have 1% of the Moon's mass in bowling ball without wiping out all life on Earth). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.175|172.70.85.175]] 11:20, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
: That's the joke :) The humour is in the understatement [[User:Xseo|Xseo]] ([[User talk:Xseo|talk]]) 11:51, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
::If the bowling ball is made from material on Earth having 1 % of the Moons mass concentrated in one city but without any speed should not have any wide impact on Earth. Probably alot for those in the city. the gravity changes locally, and surrounding area. But not massive destruction. If 1% of Moons mass was added to Earth I also do not think it would make much difference, as long as it was placed softly on Earth. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:26, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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For further edification: A 10^3 kg bowling ball traveling at 10^3 m/s is approximately equivalent to a shell fired from the main battery gun of a battleship. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.74|162.158.159.74]] 11:40, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The aim graph is wrong, isn't it? I have never practiced bowling, but I am pretty sure I have seen videos explaining that you need to aim on the side, and the spin will bring the ball to strike the pin group with an angle, not head on. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.134.132|172.71.134.132]] 12:26, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
:It's not clear what the target is in the aim graph. If it's straight down the middle towards the headpin, you're right. But maybe it's aiming towards that optimal curve angle. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:50, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: on that note, what is assumed for the other 3 parameters as 1 is changed along the graph? 0? average? optimal? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.160|172.71.22.160]] 15:04, 15 December 2022 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
:considering the whole graph covers everything up to and including facing away from the lane, it could be that the spike "at" 0 degrees encompasses a lot of fine grain control. After all being 5 degrees off center wouldn't show up much in a 360 degree span, but could make a decent difference on where the ball hits within a lane.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.96|172.70.134.96]] 15:59, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Is there an extra gag in the fact all the numbers are on a logarithmic scale, or is that just so he can get to the absurdist values? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.164|172.68.174.164]] 16:52, 15 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I would like to know precisely how anybody scores a strike when their ball has 0 RPM!? Y'all playing on ice rinks!? --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.185|172.69.79.185]] 00:49, 16 December 2022 (UTC)<br />
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At the beginning it references "Ten Pin Bowling" by which I presume the author of that section was referring to "Duck Pin Bowling" which is the major form in the United States. There is also "Candle Pin Bowling" which is a different class of Ten Pin, but with very differently shaped pins and smaller balls without finger holes and mostly limited to small areas of the Northeast. Some of the physics is enough different that the curves would vary if they weren't so absurdly scaled already, in that sense the graphs are as applicable to Candle Pin as they are to Duck Pin. Of course, this is all in the extreme detail that's not really relevant to readers understanding, so I'm not sure if it needs to be explained. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 05:12, 16 December 2022 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2690:_Cool_S&diff=297674Talk:2690: Cool S2022-10-26T23:00:38Z<p>MAP: Comment on expanding the transcript.</p>
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Wow. Never seen a blank one before [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 14:23, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Apologies for my mediocre attempt, new to this [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 14:30, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I used to do these chains! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.25|108.162.237.25]] 15:38, 26 October 2022 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
:You must have used to be {{w|DNA polymerase}}, then! —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]]) 19:27, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
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As a molecular biologist, I'm a bit annoyed any time I see DNA drawn as a left-handed helix. Perhaps this was intentional on Randall's part.<br />
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: To expand on Bumpf's comment -- DNA is typically right-handed, so it was most probably derived from the "cool Z". (Yes, Z-DNA (q.v.) is left-handed -- perhaps leading to Randall's presentation) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.178.221|172.70.178.221]] 17:04, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
: I mean, I've never seen on so angular before either. 17:15, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Z DNA was not discovered until the 1980s and is a minor form. Also, it doesn't really look much like the regular helix. Franklin had X-ray data on A and B form DNA. B is the most well known form. Also, so as not to have someone else blamed for my comment, the left-hand comment was "docpelletier," me. <br />
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This was actually a rediscovery, Celtic decorators had discovered it before. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 18:56, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Dosen't the transcript generally not have the title text included? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.82.167|172.70.82.167]] 19:14, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Correct. The transcript is of the image only. —[[User:While False|While False]] ([[User:While False/explain xkcd museum|'''museum''']] | [[User talk:While False|talk]] | [[special:Contributions/While_False|contributions]] | [[special:Log/While_False|logs]] | [[Special:UserRights/While_False|rights]]) 19:23, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Should we try a more descriptive transcript? I could write up a description, but wasn't sure if I should. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 23:00, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Not giving her the Prize because she was already dead is still discrimination. Didn't Pratchett even had word for that? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:29, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
:There is debate to be had on whether it is or isn't discrimination when as a rule, the prize isn't awared posthumously unless the person recieved the award before death.--[[User:Mapron01|Mapron01]] ([[User talk:Mapron01|talk]]) 19:44, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
:From the world of Pratchett: "Undead, not Unperson!" - Although that might only count if Franklin also became like [[896: Marie Curie]], at least in time for the original award being decided). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.186.163|172.71.186.163]] 20:52, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I think there's more to the controversy over Rosalind Franklin than just being omitted from the Nobel Prize. The significance of her contribution was downplayed in the media in general. Practically everyone has heard of Watson and Crick, but relatively few lay people have heard of Franklin. Although I guess that can be considered a natural result of them receiving the Nobel. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:08, 26 October 2022 (UTC)<br />
:She's at least getting (assuming it can be rearranged) a {{w|Rosalind Franklin (rover)|Mars rover}}... I think C&W aren't getting anything like that, whatever past supplemental honours they got in response/parallel to their Nobelisations... [[Special:Contributions/172.71.186.163|172.71.186.163]] 20:52, 26 October 2022 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2647:_Capri_Suns&diff=289908Talk:2647: Capri Suns2022-07-22T04:33:05Z<p>MAP: Added additional info on vandalizers address.</p>
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The title text could also be referring to a catheter. I'm not sure which is funnier, but one is certainly grosser. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.115|172.70.85.115]] 18:15, 18 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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That is definitely a urine collection bag from the end of a catheter. The colour would make it doubly "mistakable" for a Capri-Sun with primary flavour/colour being orange. And urine (when collected and undiluted) is usually orange in colour. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.156.215|172.69.156.215]] 18:38, 18 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Actually, Capri Sun drinks are generally completely colorless, since the pouches are opaque and the liquid is therefore never really seen, so there's no need for artificial coloring to be added (which is the only reason other similar drinks have a color to them). [[User:Dansiman|Dansiman]] ([[User talk:Dansiman|talk]]) 21:27, 18 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: Depends on the flavor, because they have actual fruit juice. The drinks with cherry juice, for example, are red, and deeper than the drinks with orange juice are orange/yellow, because of the strength of pigment in the juices. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 01:41, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/as0vpa/caprisun_in_a_cup/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.163|172.70.206.163]] 10:46, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like these are more likely saline bags, given that 1) they've got a substantial amount of text on them, more consistent with saline bags' photos (https://www.google.com/search?q=saline+bag&tbm=isch) than with urine bags, which generally are blank. The tiny label text on the bag also seems to read saline -- would it be all right to change this to the preferred interpretation? [[User:Lorea|Lorea]] ([[User talk:Lorea|talk]]) 18:56, 18 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:In the larger version, the text clearly says "Saline" [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.123|172.71.30.123]] 21:38, 18 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Zooming in on the larger version the text clearly says "saline". I've updated the transcript to reflect that. I've also cleaned up the explanation to incorporate that update.[[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 00:12, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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How do you see the double size image?<br />
:I used the Zoom function on my TV screen :P [[User:The Cat Lady|-- The Cat Lady]] ([[User talk:The Cat Lady|talk]]) 21:33, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/capri_suns_2x.png [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.103|108.162.241.103]] 00:38, 20 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:If you're into reading the HTML source, you'll see something (not got it in front of me) in the <img>-tag that points the correctly responding browser (based upon detection of available screen resolution/size within the browser page area, IIRC) to load up the hi-res version.<br />
:But if you don't want to go into that, just click on the image permalink at the bottom (the .png/.whatever one) to get that direct then edit the name in the address bar from ".../image_name.png" to ".../image_name_2x.png" (add underscore-two-ex in there) and ''usually'' that'll load the larger file.<br />
:Won't work with the more interactive comics. I also believe (at least originally) the non-2x and the 2x versions have been uploaded as the same on at least one occasion. But it works well enough on this particular comic (because I did it to confirm the SALINE detail to my own satisfaction), as the prior poster also indicates. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.80|172.70.91.80]] 01:10, 20 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Yeah, it's definitely an IV bag, not a urine bag. I would say to change it back. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.185|172.70.214.185]] 19:01, 18 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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All I can say is "thank goodness for explainXKCD" otherwise I had no idea as Capri Sun isn't a thing in many countries [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.49|172.69.62.49]] 23:19, 18 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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There was I thinking it was blood<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.78|172.70.91.78]] 07:34, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Heat wave in Europe and drought conditions provide this Twitter user to imagine Capri Sun as IV Drip [https://twitter.com/cleveleysnews/status/635186028790288385] [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 17:08, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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; IV sucrose solutions aren't that bad <br />
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Regarding whether IV Capri Sun is potentially dangerous, please see [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1998290/] which discusses IV injection of 100 ml of 50% sucrose solution as a therapeutic, and [https://journals.physiology.org/doi/epdf/10.1152/ajplegacy.1935.112.1.97] which states sucrose is quickly cleared by the kidneys. The other simple sugars aren't going to hurt. Citric acid is "a common ingredient used in [injected] pharmaceutical formulations."[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33888605/]. What's in Capri Sun which could cause IV toxicity? Its ingredients are, per [https://www.caprisun.com/product/capri-sun-juice-drink/capri-sun-tropical-punch-flavored-juice-drink-blend-10-ct-box-6-fl-oz-pouches-00087684001028#id_pdpNutritionContainer], "WATER; SUGAR; APPLE JUICE CONCENTRATE; CITRIC ACID; GRAPE, PINEAPPLE AND CHERRY JUICE CONCENTRATES; NATURAL FLAVOR; MUSHROOM EXTRACT." It's pasteurized.<br />
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I'm trying to find some quantification of the level at which undigested fruit juices are harmful when injected. They can cause temporary loss of liver and kidney function along with clotting resulting in pulmonary embolism, but it's not clear at what concentrations they become dangerous, and I can't find good sources. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.32|172.69.34.32]] 09:27, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816 will have to do for now. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.95|172.70.214.95]] 09:33, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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"The investigation is still ongoing. Please overlook this minor oversight." "Oh, disgusted nurse, you are so very sexy! Would you like a higher paying job at a competing facility?" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.87|162.158.62.87]] 22:58, 19 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Well, some barrel of laughs decided to vandalize the front of the page with the n word. 162.158.107.220, in case anybody's wondering. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.217|172.70.130.217]]`<br />
: That address belongs to Cloudflare (Which is the CDN ExplainXKCD uses), not sure why someone is using their hosts to browse here. If you're sure the defacement came from there, you should report it to abuse@cloudflare.com [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 04:33, 22 July 2022 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2646:_Minkowski_Space&diff=288915Talk:2646: Minkowski Space2022-07-16T05:46:33Z<p>MAP: Added a note on Hilbert's Hotel.</p>
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I still don't get it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.163|172.69.33.163]] 03:06, 16 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
: It's definitely not in the top ten all-time funniest ever, but there are probably more than a few academic physicists it got a grin out of. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.233|172.70.210.233]] 03:38, 16 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: It's been a long time since I had any sort of dealing with Minkowski diagrams, but it definitely got me chuckling... I suppose you just have to appreciate Randall's particular slant. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.10|172.70.86.10]] 04:45, 16 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think checking in to Hilbert's Hotel provides any comfort at all. After all you are required to pack up your belongings and move to a new room a possibly infinite number of times, thus leaving you no chance to get any sleep. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 05:46, 16 July 2022 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2642:_Meta-Alternating_Current&diff=288448Talk:2642: Meta-Alternating Current2022-07-08T14:41:26Z<p>MAP: Maybe comment on the number.</p>
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<div>And today, we are reminded that [[Randall]] used to be a physicist (or at least has a physics degree). Not worth mentioning in the article, but while inverters can't reverse each other, transformers can. (Has Randall done the transformer/Transformer pun yet as an excuse to mock the movies?) [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 11:10, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
: I haven't picked up the physics reference yet. I see electrical engineering here. Randall strikes me as somebody who would study physics given the opportunit, though. It's notable that this webcomic started while Randall was in college, if I recall right. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.75|172.70.230.75]] 11:58, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Long distance links, especially those between separate unsynchronized grids, use high voltage DC. There is a 2,000-mile link in China running at 1 MV. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 11:32, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:That's because at great distances, relatively high frequency AC loses a lot of ("active" = actually useful) power as ... reactive power, I think (didn't learn the terminology in English, unit seems right though). A typical grid has a lot of generators and load. A long distance connection results in a phase shift according to the transmission time (speed of light in medium x distance) in about the order of magnitude of the AC period (usually somewhere between 1/10 to 1/60 seconds) wastes a portion equal to the sine of the phase shift angle (up to 90° = all of it) as reactive power. DC isn't quite as easy to use but on long distances there is no power loss to reactive power. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 12:25, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Let's face it, the thing should be called an alternator. Of course that name's taken as a redundant word for (electrical) generator. [[User:627235|627235]] ([[User talk:627235|talk]]) 12:26, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
It always bothered me that UPS battery backups take the wall AC and convert it to DC to charge the battery, but then have to turn it back to AC to send it to the computer, so the power supply can convert it to DC to run the thing. I picture some connector that goes directly from the UPS to the power supply so that if power is lost it can just pull 12V directly from the battery. [[User:Andyd273|Andyd273]] ([[User talk:Andyd273|talk]]) 12:47, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:some UPSs do this. They normally power the computer directly from the input AC, but if there is a power failure, they use the battery to power the inverters and switch the output to the inverter. Other UPSs always power the computer from the inverter. They have the advantage that there is not even a milisecond time to start powering the computer. That can be better for some equipment, and that kind of UPS often costs more. It is also worth noting that in some data centers, they bypass the AC step and have one big DC power supply that directly powers the computers. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 16:49, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverter_(logic_gate) NOT logic gates] are also often known as inverters. An even number of those '''would''' indeed produce the same output as the (true/false) input. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.242.58|108.162.242.58]] 16:03, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
“Further chaining this into more inverters/rectifiers would normally not be considered.”<br />
Well, if you take a DCC controlled model railway for camping, you get a second stage of inverter/rectifier.<br />
The power supply of the DCC control station usually expects AC input, so you invert the DC of the car battery.<br />
The PSU then makes DC for the control station processor, which is then made AC to generate a DCC signal.<br />
The locomotives always have a rectifier to get a DC power supply from the DCC signal (which is confusingly AC).<br />
<br />
You get a third stage with another plausible trick: put the battery on a car battery charger, which converts AC from the camping site power grid to DC. Then use a locomotive with a (rarely used) BLDC motor, which confusingly needs an inverter generating AC.<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.181|172.71.94.181]] 18:01, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The efficiency calculation is bogus. For the rectifier, the "efficiency" of 81% relates to voltage, not power. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectifier). I don't know what the power efficiency is, but I do note that my computer's power supply is not glowing white hot.<br />
:Where do you propose the extra current to make up for such difference would come from? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 21:38, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
::When you convert AC to DC or DC to AC, you can't qualify either with single number for voltage OR current. You need to examine whole graph, because both voltage and current are changing with frequency of (original) AC. I'm pretty sure that 81% figure is related to the different way how voltage is computed for AC and DC. That said, regarding the gloving power supply ... usually, power supply contains fan, and while it's partially used to cool the case interior, the power supply might not like it being stopped either. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:24, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Your computer's power supply has switching H-bridge MOSFET transistors that sense and match the AC phase, not an ordinary diode rectifier. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.206.213|172.70.206.213]] 23:25, 7 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
I interpreted Randall imagining "inversion" as "reciprocal" (or maybe the inversion of a function) rather than physically turning something upside-down, since mathematical inversion is typically reversible... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.121|172.70.130.121]] 03:48, 8 July 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should the description also comment on the choice of number for this "connector". Obviously related to the fact that wall outlet voltage in the US is frequently (pun intended) 120 Volts. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 14:41, 8 July 2022 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2628:_Motion_Blur&diff=2861472628: Motion Blur2022-06-04T01:02:03Z<p>MAP: /* Transcript */ Fixed small typo (photographs where it should be photographers), checked match to comic.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2628<br />
| date = June 3, 2022<br />
| title = Motion Blur<br />
| image = motion_blur.png<br />
| titletext = I can't speak for your other subjects, but MY motion was as smooth and natural as the framerate allowed.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a bBboOotTt - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[White Hat]] is taking a panning photograph, where the camera rotates. This would cause the objects in the picture to appear blurry because they are moving with respect to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotating_reference_frame the camera's reference frame], at least with with White Hat's camera settings. [[Cueball]] intends to move quickly as White Hat pans in the same direction as the camera is rotating in in order to not be blurry in White Hat's photo, but this backfires because technological advancements have made smartphones compensate for past panning, so Cueball ends up being the only blurry person in the photograph.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
[A strip of three panels. All panels feature White hat, Cueball and Ponytail. Cueball and Ponytail stand next to each other and White hat stands in front of them.]<br />
<br />
[First panel]<br />
<br />
[White hat is turned away from Cueball and Ponytail, and holds a camera.]<br />
<br />
[White hat:] <br />
Okay, I'm going to pan around.<br />
<br />
[Cueball:]<br />
No, wait, your shutter speed is too fast, it will look choppy if—<br />
<br />
[Second panel]<br />
<br />
[White Hat is turning towards Cueball and Ponytail, now pointing the camera away from the viewer. Cueball clenches his fists and hunches his shoulders.]<br />
<br />
[Cueball:]<br />
''Hnnnnngh''<br />
<br />
[Third panel]<br />
<br />
[White Hat is now facing Cueball and Ponytail. Cueball now appears blurry while the others appear similar as to in previous panels.]<br />
<br />
[Caption below strip:]<br />
Expert photographers can learn to generate their own motion blur to compensate for other people's bad camera settings.<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2604:_Frankenstein_Captcha&diff=229978Talk:2604: Frankenstein Captcha2022-04-08T19:19:41Z<p>MAP: Added note on a possible additional reference to the line referred to in the title text.</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
Don't forget it's cannon the Frankenstein is the name of the Monster https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1589:_Frankenstein<br />
<br />
The other squares contain things that might also be ambiguously named: <br />
<br />
There is tortoise/turtle ship/boat/yacht monster Napolean/Nelson<br />
<br />
puddle/pond/lake girl/woman magma/lava squash/pumpkin/gourd/..<br />
<br />
Frankenstein (sandwich?) (stop sign?) monster<br />
<br />
Rocket/spaceship(Or planet/dwarf planet?) (couple?) (traffic light?) monster.<br />
<br />
I can't think of any other term for the sandwich, the couple, or the traffic signals. Are these a call back to the self driving car captcha https://xkcd.com/1897/<br />
<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.125|162.158.159.125]] 16:28, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:That's neither Nelson nor Napoleon but rather Link from the Legend of Zelda series. He has the shield with a Triforce symbol on it, the hat that's pointed in the back, and a sword that's surprisingly recognizable as the Master Sword despite xkcd's low detail art style. <br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.43|108.162.245.43]] 16:43, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I suspect some of the other squares are common “well-actually” topics, eg. a pumpkin/squash is actually a fruit. The “puddle” is a mirage. Row 2 column 2 has a 9 drawn in their hair… a Franken-nine? — Alex<br />
<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.23|162.158.2.23]] 16:38, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The astronomical body might be a meteoroid? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.77|172.70.114.77]] 16:56, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Oh wait, missed the heart crater. nvm that's gotta be Pluto [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.75|172.70.230.75]] 16:57, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The sandwich is probably due to pedantry over 'is [x] a sandwich' debates. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.250.67|172.70.250.67]] 17:04, 8 April 2022 (UTC) <br />
:In that case, it should have been a hot dog. ;D <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:09, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Seems likely. Also reminds me of https://xkcd.com/2301/ [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.237|172.70.134.237]] 17:18, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could the lake/pond tile actually be a fata morgana - given the desert setting implied by the sun and the pyramids? [[User:Captain Nemo|Captain Nemo]] ([[User talk:Captain Nemo|talk]]) 17:13, 8 April 2022 (UTC) <br />
:What lake/pond? There is no water there, man. I think you're just seeing an illusion, created by heat ripples in the air. (I'm kidding; just trying to keep up the "mirage".) <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:24, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The current explanation does not mention the Title Text, nor does it explain the paraphrased quote. I believe the original quote mentions "a line in the sand"? <br /> <br />
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:11, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:There's also the classic turn of phrase "There's a thin line between ConceptA and ConceptB" which is what I thought of when I read that. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 19:19, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
#a tomato is the gold standard for uncertainty in pronunciation<br />
#the sandwich's definition is both precise and vague: nerd fight! Hotdog? Burrito? Pizza? Doughnut?<br />
#in the 1931 the little girl does not run away but is, er, cared for by the monster. the flower is not pictured. --[[User:Misterstick|Misterstick]] ([[User talk:Misterstick|talk]]) 17:26, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
What if the planet ''contains'' Frankenstein (either the monster or the doctor) and you just can't tell at this resolution??! 19:51, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
:The planet also might be ''named'' Frankenstein. Or an asteroid. There isn't one yet, but maybe in the future?<br />
:[https://space.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_named_asteroids_(F-K)#Fr Closest match for name] is "10246 Frankenwald"<br />
<br />
A bit disappointed Randall didn't take the opportunity to include the 1972 Edgar Winter Group album "They Only Come Out at Night", which contains the track "Frankenstein." [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.176|172.70.131.176]] 18:51, 8 April 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The turtle may be a reference to "turtle rifle", a series of GAN exercises resulting in producing objects that neural networks recognize as something completely else. A famous one was a turtle-shaped toy, which looked quite like a normal turtle to a human eye, but a characteristic pattern on its shell made neural networks to classify it as a rifle.</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2585:_Rounding&diff=227455Talk:2585: Rounding2022-02-24T05:10:38Z<p>MAP: Added comment on suggested furlongs per fortnight.</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
Wot no {{w|FFF system|furlongs per fortnight}}? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.126|172.70.91.126]] 23:14, 23 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: I, too, was initially surprised that Randall hadn't used the standard joke measure. But, then I realized that F/F is so outrageously large that rounding wouldn't offer much advantage. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 05:10, 24 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
If we're using the table, can I suggest it be fully filled in, but mark "original (rounded)" value cells one key colour and the chosen conversion in another, so that scanning along (not necessarily adjacent/rightwards) then down (always next row) then along... you see the 'bounce around'. And we also get to appreciate what other fractional values ''could'' have been chosen, prior to rounding... Alternately, some flow-charty layout (perhaps contained within a nominally borderless version of the table?) with arrows leading across the width and filling in-between each down-step. Ideas only. I have others, but those seem the best bet to consider. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.113|172.70.85.113]] 01:32, 24 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Disagree with the current (as of 23:27 US Eastern, 23 February) explanation. According to this site (https://ilovebicycling.com/average-bike-speed/), average downhill bike speed is over 45 mph. Since Cueball doesn't specify "on flat terrain", he should have no problem going 45 without exploiting imprecise conversions. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 04:30, 24 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Huh? This does not say average downhill speed is > 45, it says "fastest". Also why would Cueball need to do this bizarre rounding if he can actually go 45mph? This is an exaggeration because he can only go a typical speed of 17mph.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.145|172.69.33.145]] 04:52, 24 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Fastest for average cyclist. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 05:05, 24 February 2022 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Countdown_in_header_text&diff=226095Countdown in header text2022-01-31T14:53:43Z<p>MAP: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| date = January 10, 2022<br />
| title = Countdown in header text<br />
| image = Countdown_in_header_text.png<br />
| before = The countdown will probably last 21 days. After February 1st 2022 it is likely to have disappeared. See this [https://web.archive.org/web/20220110183238/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-10] archive version.<br />
| ldomain = www<br />
| lappend = <br />
| extra = yes<br />
}}<br />
*Go directly to the list of [[Countdown in header text/images|images]].<br />
**Or [[Countdown in header text/images#newestpicture|Jump to the newest picture]]<br />
***The images can also be found [https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ here] on munvoseli's page where comparison of two images and an animation can be seen.<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
*'''Amazon revealed the news a day too early.'''<br />
<br />
'''SPOILERS AHEAD!'''<br />
<br />
It is Randall's new book [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525537112 what if? 2] that will be announced tomorrow.<br />
**The full title: What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions <br />
**The Hardcover version is released September 13, 2022.<br />
***A follow up on his first book based on his blog [[what if?]]<br />
*On January 10th 2022, [[Randall]] added a countdown in the top right corner of the [[xkcd Header text]] on {{xkcd}}.<br />
**This happened while the comic [[2565: Latency]] was up.<br />
***First the xkcd Header text was [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-08_-_Back_to_standard_text|changed back]] to the [[xkcd_Header_text#Header_text|standard text]] for the first time in almost three years:<br />
****xkcd updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. <br />
***But already while this Friday-comic was still up on the following Monday the [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-10_-_Standard_text_with_countdown|countdown]] was added.<br />
****This was thus up when the Monday comic [[2566: Decorative Constants]] was released, drawing more people to the xkcd page.<br />
*The first [[#Archived Versions|archived version]] from [https://web.archive.org/web/20220110183238/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-10] read 20d 20h 27m.<br />
**It looks like it started on [https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ 01-10 17:00 UTC]. <br />
***At that time it would have read 20d 21h 59 min. Just two hours and 1 minute short of 3 weeks.<br />
*This countdown will reach zero on Monday 2022-01-31 at 14:59 (2:59 PM) {{w|UTC}}, or 9:59 AM in Boston, Randall's home town.<br />
**If seconds will be added towards the end, it seems likely that it may end exactly at 15:00 UTC (10:00 AM in Boston).<br />
**Seconds appeared with about 10 minutes to go and the box started jiggling around.<br />
***Further, the timer may be using [[1061:_EST|EST]], in which case it will count up for four hours on 2022-01-18, and will end on 2022-01-31 23:00 UTC.<br />
****Though either way, it would fall on Monday, and therefore the day comic 2575 should be released.<br />
****The full moon has since passed, and now we know that the timer isn't using EST, so it will indeed reach zero at or near 2022-01-31T15:00Z.<br />
**The timer ends in January. Recall that the month is named for Janus, the Roman god of endings and beginnings. Two salient points: the clock hits zero at the end of the month and the plane is leaving. Look for a big ending and, we hope, something nice to replace it.<br />
*The next day on [https://web.archive.org/web/20220111153818/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-11] a diagonal black bar appeared in the lower left-hand corner of the countdown box and started to move further into the image on following changes to the [[#Images|image]].<br />
**This development called for the creation of this dedicated [[Countdown in header text]] page.<br />
**The line had already moved further into the image at this time, but the latest version will never be available in the web archive.<br />
***This development is reminiscent of the huge comic [[1190: Time]].<br />
*As mentioned above, [https://munvoseli.github.io/ Munvoseli] is keeping [https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ track of the changes] to the image on the countdown.<br />
**Although there are (at 2022-01-12 12:35 UTC) thirteen different frames we know of, the first three looks the same (because the diagonal bar was not in the frame yet) and the seventh and the eighth also seems to be the same, even though the bar had already begun moving across the frame from the fourth. This is either on purpose, a slipup or means that The Frame<sup>TM</sup> might not be zooming out of a larger image.<br />
***However, the images that look the same all have individual addresses on the xkcd server. See more under [[#Images|Images]] below.<br />
***Similarly, frames 91 and 92 seem to be exactly the same. Also frame 92 did not upload as part of the roughly four hour schedule, but between two frames that are part of the regular schedule.<br />
<br />
Randall has previously made a comic simply called [[1159: Countdown]]. However, in that the roles are reversed. There we know that the countdown is for (Super Volcano) but not if it will happen soon or very much later. Here we know when, and it is rather soon, but not what.<br />
<br />
==Images==<br />
*Images will be put on [[Countdown in header text/images|this separate page]].<br />
**The images can also be found [https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ here] on munvoseli's page.<br />
***It is possible to compare two images, chosen between those released, on that page!<br />
***From 2022-01-14 it has also been possible to see an animation.<br />
**See more details at the top of the image page.<br />
*After a few days the black lines forming the image came into conflict with the clock, which has a rounded white frame around it. This can be seen in one of the earliest examples here:<br />
[[File:Countdown in header text Clock Cover Black Lines.png]]<br />
*Later this could cause problems for those only looking at the xkcd page. From frame 97 a new item appeared in the top right corner. This turned out to be a black curve that could resemble a dinosaurs tail. At this moment, frame 121, it is still unclear what it is. But when looked at on xkcd, the clocks rounded white frame intersects with the "tail" making the end curve inwards. This makes it look like an elephants trunk. But this is of course not the case, but an effect of how the clock is overlaid on the image: <br />
[[File:Countdown in header text Clock Causes Trunk Appearance.png]]<br />
*Also at this time a new development happened after the "plane tail" moved forward it stopped on 2022-01-18 and started moving up (or zooming in). See for instance these two comparison from munvoseli's page showing the difference from the 8 pictures before today, and then after three out today:<br />
[[File:Countdown in header text Compare 40 to 48.png]] [[File:Countdown in header text Compare 48 to 51.png]]<br />
*Later a similar change happens, as it changes from zooming out to slowly moving towards the right, although the windows and the door appear to move more in relation to the frame than the rest of the aircraft:<br />
[[File:Countdown in header text Compare 85 to 90.png]] [[File:Countdown in header text Compare 95 to 90.png]]<br />
*From frame 124 to 125 one of the largest changes occurred between images so far. A very large jump bringing two new things into view, the landing wheel and possibly a leg if it is dinosaur on top of the plane;<br />
[[File:Countdown in header text Compare 124 to 125.png]]<br />
*The final image appeared in frame 134, and it did not change when frame 135 came up. That was the active frame when there was one hour left of the countdown:<br />
*[[File:Countdown in header text One hour left.png]]<br />
<br />
===Ongoing description===<br />
** Frames 1-12: A diagonal line.<br />
** Frame 13: A curve seems to begin at the top left of the line. <br />
** Frame 18: The curve connects the diagonal line with a horizontal line.<br />
** Frame 27-28: A new line appears in the bottom left corner.<br />
** Frame 40-42: The new line turns out to be connected to the horizontal line, forming a corner which is not attached to any other line.<br />
** Frame 49: The "camera movement" direction changes, while the object is still moving upward it stopped moving towards the left side, moving towards the right instead. <br />
** Frame 54: A slight upward curve seems to appear in the right line, the left line seems to have a small bend downwards, though that could at that point just be a straight line that Randall drew without a ruler.<br />
** Frame 60-62: A new line appears in the bottom right corner, it turns out to be a continuation of the first original line which curves upward and has a positive slope at that point of the picture, between about 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock. The downward bend of the left line continues on straight in the same direction, it was probably an intentional bend and not an irregularity in drawing a straight line by hand.<br />
** Frame 63: In the minimum of the right curved line a new line starts appearing, way thinner than the others (which were up to this point all rather part of one line) and going slightly downwards and very much to the left, at an angle somewhere between 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock.<br />
** Frame 67: A possible feature becomes visible at the bottom edge of the image that might resolve the exact nature of the (currently presumed) aircraft, e.g. which particular aerodynamic surface we have been seeing and thus from which particular orientation we are viewing it.<br />
** Frame 68-72 makes it clear this must be an aircraft by showing windows and a door and clearly the tail fin. As late as frame 69 some people argued that the tail fin could have been a wing.<br />
** Frame 73-83 brings a horizontal stabilizer into view.<br />
** Frame 87-89: A new curved line appears on the underside of the (presumed) aircraft, so there either is something behind it or it might not be an aircraft.<br />
** Frame 96-99: An arc is coming into view in the upper right corner, likely the top edge of a cloud.<br />
*** Turned out not to be a cloud.<br />
** Frame 101-106 seems to be some kind of radar on top of the plane, like the one on {{w|Boeing E-3 Sentry}}. Or alternatively this plane is hanging beneath another plane. Not looking at all like {{w|Spaceshiptwo}}, but something similar, which could make this plane a spaceplane?<br />
** Frame 106-114 a new element of the image appears on the right side, it could be the end of a wing. The arch no longer looks like a radar. Could be the tail of a Dinosaur or the cape of someone riding the airplane...<br />
*** a cape is unlikely as it would probably be drawn to flap in the wind. The other element does appear to be a wingtip<br />
*** Could it be [[Cory Doctorow]] flying with the airplane, but much closer to the 'camera'?<br />
** Frame 115-121 makes it clear that the newest addition at the bottom right is the wing tip of the plane. The black curve above the plane still mostly looks like a tail as on a dinosaur or dragon. Could also be a tentacle. Either from an [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/b/b5/1608_1038x1094y_Giant_octopus_in_Destroyer.pngv octopus] or from and alien like in [[2572: Alien Observers]]. Of course it could also be a cape, but seems too thick at the end...<br />
** Frame 124 shows something beneath the plane, but already in 125, that makes one of the largest jumps between pictures so far, this is clearly one of the wheels on the landing gear. Also the hind leg of the Dinosaur whose tail has been visible long time is coming in to view. Not certain yet it is a dino (probably a velociraptor), but the leg makes it the number one candidate.<br />
** Frames 126-127 almost confirm the dinosaur theory.<br />
*** And at this time someone spotted the new What if? 2 book on Amazon and it is the Tyrannosaur from the [[what if?]] blog that is now eating a plane rather than being lowered into the Sarlac.<br />
** Frame 134 reveals the last part of the plane, so now the entire plane and T-rex is visible. This was about 6 hours before the countdown ended.<br />
** Frame 135 is identical with 134!<br />
**About ten minutes before the countdown ended the image started to wiggle<br />
<br />
==Theories==<br />
*'''Amazon revealed the news a day too early!''' - it is Randall's new book [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525537112 what if? 2] that will be announced at the end of the countdown.<br />
**That is actually really sad they did that.<br />
***Once again, Amazon ruins everything.<br />
**So it is a book announcement, and the picture is Tyrannosaur eating a plane while in flight.<br />
**Maybe it will be the entire book, or at least include the text 'what if? 2', and that more rapid zoom-out will happen during the last minutes.<br />
***Since the entire plane is revealed with at least two more possible updates, even in 4 hours schedule, something new may certainly be expected to occur before the end of the countdown. This written after frame 134 that revealed the front of the plane.<br />
*The XKCD store currently reports "will be opening soon" [https://store.xkcd.com/] perhaps anyannouncement will be simultaneous with a store re-launch.<br />
<br />
<br />
*Here below are the different theories for what the countdown was for and what the picture was going to reveal from before it was clear what it was.<br />
<br />
===The picture===<br />
*Theories about the picture:<br />
**From 2022-01-21 it became certain that it was a plane! Passenger plane. Door and windows are visible. <br />
***From 2022-01-22 it became clear that it was the rear end, so it was a tailfin that came into the panel to begin with. Up til the day before it was still a bit uncertain if it could have been a wing.<br />
*** from 2022-01-24 a bottom line has appeared which doesn't fit well with a 'standard' airliner. perhaps the image is deliberately misleading (eg will transform into something else)<br />
*** From 2022-01-26 something looking like a radar like the one on a {{w|Boeing E-3 Sentry}} began emerging in the top right corner.<br />
*** From 2022-01-28 it looks like an elephant's trunk to me.<br />
**What will this lead up to - theories about this.<br />
***It could be an airplane with a banner like in [[1355: Airplane Message]].<br />
****That would very soon be clear as the bottom part of the rear end seems to be coming into view during 2022-01-24, if the direction does not change again.<br />
*****This is now ruled out, since the plane is clearly not towing a banner.<br />
***It could end up landing in a city, perhaps with a skyline pinpointing where Randall will be or move.<br />
****However, unlikely to manage this in real life as the count down ends.<br />
****Also, very unlikely (1 in 60, or even 1 in 3600) that such a landing would occur exactly on the hour. <br />
*****But it could also just be the time when he announces he has moved... <br />
***Maybe Cueball will make a parachute jump, and Cueball could represent a real life Randall, as this could in principle be timed very accurately.<br />
****This is something you would schedule a month or more ahead, want to tell people about in advance, want to make a big deal about on your website, is not quite as bizarre as zero-G and probably more fun {{citation needed}}, could be done with an adventurous wife, explains why it’s the tail of the plane in the image, and (assuming no mechanical, medical, or meteorological problems, a safe assumption), might go something like “on my mark, it’ll be 9:59:56 A.M. in Boston... mark. 3, 2, 1, JUMP!” Maybe it’ll be just Cueball/Randall, but could more likely include Megan representing his wife.<br />
****However, it could very easily be that the weather in January could foil the attempt, or at least the timing.<br />
****The plane appears to be a commercial jetliner, though, rather than the small prop planes used for parachute jumps. Unless, of course, Randall is revealing his real identity has been Wesley Snipes all along<br />
****The plane appears to have its landing gear down, which rules out a parachute jump.<br />
*****At frame 124 it is a bit early to say that the dot beneath the plane is the landing gear, but from 125 it became clear. Also seems like the leg of the dino on the plane has come into vies. The below was written before number 125 came out.<br />
*****Landing gear implies that the aircraft is either taking off or landing, and judging by the plane's nose-up attitude, most likely taking off. Therefore, assuming that the plane is in fact shown seconds after rotation (possibly still on the ground), there is a possibility that the black object could be an airport fixture, perhaps a wind sock in the foreground?<br />
******Well, forget I said that. It's a dinosaur apparently.<br />
*** Perhaps the new item on top of the plane is the tail of a dinosaur? perhaps like the one on the cover of "what if..." book. perhaps it's a new book?<br />
*** There are two flights originating in Boston departing at 09:59 on 1/31/2022: Spirit NK433 to Orlando Florida and Delta DL5696 to Washington D.C.<br />
***Frame 101-106 seems to be some kind of radar on top of the plane, like the one on Boeing E-3 Sentry. Or alternatively this plane is hanging beneath another plane. Not looking at all like Spaceshiptwo, but something similar, which could make this plane a spaceplane?<br />
**** Predicting dinosaur<br />
***** Cross-referencing it with the cover of ''What If?'', this does seem like a xkcd-style dinosaur tail. It could represent Randall, or xkcd as a whole, going somewhere. Or it could just be the cover of a new book.<br />
******Yep, it's a dinosaur.<br />
**** Revising my prior theory: It now looks very much like another aircraft (similar to theory below) but not part of the main aircraft, I think. I would guess it is either an improbable mid-air encounter (like a passenger jet and an ultra-lite) or an equally improbable "launch" of something from the jet (again like an ultra-lite or some other less common or even fictional craft.)<br />
**** Maybe the torch of the Statue of Liberty?<br />
**** The black wave looks like a superhero cape<br />
**** the white element overlapping the fuselage could be the start of the wing-tip these fold up at the ends of many modern aircraft, could mean aircraft is banking left.<br />
***Frame 107-121 the right wing of the plane moves into view. It is still unclear if the black curve is a tail, a cape or a tentacle. But seems like it cannot be another aircraft.<br />
***Has now been resolved.<br />
<br />
====Early theories====<br />
Many early theories were generated before the picture was decisively revealed to be a plane.<br />
<br />
*It seems after two days and 12 pictures like either something is moving into the frame or that it is a zoom out from a white area of a large picture. Maybe it is the arm of Cueball that will come into view.<br />
*The second line makes it look somewhat like the tail fin of an aircraft.<br />
**Or the wing of an aircraft (left if looking down at it). Perhaps the plane is towing a banner that will fly through the frame. <br />
***After almost a week this looks like the most promising suggestion so far. Now that the direction of the camera movement has changed, we might get to see the rest of the aircraft soon.<br />
****From picture 63, it more and more seems like it was the tail fin of a plane and now we can see the body.<br />
*****It's almost certainly the tail (and now a bit of the rear fuselage) of an aircraft.<br />
******It could just as easily be the left wing and part of the fuselage (showing windows on the right side of an airliner), with the tail fin out of view to the rear, as being the tail fin from an angle where the left wing is out of view behind the fuselage.<br />
*******judging by the relative size of the (presumed) windows, I think it's more likely to be the left wing than the tail fin.<br />
*******Based on the way planes are drawn in [[1868: Eclipse Flights]]. [[1355: Airplane Message]] and [[1669: Planespotting]], plane wings have a point on their edge and tail fins have a flat side, and (if a line is present) a thick line separates wings from the body, whereas thin lines or no lines separate tail fins, so this is a tail fin. <br />
*******In the bottom left there appears to be the top part of a horizontal stabilizer, implying this is the tail.<br />
********It’s a tail fin, that’s finally clear, but that’s the underside of the stabilizer. Which means this would be the best angle to view Cueball/Randall parachuting out of that door, something that would be predictable to the exact minute (barring all kinds of things that could go wrong).<br />
*******Appears to be a door to the left of the windows<br />
*******It could be an airplane with a banner like in [[1355: Airplane Message]]<br />
***Tail of a space shuttle, perhaps?<br />
****While I think Randall would've also drawn in the signature black part of the rudder, the shape fits perfectly<br />
****Timing is close (though not exact) to the Columbia disaster anniversary (2003-02-01 1359 UTC)<br />
***I'm thinking the tail of a Zeppelin. <br />
****Although those normally have longer tail fins.<br />
*Maybe it is some kind of vehicle rolling into frame, like a car?<br />
*Or the word xkcd? (or xkcd 2?)<br />
*Could have been "Hangman", but it looks like it's zooming in on the diagonal instead of continuing to make a gibbet.<br />
*With the new second line appearing in the corner as of frame 28 it looks like it's definitely zooming out of an image. It looks like it could be someone's arm in a running position.<br />
*I think it could also be two legs of a reclining stick person.<br />
*The lines suggest a shark fin and the movement would suggest it swimming across the frame.<br />
**If it was a shark fin, then the most likely candidates would be the first dorsal fin and the pectoral fin, but both end in points rather than edges like in the pictures of the header puzzle. An aircraft tail fin still seems most likely.<br />
*Maybe it's a two-dimensional shape viewed from a weird angle? <br />
**Like a rectangle viewed from a floating, tilted perspective<br />
**Or the top of the k in xkcd<br />
**Or a boat dock?<br />
*The r/xkcd subreddit produced some early theories : <br />
**Cueball's arm<br />
**The letter D, as in "The End" <br />
**A spider's web, in reference to comic 1688<br />
***With the airplane revelation, this reference turned into a meme in the subreddit, where users tried to justify the presence of an airplane shape inside a bigger-scope spider picture<br />
***Some joke theories included:<br />
****A giant spider flinging airplanes from the sky, as a new potential "What If?"<br />
****The lines are a web and the apparent windows the eyes of a giant spider<br />
****The airplane is a complex-looking spider leg, and 8 of them form a spider<br />
***Another redditor made the airplane part of a dragon's head<br />
<br />
===Countdown===<br />
*Theories about the countdown:<br />
*Several have already been mentioned in the discussion:<br />
**Maybe Randall is going on vacation?<br />
**Notice that as of now - 22-Jan-2022 7am PST - (not sure exactly when it happened) the countdown has disappeared. Temporarily (perhaps to make the image cleaner?) or permanently? [[User:Pharmacovigilant|Pharmacovigilant]] ([[User talk:Pharmacovigilant|talk]]) 15:38, 24 January 2022 (UTC) The next time I looked (Sunday?), the countdown was back. No idea if it was a glitch or what.<br />
**Randall's next book, either the countdown is counting down to the start of promotion or it is released when the countdown ends.<br />
***Usually Randall has made month long [[:Category:Book promotion|book promotions]] before release. So if it is the release day it is a new way to do it. But he will get a lot of attention. If it is just the start of promoting it, people might get disappointed…<br />
****For instance he began promoting his [[xkcd_Header_text#2015-05-14_-_New_book_Thing_Explainer|new book Thing Explainer]] in the header text. That was in May 2015 and the book was first released [https://blog.xkcd.com/2015/05/13/new-book-thing-explainer/ late November 2015]. Most of this time the header text was promoting the book.<br />
***[[User:Flumnble|Flumnble]] found a book listing for [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525537112 what if? 2], seems very likely to me.<br />
**{{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) going into orbit about L2 {{w|Lagrange point}}.<br />
***Randall has already made several comics about the telescope. The latest [[2564: Sunshield]] was released just five days prior to the countdown was started.<br />
***But the telescope will not reach the point but rather go into a large orbit around it, so a precise timer counting down to it seems a bit farfetched.<br />
***On NASA's page on JWST it seems like it will [https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/deploymentExplorer.html#25 go into orbit] 29.5 days after its [[December 25th Launch]], on Christmas Day, so it should have already started the orbit by the 23rd or 24th of January - 8 days before the countdown.<br />
***Also No based on the image.<br />
**{{w|Lunar New Year}}<br />
***In China it starts on February 1st and a [https://yourcountdown.to/chinese-new-year countdown for China] is 8 hours behind.<br />
****The South Korean time zone is UTC+9, hence 14:59 UTC = 23:59 in South Korea, one minute to Feb 1.<br />
*****But it's weird if Randall that has basically never mentioned this holiday suddenly makes a three week countdown for it, and why choose South Korea when most would think of China in this context…?<br />
**Randall will stop making xkcd (Goodbye in the image).<br />
***Hopefully not.<br />
****Agreed, {{tvtropes|PoisonOakEpilepticTrees|to be avoided}}<br />
***It might be a temporary stop (hiatus).<br />
**[https://nationaldaycalendar.com/backward-day-january-31/ National Backward Day]<br />
***This is not a day mentioned on Wikipedia at the time of release of the countdown, so seems unlikely.<br />
**Maybe it will be an announcement of xkcd 2, a new and improved version for… some reason?<br />
***Seems unlikely…<br />
**{{w|Black History Month}}. The {{w|Greensboro sit-ins}} started on Feb 1 1960. Black History Month also begins on February 1st, also in 2022.<br />
***But this countdown stops early on January 31st so seems unlikely. <br />
***However, before changing the Header recently it was about [[xkcd_Header_text#2020-06-03_-_Black_Lives_Matter|Black Lives Matter]] for more than 1.5 years, first ending on December 20th 2021, less than a month before the countdown began. In between that there was a short Christmas sale reminder until a week into 2022. So it could just be another way of reminding of us the issues faced by black people in the US.<br />
****If this was true, I feel like it would be simpler to just change back to the Black Lives Matter text at the top of the screen. Also, it seems increasingly likely as of Jan. 20th that the image is some kind of plane, which doesn't really have much to do with Black History Month (that I know of?)<br />
**The accompanying header says specifically "xkcd updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday"--maybe the countdown is to the reveal of a new update schedule?<br />
***Very unlikely. This was the standard header for a long time. It was used when Randall had nothing better to say. But with all his books and the trouble in US with elections and BLM, he has used the header as a platform most of the time many years now. So the standard text is rare. But he did return it for two days before adding the count down, making it seem just like normal.<br />
***A guess is that it returned to this, so the header text did not take any focus away from the countdown.<br />
**[[:Category:Red Spiders|Red spider]] attack?<br />
***Un-Likely<br />
**He will become a father - could be a planned C-section.<br />
***As this is unpredictable, and could go wrong, then this would be a dangerous countdown, people can be very superstitious, even if scientist.<br />
**As it currently looks (after a [[1070: Words for Small Sets|few days]] into the countdown) it may be a trip he is taking by plane. <br />
***Maybe going somewhere people could meet him.<br />
****Book tour?<br />
***Moving a long way from home (down under or the like).<br />
****Maybe he's moving to Japan? Could be a plane, and the time zone would fit, at least.<br />
*****Then the countdown would be until when the plane lands, not to midnight.<br />
******What has time zones to do with this clock? It counts down to the same time all over the world, and will reach zero at the same time no matter what time zone you are in. <br />
******Time zones have to do with where it will be midnight when the countdown reaches zero. If it's a countdown to when January ends (a moment before February begins), then it's until that moment in the time zone where the countdown reaches zero at that time.<br />
******* According to my calculations, the timer will coincide with midnight in the UTC+9 time zone, encompassing both Koreas, Japan, and small parts of Russia and Indonesia.<br />
****If it is a plane, then maybe it will land in a new city Randall moves to when the counter ends, and the skyline will be visible...<br />
**Perhaps it's a start to a new series like [[1190: Time]].<br />
***It is already a series that works like Time, so seems unlikely.<br />
**Zero-G flight, really looks like plane to me.<br />
***Could be time he will first go weightless which could be fairly well known except for bad weather<br />
**A parachute jump by Randall. Could be predicted as well as the zero G.<br />
**How about the [https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/09/09/star-trek-picard-season-2-release-date-plot-cast/ new series of Picard]?<br />
***{{w|Star Trek: Picard (season 2)}} is set to run from March 3 2022, which both Wikipedia (link before) and [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8806524/episodes?season=2 IMDb] agrees upon so bad to miss by more than a month, and what would the plane in the image have to do with this anyway?<br />
***So No!<br />
** The xkcd world tour!! I wish<br />
** I'm beginning to see another part of the picture entering into view, underneath the arc and above the body of the plane. To me, it looks like it could be a leg of sorts (Early bet: it could be a dinosaur)<br />
**Maybe something to do with aliens? Randall posted two comics about aliens secretly observing earth in a row now, could that be related?<br />
** DB Cooper's jump from an airliner was 50 years ago, but not until november<br />
*** Maybe Randall admits that he was DB Cooper all along?<br />
<br />
===count-wimRikmef===<br />
* The identifier of the script contains what is probably an acronym, but for what?<br />
** count / wim (?) / Rik (name) & me f(light)<br />
** Or it's just the output of whatever js minimizer was used.<br />
** R = Randall?<br />
** Randall is travelling to Germany? "Wo ist mein Reisepass? Ich komme mit einem Flug"<br />
** "wi" are the initials for the book that's coming out <br />
*** so what could mRikmef be?<br />
** So the first two letters are what if, maybe the R is for Rex, and the f is flight, not sure about the others?<br />
*** "what if" could be a good shout, the dino on the plane reminds me of the cover of the first "what if", and a raptor attack/snakes on a plane crossover would make for some great what-if analysis<br />
<br />
<br />
* The "img" tag has a misspelled "heigth" attribute. Probably just a typo?<br />
<br />
==Archived Versions==<br />
*Here is a list of the versions that has been saved to the web archive during the countdown.<br />
**The counter in that version is written behind the date of the web archive.<br />
**Note that the counter is active on the archived version counting minutes down from the start. Some of the versions almost changing the minutes just after loading. But it will always count from the time given here:<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220110183238/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-10] 20d 20h 27m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220110214138/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-10] 20d 17h 18m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220111011115/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-11] 20d 13h 48m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220112005828/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-12] 19d 14h 1m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220113044552/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-13] 18d 10h 14m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220114010759/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-14] 17d 13h 51m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220114195624/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-14] 16d 19h 3m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220115052737/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-15] 16d 9h 32m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220116074923/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-16] 15d 7h 10m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220116225217/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-16] 14d 16h 7m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220118050255/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-18] 13d 9h 57m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220118195259/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-18] 12d 19h 6m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220119213308/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-19] 11d 17h 26m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220120103559/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-20] 11d 4h 23m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220120235630/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-20] 10d 15h 3m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220121023331/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-21] 10d 12h 26m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220121102349/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-21] 10d 4h 36m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220122002328/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-22] 9d 14h 36m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220122034744/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-22] 9d 11h 12m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220122223018/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-22] 8d 16h 29m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220123153950/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-23] 7d 23h 20m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220123231820/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-23] 7d 15h 41m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220124200931/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-24] 6d 18h 50m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220125064825/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-25] 6d 8h 11m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220126002713/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-26] 5d 14h 32m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220126175842/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-26] 4d 21h 1m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220127173721/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-27] 3d 21h 22m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220128225119/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-28] 2d 16h 8m<br />
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20220129024550/https://xkcd.com/ 2022-01-29] 2d 12h 14m<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Meta]]</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:Countdown_in_header_text&diff=226068Talk:Countdown in header text2022-01-31T07:52:49Z<p>MAP: Amazon update.</p>
<hr />
<div>The talk on from [[2565: Latency]] and [[2566: Decorative Constants]] has been moved here by me when I created this page --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:01, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;From Latency:<br />
What is happening around Feb 1st, there is a countdown that appeared a few hours ago in the upper right corner of the xkcd index. There is also the directory xkcd.com/count-wimRikmef which might be an acronym, if it isnt a countdown package? {{unsigned ip|172.70.130.57}}<br />
:Damn you beat me to it ;-). But I have made a [[2565:_Latency#Trivia|Trivia]] here on this comics page and links to more detail on the [[xkcd Header text]] page. I belie you are a day of, but someone will likely correct me if I'm wrong. As I can see it will be January 31st, 9:59 in Randall's home town Boston.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:06, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::But damned if I can wait. Sure millions will watch the page when it goes to zero! At least it is no April 1st. :-D --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:10, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;From Decorative Constants<br />
Any idea what's going on with the clock that's counting downwards in the banner? Currently counting down from 20 days 16 hours? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.214.95|172.70.214.95]] 22:08, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:(Simultaneous edit) What is the days-hours-minutes in the box above the comic referring to? The image itself is dated yesterday, as you can see by saving it. Worst-case-scenario, is this a countdown to the end of XKCD? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.223|108.162.245.223]] 22:11, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: It's going to hit zero at around midnight on Jan 31st 2022 CST? [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 22:16, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::'''Posted this on the previous comics discussion. But lets take it here where there will be more traffic:''' --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 22:44, 10 January 2022 (UTC) -- Copy paste from previous comics discussion:<br />
::::Damn you beat me to it ;-). But I have made a [[2565:_Latency#Trivia|Trivia]] here on this comics page and links to more detail on the [[xkcd Header text]] page. I believe you are a day of, but someone will likely correct me if I'm wrong. As I can see it will be January 31st, 9:59 in Randall's home town Boston.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:06, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::But damned if I can wait. Sure millions will watch the page when it goes to zero! At least it is no April 1st. :-D --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:10, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::Yeah - you're right - I messed up. So as I type this, it's Jan 10th 2022 at 4pm - 1600 hrs Mountain time - which is 1800 hours EST. At this moment, the countdown reads 20d 16h 0m - so Jan 30th + (18+16) hours = which is Jan 30th + 34 hours - which is Jan 31st + 10am in Boston (EST). [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 23:05, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hey great, can see they agree in the link to reddit below. So happy I got it right both in UTC and Boston. It will be 15:59 here in DK. Not 16:00. ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:44, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Counting down to Backwards Day? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.88|162.158.91.88]] 23:28, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:There's a reddit thread discussing it: https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/s0oynl/xkcd_countdown_timer_20d_21h_49m_remaining_until/ I think the most likely guess is that Randall has a new book coming out. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 23:40, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Would still seem strange if it came out that day with only promotion before being a count down. But then again, he will have the xkcd communities boiling if he gives no other hint. So every one will see if he promotes a book. Also as they wrote at the time I looked at reddit I do not think it is the end of xkcd, or Webb related. Although Webb was the first I thought about. But I mean even if it came to L2 at that day, it is not going to any specific point but just in orbit. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 23:47, 10 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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::The date fits the idea of it being Backwards Day (https://nationaldaycalendar.com/backward-day-january-31) but what about the choice of time? [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 03:38, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Backwards day... Never head of it until now. Is it big in the US. I mean when looking after dates so obscure they are not mentioned on wikipedia then there are probably lots of things happening on that day? But maybe it is a think in the US? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:48, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::: I haven't heard of it until now either, so it is probably one of the bajillions of holidays no one actually cares about, and is unrelated to the countdown. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.163|108.162.221.163]] 13:22, 11 January 2022 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
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Someone has noticed the image is changing with pixels added at the bottom left corner and is keeping track of it here: https://munvoseli.github.io/xkcd-countdown/ [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.107|198.41.238.107]] 05:49, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Looks like an image is "moving" into the frame because at the moment you can see some white pixel in the lower left, i.e. the black part might end up as a line as part of some comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.8|162.158.89.8]] 08:31, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Thanks used that to pinpoint the start of the countdown. Have added this info to the header text page, and the original trivia. Also just added a line of trivia to this explanation with the link. This was when this comic came out most people noticed the count down. But it did came out while [[Latency]] was up. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:43, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::Speculating on what it could be, the only thing that makes sense at that angle is a character's arm. 04:47, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:As of 7 PM PST, the two lines appear to be disconnected from anything else, which rules out a lot of the theories put forth here. Hmmm… I can’t really think of anything it could be other than the wing of an airplane. Maybe it’ll zoom out after it moves into view?[[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 03:17, 17 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The header changes page says that it's forcing "Friday" to move down to the next line. Not for me. Did he fix it, or is it browser-specific? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:58, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:It must be browser specific. But i have tried bot the old Internet Explorer, Edge, Chrome and Firefox, and it does it in all cases and zooming does nothing.. Which browser do you use? I have corrected to in some browsers though, in the [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-10_-_Standard_text_with_countdown|explanation]] you refer to. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:31, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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This is much more likely a count down related to the James Webb Space Telescope. At approximately the day the count down indicates the telescope will be orbiting the L2 gravitational spot.Perhaps most of the mirrors will be approximate place to allow for months of fine tuning. An example of a slightly similar idea is https://www.space.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-next-steps<br />
[[User:Punchcard|Punchcard]] ([[User talk:Punchcard|talk]]) 15:35, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I really do not think so. There is nothing special about a specific moment for reaching L2. It will go in orbit around it, but when to day it is there or in orbit is hard to pinpoint. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:13, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::And after I looked at it, it seems it will reach L2 several days before the countdown. See [[Countdown in header text#Theories]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 15:31, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I think the Countdown should get its own entry. What do we think? [[User:Sure|Sure]] ([[User talk:Sure|talk]]) 16:25, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
: I think it should! What with the count itself, the speculation about what it could mean, and now the slowly arriving image (?) this seems like something beyond either of the two comics since it started! [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.49|108.162.219.49]] 18:00, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
: I'm surprised it doesn't have one already. This is one of the more unique situations in a long while, more speculation could happen. [[User:Thisfox|Thisfox]] ([[User talk:Thisfox|talk]]) 22:26, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I have now created this page and talk page for us to continue the discussion and make dedicated changes about this countdown here. And have moved all discussion from the two pages that had some already (except a few on the first talk page that was also mentioned here. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:13, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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If you take a look at this [[https://xkcd.com/count-wimRikmef/state|link]] it displays this: '''{"img":"72cb154b23f959f908f5dc8eb03069c6df3f0f54aae896a0e7ed27befb2ee639.png","start":"2022-01-10T17:00:00Z","target":"2022-01-31T15:00:00Z","until":"2022-01-11T20:55:38.205303701Z"}''' [[User:Hoodiesandboba|Hoodiesandboba]] ([[User talk:Hoodiesandboba|talk]]) 20:58, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:To correct your link:<br />
:"...If you take a look at this [https://xkcd.com/count-wimRikmef/state link] it displays..."<br />
:As to where the "72cb154b23f959f908f5dc8eb03069c6df3f0f54aae896a0e7ed27befb2ee639.png" is rooted, I haven't dug into that (or what transforms might be being applied), but it looks like a manipulation of browser states might be able to prematurely reveal it. (I'm on mobile at the moment, and it's significantly more fiddly to poke into the page-scripting and markup than I can be bothered with this moment, but I know what I'd do with a good acreage of screen, mouse control and a proper keyboard to rattle away at. And the combined minds here surely can do even better than myself.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.116|172.70.91.116]] 22:38, 11 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::The filename is a random number long enough to prevent brute force guessing to find future images. The state-file looks like some information for the javascript script where this URL comes from. I haven't looked into the script that much but from the values I'd say that it's telling when to start doing refreshs (2022-01-10T17:00:00Z) and when to stop doing that (2022-01-31T15:00:00Z). While these values are constant, the third value changes and is ten minutes after the time the page has been requested. I suppose this is telling the script, when to do a refresh of the image load. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.16|141.101.77.16]] 11:05, 13 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::After some fiddeling, I've found the origin of the filename: It's the SHA-256 hash of the image [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.16|141.101.77.16]] 11:05, 13 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::There's already a note that it would be impossible to brute-force the filenames. But as the images are very similar to each other, would it be feasible to programmatically generate images similar to the last one (extending up and to the right, different variations of the line shape), hash those files, and test to see if they match images on the server? I'd expect it to reduce the number of possibilities by orders of magnitude, but not sure if that's enough to make brute-force attempts feasible and non-destructive. (Also don't know the PNG format well enough to know if an image with the same pixels in it is guaranteed to produce the same bytes in the file across different implementations) -- [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 11:16, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::Hmm… if it was pure black and white, the total number of possible images would be within the realms of sanity to brute force. But add antialiasing and the numbers rapidly become silly. Even if you only allow pixels to change within a certain distance of the previous image, and restrict greys to places between a black and a white, the numbers quickly become absurd. Although that makes me think about making 1-bit versions of all the images so far, predicting a set of "next frame" possibilities at each step, and training a CNN to pick the correct next one; and if it gets accurate enough by the time we get to the present… hmm. How predictable is antialiasing? Do we know the software he's using to create the images; and if so is there a relatively predictable algorithm applied along the edges? [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 11:41, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I think it counts down to Lunar New Year (the Year of the Tiger), as measured in Korea (the earliest timezone where that is celebrated). Actually, it reaches 0 one minute before the New Year, so maybe it will switch to seconds for the last minute. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.98.75|172.70.98.75]] 05:10, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Could be, but why. Randall has never to rarely? mentioned this new year... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:13, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I think we are seeing a zoom out of some image. Perhaps it is the arm of Cueball? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:36, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:It looks like there's a little curve at the top left of the line entering the frame! This makes the Cueball arm hypothesis more likely. [[User:Sure|Sure]] ([[User talk:Sure|talk]]) 14:18, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I also noticed that (and moved your comment up here, as it is kind of a reply to that). Seems like the picture updates every four hours, and that it happened last time at noon UTC today. And thus it will also be at midnight. So 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24. But it is not certain yet and not sure it happened like that the first day or two. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:46, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I have added the first 12 images on this page: [[Countdown in header text/images]] - anyone may help uploading the new ones there. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:43, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Thank you! [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.194|173.245.52.194]] 12:44, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Does anyone mind if I make a few spelling/grammar corrections to the article? It feels like the kind of thing that could be interpreted as rude, so I wanted to ask first. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.167|172.70.114.167]] 13:00, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:No no please help me with my poor spelling. I'm Danish and not very good at spelling in English. Also anything I write is up for debate and can be changed. Just because I started this page do not give me ownership over it. As long as relevant info is not deleted the entire layout maybe changed. But better to get the page going sooner rather than later.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:46, 12 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Alright!! Thank you so much for all your great work on this page! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.151|172.70.110.151]] 18:02, 13 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I originally put this (without realising it wasn't the Talk page) in the Images sub-page, in response to the revelation it was (very probably) the SHA256 of the image data that was used to name the file:<br />
*When I first looked at it and decided it was an obvious hash (yes SHA256 sounds about right, but nice to know someone's tried it) I personally had hoped it would be a hash of the datetime (plus a salt, maybe, to give it that extra little frisson of difficulty in reverse engineering... ;) ). But if it's as you say I think I'll refrain from getting any rainbow-tables set up and bashing through the possibilities in the rather huge phase-space it could represent. Of course, there must be a look-up table used by the server. It'd be too much to hope for that it's publically exposed though, and totally a rookie-error if it is. (That Randall, and maybe anyone he actually drafted in to implement it to save himself the worry, is surely not going to commit.)<br />
...anyway, bringing it here, as being more conversational than informative. Still thought I should say it, but stupidly long as a comment so maybe I needn't have repasted it again! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 03:39, 13 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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(Put this in here as it was before in the explanation --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:02, 13 January 2022 (UTC):)<br />
Was going to say it's Hangman, but it looks like it's zooming in on the diagonal instead of continuing to make a gibbet. [[User:Thisfox|Thisfox]] ([[User talk:Thisfox|talk]]) 06:37, 13 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I read the javascript of the countdown and noticed one thing that i didn't see mentioned anywhere on this page: the countdown text is moving upwards. When the countdown started the text was exactly in the middle of the image and at the end of the countdown the text will be at the top (you can see how it will look by changing the time in your system). The code will also make the text disappear and leave only the image after the countdown goes to zero. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.41|162.158.90.41]] 23:52, 13 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Uuuh thanks that was interesting. Maybe to make more room for the image? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:09, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The Greensboro sit-ins started on Feb 1, though the time is different.. But black history month? {{unsigned ip|172.70.135.48}}<br />
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Thanks to [[User:Theusaf|Theusaf]] for helping with putting the images up on the image page. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:09, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Anyone here that can make an animation out of the images and put it in the explanation? If it is "easy" could it be updated some times on the way towards the final image on January 31st... Like the one on [[Time]]. That would be really nice. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:02, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I made an animation: [https://imgur.com/a/INh77nL] (Now i realize it wasn't needed because there already is automatically updating animation linked from the page...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.105|162.158.159.105]] 18:18, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Not if you would let us use it here on xkcd. I have no contact to munvoseli. But if you made one we could upload here on xkcd on this page and then update it a few times, until we have a final version, then that would be much better than having one on a private persons page. Which may be deleted at any time. So cool you made one. If it is possible I would like to have one like the one at [[Time]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:41, 18 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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There's something else moving into the frame... We'll have to see what it is. [[User:Sure|Sure]] ([[User talk:Sure|talk]]) 19:12, 14 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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To even find this page, I had to page backward through the comic to get to Decorative Constants, go to the discussion, and come across the link to this page from there. I suggest that there be a direct link to this page from the explanation of every comic that existed while the countdown was in progress. A second question: has anyone determined for sure whether the ‘camera’ is zooming out from a blank spot in the final image, in which case we can expect other stuff to come into view from above and right, OR is it panning onto an image that is not changing size, in which case nothing will appear except from the direction it’s moving toward? And if it’s panning, has anyone tried estimating where the current stuff will end up?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.76|108.162.246.76]] 07:42, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I agree with you and have now changed the four comics that was active while the count down was active so far, so the link to this page is above their explanations. If people keep updating like this for new comics, there will be a link to the countdown page from the [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page front page]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 14:40, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Does Randall already have kids? If not, maybe his wife is expecting? That's something you'd announce and the last two comics are about kids. Another idea: he's going to space 🚀. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.115|162.158.233.115]] 20:47, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I’m sure he would have a birth announcement afterward, but I doubt he would try to predict it to the exact second, 21 days in advance.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.106.105|162.158.106.105]] 22:36, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Maybe it's a C section? Those are usually scheduled. lol but yeah that's unlikely.Wouldn't rule it out though.[[User:Sure|Sure]] ([[User talk:Sure|talk]]) 13:58, 17 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I noticed that it almost appears to be the tail fin of an airplane. I don’t know if it is, or if an airplane even makes sense? --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.57|172.70.230.57]] 22:11, 15 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:There's not enough time for it to make the several passes necessary, before the big 'reveal', but I'd have suspected Randall capable of parodying the {{w|Airplane!}} in-title parody of {{w|Jaws}}. Would have somewhat been a {{w|Shaggy dog story|shaggy}}-{{tvtropes|Brick_Joke|brick}} joke, but wouldn't put it past him... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 00:18, 18 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: I actually think, after watching the animation so far on musoveli’s page, it looks more like a main wing of a swept wing commercial aircraft. If it is, and the pattern continues, we should be able to see the main body or an engine nacelle at least. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.108|162.158.62.108]] 13:39, 18 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::I agree now. First I was sure it was the tail of an airplane, but the way it moves into the image now, makes me think of the wing, with the plane body soon coming into view. That was at image 59... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 17:48, 19 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::I think at the time of posting the body has just come into view! I may be wrong, as it is only a tiny sliver, but I am hopeful!--[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.151|172.70.110.151]] 01:59, 20 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::I'm still more mentally-prepared for it being a tailfin (seen from the side, the 'new' line being the mid-dorsal surface of the main aircraft hull) than the port wing (the new bit being of the lateral airframe surface forward of the wings and perhaps just behind the cockpit point). But this POV will doubtless be overturned by the revelation of the next frame(s), which will make many of us look just as misdirectedly creduluous as each other. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.22|172.70.86.22]] 02:50, 20 January 2022 (UTC) <br />
::::::I can see the tailfin too, but because I am a human, and we dont shift our opinons easily, i still think its a plane. We might all be wrong though! This makes me think of a game from elementary school where on kid would draw a line, we would guess what it was, then the would draw another, and so on, until we guessed it. (I just realized that I wasnt logged in for my previous few posts here). --[[User:BlackBeret|BlackBeret]] ([[User talk:BlackBeret|talk]]) 13:34, 20 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::::(Me again, 172.70.86.22, whatever this signs as.) In case you read me wrong, I was meaning a tailfin ''of a plane'' (rudder surface, vertical stabiliser, whatever), so I think we have agreement. Or had. Not seen the latest picture update(s), so my views may imminently change in a few moments when I actually do, and/or yours also will by the time you read this. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.173|172.70.90.173]] 16:18, 20 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::::I understood what you meant by tail fin. I also now think you are right, becuase I think I can see a tiny little line poking out from the bottom corner that could be the vertical tail fin. (Is there a better word for it?)--[[User:BlackBeret|BlackBeret]] ([[User talk:BlackBeret|talk]]) 00:46, 21 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::::::Once again, my opinion has changed. I now once more believe that it is a wing, now that we can see the windows of the plane. It almost looks like spaceshiptwo, which in my opinion is the coolest rocket in the industry right now. But it isn’t, because it doesn’t have the right wings. That was unrelated.--[[User:BlackBeret|BlackBeret]] ([[User talk:BlackBeret|talk]]) 02:54, 21 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::::::::On a second look, it could be SpaceShipTwo in “shuttlecock” formation for reentry. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Randall in space? --[[User:BlackBeret|BlackBeret]] ([[User talk:BlackBeret|talk]]) 15:23, 21 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::::::::{{w|SpaceShipTwo}} is not really looking at all like this commercial plane I believe it is. A passenger plane is my idea of how it looks now. I cannot tell if it is the wing or tail we see, but is inclined to sat that the thin line is the top of the passenger hull, and thus it is a wing, as the tailfin would not need this extra line as it is fused with the planes body. I also now begins to think the plane will land somewhere we can recognize (sky line) when the counter ends, and Randall is going there. But if he can actually land somewhere that precise seems farfetched. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:07, 21 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I believe it looks like he would draw the arm and upper "body" of a person running to the left. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.107|172.68.50.107]] 01:11, 16 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Am I the only one thinking it'll be another extra long comic like 1190? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.91|108.162.241.91]] 02:52, 16 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Randall is secretly in space, having launched a few days after JWST, and the countdown is to when NASA will see the fruits of his elaborate plan to create the most epic photo bomb of all time. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.220|162.158.187.220]] 20:59, 16 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Surprised no one has linked to the xkcd comic called Countdown. It centers on the problem of having a countdown to something and people not knowing what it is (and also not being able to see all relevant information). Seems relevant in a couple ways. https://xkcd.com/1159/ {{unsigned ip|172.70.230.157}}<br />
:Yes but there we don't know when the count ends, but we know what it is about. So kind of the reverse of this countdown. But I think I will add a line about it in the explanation. Also a search for [[Countdown]] goes there so maybe I also add a link here from that comic. (Remember to sign you comment) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:32, 18 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Did anyone calculate the speed/acceleration of the object moving in the frame? We can predict future positions if nothing changes {{unsigned ip|172.70.162.155}}<br />
:It just changed direction so nothing will come from that now. (Remember to sign you comment) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:32, 18 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Randall's new comic is about [[Hypothesis Generation|hyposthesis genration]] (Sound familiar?), and the title text makes a lot of sense if you think about it from his perspective. [[User:Sure|Sure]] ([[User talk:Sure|talk]]) 13:06, 18 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I really do not think this comic is a comment on the countdown. But I can see why it could be funny for us here at explain. But I'm quite sure that Randall stays away from all these fora discussing his comics. We put way to much importance to this site if we think he actually comes here... ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:14, 18 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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What do the comments in the explanation above that say "the timer may be using EST" mean? The timer is just counting down days, hours, and minutes. We should all see the timer reach zero at the same time even though that may be morning for some readers, afternoon for others, and night for other readers. Randall's living on Eastern Standard Time isn't going to make the countdown run any faster or slower than it would if he lived in a different time zone. --[[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.87|172.70.126.87]] 16:00, 18 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed have removed all ref to EST. It is UTZ that is interesting and of course Randall's local time zone in Boston. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:29, 18 January 2022 (UTC) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.20|172.70.115.20]] 03:54, 19 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Guys put that back! It's referring to comic 1061! Not that I think it's likely, butlet's not dismiss that out of hand. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.115.20|172.70.115.20]] 03:54, 19 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::That is ridiculous! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:42, 19 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I think the image entering the frame is a boomerang! [[User:Sure|Sure]] ([[User talk:Sure|talk]]) 12:53, 20 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Well Randall has sure been fond enough of those that we have the [[:Category:Boomerangs]]. However, in none of those have he drawn that extra line that have appeared before you suggested this. So I would say, it is not!--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:24, 20 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Yay, started by the new development with the counter in the [[xkcd Header text]], I was inspired to continue the work I started back in [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=xkcd_Header_text&oldid=175813 June 2019] when I created the page regarding changes in the header. When I began adding the [[xkcd_Header_text#2022-01-10_-_Standard_text_with_countdown|countdown]] at the top I became aware that I had left a period of more than a year with [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=xkcd_Header_text&oldid=224089#Changes_not_documented_yet_2 Changes not documented yet 2] from September 2015 to November 2016 ([[xkcd_Header_text#Changes_not_documented_yet_1|Changes not documented yet 1]] is anything earlier than March 2014). And today I finished documenting the gap so now [[xkcd_Header_text#2016-04-04_-_Protip_on_Garden|Protip on Garden]] is suddenly also here, just below where the undocumented section was, which I deleted today. And thus the protip is now not just mentioned in the trivia on the [[1663: Garden]] page. Of course it would be great to continue backwards, but it is a hughe project. But there where some important changes in the now closed gap, among other the longest running book promotion for [[Thing Explainer]]. Of course I cannot say it is complete back to march 2014, but anything staying longer than two weeks in the front page header I believe I would have found. But I have not walked through every archived version ;-) They load terribly slow. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:39, 20 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I guess when more windows come into view, we’ll finally know whether the windows continue far to the left of the wing, or stop well short of the tail fin (which the two currently showing already seem to me to be too close to). {{unsigned ip|162.158.107.188}}<br />
:That is true. Wonder if the plane will land in a city that can be recognized when the counter runs out? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 16:07, 21 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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<s>That new bottom-left line worries me. [...]</s> [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.68|172.70.86.68]] 15:50, 22 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Retracted. I was still thinking a viewpoint mildly downward, or exactly level with the aircraft, but a very slight upward view (and from slightly forward?) onto the underside of the HS surface would conceivably produce that profile.<br />
:Note that I'm commenting on xkcd.com directly, as the frames in the /images page have been left fallow for a while now. I presume someone is going to catch us up again when they have the wherewithall (unfortunately, I don't right now, hard to edit complex things on this device, and I wouldn't be able to upload the frames to the wiki anyway). ...no rush, we have... 8d 0h 23m left, at least, to be thorough about this. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.121|172.70.90.121]] 14:37, 23 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::I have now uploaded up to the current on xkcd nr. 85. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:09, 23 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I wondered if there was anything else interesting in the js file that updates the countdown. [https://gist.github.com/Toby222/bff2734e98efadd9e9c3b2dc64902c43 So I de-minified it.] (There is nothing noteworthy.) [[User:Toby|Toby]] ([[User talk:Toby|talk]]) 17:20, 23 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The new parachute theory could be a possibility. I have added this and two others to the top of the image theories and moved all else into an Early theory section. For sure it is a plane. And also added the parachute idea to the countdown theory section. Not my theory, but moved it to two other places than where it was first stated. (Left it there though!). Not special certain it will be, but could be. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 20:09, 23 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Maybe Randall found D.B. Cooper? ;D [[User:256.256.256.256|<font color="800080">256.256.256.256</font>]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|<font color="0000FF">talk about me behind my</font>]] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ/ <font color="0000FF">back</font>]) 13:49, 24 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Maybe he's going to announce he ''is'' D.B. Cooper..! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.121|172.70.90.121]] 14:01, 24 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:: :o [[User:256.256.256.256|<font color="800080">surprised pikachu</font>]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|<font color="0000FF">talk about me behind my</font>]] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ/ <font color="0000FF">back</font>]) 11:50, 25 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I've been checking the possible aircraft used for Zero-G (parabolic) flights, and currently - in the US at least - none of the models used have 'standard' hull-mounted horizontal stabilisers, as in the picture. They're either T-tails or cruciform (midway up the vertical stabiliser), possibly for very good reasons. (i.e., at the most crucial part of the flight envelope, it keeps the control surfaces out of the immediate wake of the wings. Handy feature, more than overcoming the engineering compromises needed to mount things that way.) Assuming any attempt at accuracy{{fact}} this might rule that option out. (And skydiving is usually high-winged non-jets, and this seems to be a low-winged jet.) Though A300-ranged planes have been used in Europe and conceivably loosely fit the given profile. But it looks like a smaller plane than many of the Vomit Comets (and larger than most parachute-party planes). Unfortunately, it still rules far too many other options in, never mind artistic <s>innacuracy</s> drift. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 15:14, 24 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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suggestion: make a bot that uploads the newest image with https://xkcd.com/count-wimRikmef/current .[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.92|162.158.187.92]] 18:20, 25 January 2022 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
:With just five days left it is not worth the bother... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:50, 27 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Actually, this started to get a little boring a few days ago. https://xkcd.com/1951/ Just sayin’ [[Special:Contributions/108.162.246.98|108.162.246.98]] 12:52, 26 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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First the airplane image...now two alien-themed comics in a row...Of course!!! It seems so obvious! Randall is an alien! The countdown is to the big reveal! /j [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.99|172.70.114.99]]<br />
:Unless he keeps up alien themed jokes through the week I do not think they will be related to the count down. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:50, 27 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The new development makes me think it is a plane like {{w|Boeing E-3 Sentry}}. With a radar on top. If not another plane is above, holding this one, which could make it something with a going into space plane? Not sure if those that exist would look like this though. But the radar would probably look like this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:50, 27 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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(based on 110 frames available): The upper black "arc" can be some hair and the ellipse on the right look like the right glass of a pair of glasses. The latter I think because the upper line of the plane's main body gets refracted a bit. So this might become a picture with a glasses-wearing person in front and a plane in the background. If somebody more web-comic-savy than me recognizes a character we might see the start of Randall's vacation and his vacation replacement.[[User:Kimmerin|Kimmerin]] ([[User talk:Kimmerin|talk]]) 15:43, 27 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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The line below the windows is a fairly common place to switch from a dark to light color with a commercial airline livery, or a line of color, etc. The floor of the passenger compartment is generally a little below the middle of the fuselage, the windows are above. The fuselage looks much more typical if that line is just paint than if it's demarking the fuselage from something else. The curved object in the upper right would be the right place for a winglet if the plane were banking slightly, particularly a winglet like the A350's.<br />
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;Countdown not appearing on certain comics (most notably [[980: Money]])<br />
I have not checked every comic, and this may be a bug or nerd sniping, but this could mean... something? Idk [[User:Eebop|Eebop]] ([[User talk:Eebop|talk]]) 02:41, 28 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
: Money has custom text in the header specific to the comic. I assume when he does this it just overrides the default, where the countdown is. [[Special:Contributions/198.41.238.117|198.41.238.117]] 04:09, 28 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Yes that is the same for all comics that have [[xkcd_Header_text#Unique_header_text|Unique header text]], so this doesn't mean anything. So far I have found 14 of those. Mainly me who edits the [[xkcd Header text]] page where all changes to the header text can be logged. And the unique headers are listed there as well. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:44, 28 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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I have a feeling the black thing in the top right corner is a bird wing, and the thing beneath it on the plane is its talon, meaning a giant bird is carrying a plane. Maybe the image has absolutely nothing to do with what will happen at the end of the countdown? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.90.23|172.69.90.23]] 13:47, 28 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Don't think so, also now it is clear it is the wing. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:10, 29 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::Yeah, I see that now. When I posted that it certainly looked like a talon. My new guess is that I have no idea what the black thing is. However, it appears to be attached to the countdown itself now, maybe a graph?<br />
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;Raptors on a Plane?<br />
Excuse me, but that should be Raptors on ''every'' plane.[[User:Szeth Pancakes|Szeth Pancakes]] ([[User talk:Szeth Pancakes|talk]]) 20:08, 28 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Looks like a raptor tail to me. [[User:Silverfunk|Silverfunk]] ([[User talk:Silverfunk|talk]]) 14:50, 28 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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;What if? 2 on amazon<br />
There's a listing for What if? 2 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/0525537112) on amazon that may be linked to the countdown? Considering I can't find anything about it before recently I feel like the countdown could've been to announce it. [[User:Flumnble|Flumnble]] ([[User talk:Flumnble|talk]]) 03:29, 30 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I originally imagined that, and had (thought I'd) checked Amazon and another retailer, but hy neither showing an 'available for pre-order' that looked relevent was resigned to it being something else. Unless the countdown was to when the pre-orders would be possible... If it is, then someone at Amazon may have jumped the gun/not kept the gunvsafely holstered and broken the embargo early... Going to check your link in a moment, but first checking my prefered (physical) store's web-site and a couple of others... We got Kirk into space, already, so I'm not now too bothered in pushing yet more money Jeff's way. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 03:59, 30 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
:ok, that's definitely correct. the picture in the countdown looks exactly like the top of the book cover. [[User:Lettherebedarklight|https&#58;//www.youtube.com/watch?v&#61;miLcaqq2Zpk]] ([[User talk:Lettherebedarklight|talk]]) 07:20, 30 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
::That is actually really sad they could not figure out to wait with this until he announced it on xkcd. Shame on Amazon. Buy it somewhere else. :-( But the theories is over. The book anouncement and the dino on a plane was some of my first guesses. But had actually not thought about a new what if book. Can't wait to get my hands on it. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:18, 30 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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::And now the Amazon page is showing a release date in September, with pre-orders now. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 07:52, 31 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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Commenting from Melbourne Australia here. The black figure is clearly the Qantas logo of the 'flying kangaroo'. Randall is coming to visit us downunder<br />
:You did not read the previous comment that revealed it to be the T-rex from wthe what if series? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:18, 30 January 2022 (UTC)<br />
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This countdown first appeared in 2565 - Latency. Could this not be a continuation of that joke? Maybe the next What If? entry? That would certainly be a bit of latency!<br />
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It looks as though the drawing was slightly altered for the countdown - the dinosaur's tail is at a different angle between the two drawings.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.158|162.158.187.158]] 02:28, 31 January 2022 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2510:_Modern_Tools&diff=217588Talk:2510: Modern Tools2021-09-04T02:59:10Z<p>MAP: Questipon about capitalization in title.</p>
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Note that this is the second time Randall tried to tell bash and zsh apart. (First time was in [[1678]].) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.83|162.158.88.83]] 05:44, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Great memory. Has added it to this first attempt at an explanation. Do not know enough about these files, environment etc. so I hope someone will improve. Rare I come here and there is nothing added to the explanation yet. Only your coment showed me I was not here first. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 06:48, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
You can generate makefiles today with a number of causal language models. I wonder what other approaches there are. [[User:Baffo32|Baffo32]] ([[User talk:Baffo32|talk]]) 10:02, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Is randall literally just making jokes for himself and nobody else at this point? Even if someone knows what this all means, I doubt it many of them find it funny. - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.125|172.70.130.125]] 10:09, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
: How does the joke land with you? I tell jokes like Randall's a lot to process how my life was destroyed by AI, and I found the comic as funny as I find my own jokes, but big and public. It seems nice that people are learning about and talking about these things. [[User:Baffo32|Baffo32]] ([[User talk:Baffo32|talk]]) 10:12, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
: @172.70.130.125: YMMV. I can say that I find it funny. Certainly amusing, and thought-provoking. And then after a few moments contemplating... *POW*. ...the idea of actually doing this also starts to appeal to me (as a pipe-dream, perhaps). But I am just a single datum-point, and you are another. Maybe neither of us are entirely representative of the usual audience.<br />
: And, even if nobody found it funny, except Randall, he can post anything he wants (within ethical and legal bounds, etc), even if it's just AI-autogenerated rubbish. And then you can stop reading if your own fun-maximiser function decides it would be more beneficial to its goals. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.73|162.158.159.73]] 10:44, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
: For myself and other Software Enginnering/System Administrator friends, we all think it's very funny. Randall is not expected to make his comics accessible to all audiences, and when he targets an audience it can be reasonably assumed that that specific demographic will like the content.<br />
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Modern tools… require modern problem? [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 10:33, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The best part is that pretty much this have actually happened in real world: https://thedailywtf.com/articles/No%2C_We_Need_a_Neural_Network. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.10.205|172.68.10.205]] 10:46, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Marvellous! "The pig go", indeed! That was 2006? {{w|Darwinian Poetry}} was in 2003, it would have been nice to have linked the two, somehow, while having a handy idle supercluster going spare... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.93|141.101.98.93]] 11:42, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I believe part of the humor is that creating a Python (development) environment from scratch can literally be typing two or three commands on a command line, or clicking on a few links for the mouse-dependent. Building and training an AI to repair one specific Python environment is overkill, like buying a car to get from one room to another of a building. One selling point of Python is how simple it is to set up and work in. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 10:54, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I usually install most optional dependencies that my package manager suggests. I bet I already have a Python IDE lying around somewhere without knowing it. Well, I have Intellij Idea, I bet that could be used for Python as well, with a plugin if needed. I definitely know that I once got a working Qt IDE at one point without intending to. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 11:13, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Does anyone else think that this was prompted by the recent announcement of {{w|Github Copilot}}? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:20, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I'd assume this is somehow related to GPT-3 and codex. Also note that openai and scientist in general love python, so it isn't unlikely that the AI in the title text was told to fix its own python environment. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.231|172.69.68.231]] 21:23, 3 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Is there some reason why the title on this explainxkcd page is capitalized differently from the page on xkcd? [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 02:59, 4 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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----<br />
Non-comic note (that I'm not sure would help to add to prior Community Portal reports as it never seemed to get noticed when I did it before): I'm getting Cloudflare errors (520: fully blaming the site host) and even 'plain text' site error responses (503? ...may not be) a number of times while interacting with this page, today. Also had a "failed to contact CAPTCHA" on the first attempt to submit one edit, though that ''must'' be a different glitch so probably coincidental (my own link jittering wouldn't give me Cloudfare/server-responses as above) and Not Your Problem™. I don't know if others are getting this, but the last time I had such a flurry of momentary/refresh-overcomable errors was shortly before explainxkcd went ''completely'' off-air (month or two ago? No, longer than that...) - perhaps no similarity, just saying. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.146|162.158.158.146]] 11:18, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Error 520 Ray ID: 68880cdaadb0072a • 2021-09-02 16:17:44 UTC / Web server is returning an unknown error (<= Cloudflare) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.247|141.101.98.247]] 16:21, 2 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
For the python environment, couldn't he just be talking about python virtual environments? What you normally do if you have a broken python virtual environment is to delete it and recreate it, so deleting itself would be a normal thing to do in this case. Recreating an environment is normally done in seconds, so finding out what was wrong normally isn't worth the time.<br />
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Is it possible that the title text may also be a subtle reference to the Ouroboros (the snake eating itself)?<br />
While not an exact comparison, there seem to be parallels between a snake devouring its own tail, and a python AI deleting it's own code.<br />
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"the agent finds a way to disable itself as more efficient to meet its reward parameters" is this actually a thing? If true, really interesting and an example should be included, but I can't find anything to back it up. ''Please sign your comments.''<br />
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I think the Tester for the Makefile generator would just be checking the Makefile exists and make can execute it. The status of the make execution gets passed to the generator for it to get better at generating Makefiles. [[User:Nutster|Nutster]] ([[User talk:Nutster|talk]]) 02:01, 3 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
:It might take some metric as to how much/little broken the (initially garbage?) early productions are... One would be the first line number mentioned as an error, or the ratio of info vs error text displayed. Getting to the stage of ''mostly'' valid outputs means it has developed an output phase-space that has started to maxmin these kind of values in just the right way. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.65|172.70.134.65]] 03:30, 3 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Call me crazy, but... isn't there a tool that creates mostly valid Makefiles, and it is called configure? And thus he is using very new technology to accomplish the same task that we previously could? I thought that was a good chunk of that part of the joke... [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.82|108.162.238.82]] 16:10, 3 September 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Ah... I had (perhaps still have? ...but only because I'd enjoy the chaos) the opinion that this was a ''directionless'' generator of Makefiles. Rather than "I want a Makefile for <foo>, make it so", it's "Make me a Makefile that does random (valid) stuff when run"... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.115|141.101.107.115]] 19:22, 3 September 2021 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2480:_No,_The_Other_One&diff=214168Talk:2480: No, The Other One2021-06-24T22:41:02Z<p>MAP: Few minor additions to my note from just a bit back.</p>
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We might want a table for this comic, with three columns: one for the name of the town, one for which state the copycat is in, and one for the original. We could also add a column for "why the original is well known," but that might be a bit much. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.124|108.162.245.124]] 20:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I agree, this feels like a very table-able comic. Especially to get all the cities and not make readers try to see "hey, did I miss one?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.117.158|172.70.117.158]] 20:49, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:: I think the term copy-cat should not be used here, since Lincoln, IL, for instance is older and carries the name longer than Lincoln, NE.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 21:05, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::: Although the people in Lincoln, UK (also Boston, Washington, Richmond, Plymouth, Newhaven...) might have prior claims - Richmond is an even more interesting case, in fact. And of course I also recognise Lisbon and others. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 21:26, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::: May I suggest merging the first two columns and just listing [City, State] under "Place name in comic"? [[User:MajorBurns|MajorBurns]] ([[User talk:MajorBurns|talk]]) 21:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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In the map there are (at least) three Lincoln, two Jamestown, five Houston... [[User:Vdm|Vdm]] ([[User talk:Vdm|talk]]) 20:52, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: There is a Jamestown in NY and PA also. I would expect to find a Jamestown in at least half of the states. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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There seems to be an extra dot in the northeast corner of Colorado - It looks like it might correspond with the Atlanta label, but there is no Atlanta in Colorado. Based on the position of the dot I'm guessing it may correspond to Akron or Yuma.--[[User:MajorBurns|MajorBurns]] ([[User talk:MajorBurns|talk]]) 21:56, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Google Maps says there's an Atlanta, Colorado, but it is in the south-east corner of the state, not where the dot is. It looks like it is in the middle of nowhere outside of Springfield. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 00:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC) <br />
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Jersey Shore PA - I just drove from New Jersey across the state of Pennsylvania, and saw the sign for Jersey Shore in the mountains in the middle of PA. What the? Turns out there was a town founded by two brothers from New Jersey called Waynesburg. When a neighboring town wanted to insult them by calling them "Jersey Shore" they went ahead and officially made Jersey Shore the name of the town. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania]. I wonder how many people turn off the highway in the middle of PA wanting to go to the Jersey Shore hundreds of miles away. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Why no Hollywood, Florida? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida]<br />
: Same reason there's no Richmond, Dublin, or Pittsburg (admittedly, a different spelling), California, just to name some of the closest ones to me. The map would be solid black if it labeled every "other one." [[User:Borglord|Borglord]] ([[User talk:Borglord|talk]]) 01:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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..''No'' Springfields? Really? There's gotta be 30+ of them! [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 02:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:The comic doesn't seem to include the duplicates that are fairly well known, like Hollywood, FL. And the prevalence of Springfield is well known due to "The Simpsons". I think Groening chose that name ''because'' it wouldn't be associated with any particular state. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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`The most frequently occurring community name varies through the years. In a past year, it was "Midway" with 212 occurrences and "Fairview" in second with 202. More recently, "Fairview" counted 288 and "Midway" 256. The name "Springfield" is often thought to be the only community name appearing in each of the 50 States, but at last count it was in only 34 states.` https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-most-common-citytown-name-united-states [[User:Steve|Steve]] ([[User talk:Steve|talk]]) 02:48, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The comic has been updated to remove Charlestown and move Salem, CT. The extra dot in Colorado remains, however. The image attachment has been updated, but I think I'm still seeing the cached version. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:47, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Since so many of the names are duplicated multiple times, shouldn't the title be "No, ''An'' Other One"? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I'm surprised he missed Minneapolis, Kansas (about 75 miles west of Manhattan). Though maybe it would've made Kansas too crowded. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]])<br />
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:I'm surprised he missed Duluth, GA too, but we can't have everything we want. ( --Don from Rochester . . . but not from New York ;^) Oh yeah; there's also a Buffalo in MN too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.190|172.70.34.190]] 11:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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::In Indiana, there's also another Nashville, another Columbus, a Kokomo... even a Mexico. If every fairly well-known place name were included, wherever it was duplicated, it would need one of those scrollable mega-maps, just to fit it all. -- Just visiting from Indiana, 12:53 UTC 24 June 2021<br />
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I'd like to see a map of all these. Lines linking each of the dots to the location of the more famous town. Possibly with lines in different colours connecting to the oldest and largest other ones, where they're not the same as the most famous one. (I suspect a significant number of the "oldest" lines would point off the right edge of the image) [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 08:37, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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:There's also a Bowling Green, Missouri. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 13:12, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I wish Lansing Illinois (just south of Chicago off I-80) had made the list. When I was traveling there for work, our hotel reservations were frequently messed up, because the central booking office had us in Michigan. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.144|172.70.130.144]] 13:17, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Reminds me of the time a "Microsoft tech support" scammer called and claimed to be calling from Lansing despite obviously being in a call center in India. When we asked what state Lansing was in, he claimed to be calling from "Lansing, Miami." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.121|172.69.63.121]] 13:41, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like there is an opportunity for adding "Other examples not in comic" such as Brooklyn, Iowa or the absurd number of Mount Pleasants [[User:OddOod|OddOod]] ([[User talk:OddOod|talk]])<br />
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: At first, I thought about suggesting this, as well. But, it would be an enormous list (orders of magnitude longer than the ones that _are_ in the comic), and therefore not really tenable. For example, I sometimes describe the place I live as being on the line from Jamaica to Florida, adjacent to Jacksonville and just off Halifax. That's Florida, MA and the rest in southern Vermont. That's four just within 20 miles of where I sit. Also, I grew up in Bristol (RI, not England), but there are about 40 places in the US with that name. And, on a different tack the nearby "city" actually promotes itself in being the _only_ place named Brattleboro. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 22:27, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I can't believe they missed Dublin and/or Albany in the SF bay area in California!<br />
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I actually have a place in Bangor,NY it confuses people all the time [[User:Mr.Do|Mr.Do]]<br />
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Is the {{w|Washington_(state)|State of Washington}} not considered more significant than a mere district? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.149|172.69.35.149]] 18:14, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I mean, Washington DC is the capital of the entire country, so both are very significant. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.97|172.69.33.97]] 20:08, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Ontario, CA - I have gotten packages that originated in Ontario, CA and wondered why they were shipping from Canada, until I realized that they were coming from Ontario, California. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 20:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2480:_No,_The_Other_One&diff=214164Talk:2480: No, The Other One2021-06-24T22:27:43Z<p>MAP: Added comment about not doing "Other examples", roo many would be incredibly cumbersome.</p>
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We might want a table for this comic, with three columns: one for the name of the town, one for which state the copycat is in, and one for the original. We could also add a column for "why the original is well known," but that might be a bit much. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.124|108.162.245.124]] 20:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I agree, this feels like a very table-able comic. Especially to get all the cities and not make readers try to see "hey, did I miss one?" [[Special:Contributions/172.70.117.158|172.70.117.158]] 20:49, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:: I think the term copy-cat should not be used here, since Lincoln, IL, for instance is older and carries the name longer than Lincoln, NE.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 21:05, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
::: Although the people in Lincoln, UK (also Boston, Washington, Richmond, Plymouth, Newhaven...) might have prior claims - Richmond is an even more interesting case, in fact. And of course I also recognise Lisbon and others. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.244|141.101.98.244]] 21:26, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::: May I suggest merging the first two columns and just listing [City, State] under "Place name in comic"? [[User:MajorBurns|MajorBurns]] ([[User talk:MajorBurns|talk]]) 21:38, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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In the map there are (at least) three Lincoln, two Jamestown, five Houston... [[User:Vdm|Vdm]] ([[User talk:Vdm|talk]]) 20:52, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: There is a Jamestown in NY and PA also. I would expect to find a Jamestown in at least half of the states. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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There seems to be an extra dot in the northeast corner of Colorado - It looks like it might correspond with the Atlanta label, but there is no Atlanta in Colorado. Based on the position of the dot I'm guessing it may correspond to Akron or Yuma.--[[User:MajorBurns|MajorBurns]] ([[User talk:MajorBurns|talk]]) 21:56, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Google Maps says there's an Atlanta, Colorado, but it is in the south-east corner of the state, not where the dot is. It looks like it is in the middle of nowhere outside of Springfield. [[User:Blaisepascal|Blaisepascal]] ([[User talk:Blaisepascal|talk]]) 00:42, 24 June 2021 (UTC) <br />
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Jersey Shore PA - I just drove from New Jersey across the state of Pennsylvania, and saw the sign for Jersey Shore in the mountains in the middle of PA. What the? Turns out there was a town founded by two brothers from New Jersey called Waynesburg. When a neighboring town wanted to insult them by calling them "Jersey Shore" they went ahead and officially made Jersey Shore the name of the town. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore,_Pennsylvania]. I wonder how many people turn off the highway in the middle of PA wanting to go to the Jersey Shore hundreds of miles away. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:06, 23 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Why no Hollywood, Florida? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Florida]<br />
: Same reason there's no Richmond, Dublin, or Pittsburg (admittedly, a different spelling), California, just to name some of the closest ones to me. The map would be solid black if it labeled every "other one." [[User:Borglord|Borglord]] ([[User talk:Borglord|talk]]) 01:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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..''No'' Springfields? Really? There's gotta be 30+ of them! [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 02:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
:The comic doesn't seem to include the duplicates that are fairly well known, like Hollywood, FL. And the prevalence of Springfield is well known due to "The Simpsons". I think Groening chose that name ''because'' it wouldn't be associated with any particular state. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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`The most frequently occurring community name varies through the years. In a past year, it was "Midway" with 212 occurrences and "Fairview" in second with 202. More recently, "Fairview" counted 288 and "Midway" 256. The name "Springfield" is often thought to be the only community name appearing in each of the 50 States, but at last count it was in only 34 states.` https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-most-common-citytown-name-united-states [[User:Steve|Steve]] ([[User talk:Steve|talk]]) 02:48, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The comic has been updated to remove Charlestown and move Salem, CT. The extra dot in Colorado remains, however. The image attachment has been updated, but I think I'm still seeing the cached version. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:47, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Since so many of the names are duplicated multiple times, shouldn't the title be "No, ''An'' Other One"? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 04:06, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I'm surprised he missed Minneapolis, Kansas (about 75 miles west of Manhattan). Though maybe it would've made Kansas too crowded. --[[User:Aaron of Mpls|Aaron of Mpls]] ([[User talk:Aaron of Mpls|talk]])<br />
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:I'm surprised he missed Duluth, GA too, but we can't have everything we want. ( --Don from Rochester . . . but not from New York ;^) Oh yeah; there's also a Buffalo in MN too. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.34.190|172.70.34.190]] 11:00, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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::In Indiana, there's also another Nashville, another Columbus, a Kokomo... even a Mexico. If every fairly well-known place name were included, wherever it was duplicated, it would need one of those scrollable mega-maps, just to fit it all. -- Just visiting from Indiana, 12:53 UTC 24 June 2021<br />
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I'd like to see a map of all these. Lines linking each of the dots to the location of the more famous town. Possibly with lines in different colours connecting to the oldest and largest other ones, where they're not the same as the most famous one. (I suspect a significant number of the "oldest" lines would point off the right edge of the image) [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 08:37, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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:There's also a Bowling Green, Missouri. [[User:WhiteDragon|WhiteDragon]] ([[User talk:WhiteDragon|talk]]) 13:12, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I wish Lansing Illinois (just south of Chicago off I-80) had made the list. When I was traveling there for work, our hotel reservations were frequently messed up, because the central booking office had us in Michigan. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.144|172.70.130.144]] 13:17, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Reminds me of the time a "Microsoft tech support" scammer called and claimed to be calling from Lansing despite obviously being in a call center in India. When we asked what state Lansing was in, he claimed to be calling from "Lansing, Miami." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.121|172.69.63.121]] 13:41, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like there is an opportunity for adding "Other examples not in comic" such as Brooklyn, Iowa or the absurd number of Mount Pleasants [[User:OddOod|OddOod]] ([[User talk:OddOod|talk]])<br />
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: At first, I thought about suggesting this, as well. But, it would be an enormous list (orders of magnitude longer than the ones that _are_ in the comic), and therefore not really tenable. For example, I sometimes describe the place I live as being on the line from Jamaica to Florida, adjacent to Jacksonville and just off Halifax. That's Florida, MA and the rest in southern Vermont. That's four just within a couple dozen miles of here. Also, I grew up in Bristol (RI, not England), but there are about 40 places in the US with that name. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 22:27, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I can't believe they missed Dublin and/or Albany in the SF bay area in California!<br />
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I actually have a place in Bangor,NY it confuses people all the time [[User:Mr.Do|Mr.Do]]<br />
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Is the {{w|Washington_(state)|State of Washington}} not considered more significant than a mere district? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.149|172.69.35.149]] 18:14, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I mean, Washington DC is the capital of the entire country, so both are very significant. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.97|172.69.33.97]] 20:08, 24 June 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Ontario, CA - I have gotten packages that originated in Ontario, CA and wondered why they were shipping from Canada, until I realized that they were coming from Ontario, California. [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 20:57, 24 June 2021 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2470:_Next_Slide_Please&diff=2128502470: Next Slide Please2021-05-31T23:49:30Z<p>MAP: Slight correction on Armstrong' quote.</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2470<br />
| date = June 1, 2021<br />
| title = Next Slide Please<br />
| image = next_slide_please.png<br />
| titletext = "I have nothing to offer but blood--next slide, please--toil--next slide, please--tears, and--next slide, please--sweat."<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a SLIDESHOW WITH -- NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE -- FAMOUS QUOTES ON IT. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic presumes that many famous quotes are actually excerpts from slideshow presentations, and the text they were reading was split across multiple slides. The person making the speech wasn't operating the slide projector, so they had to ask the operator to go to the next slide. The common way to ask this is to say "next slide, please", but these have been edited out of the historical transcripts. The comic imagines the places where the slide breaks might have been, and inserts that request.<br />
<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
!Quote<br />
!Speaker<br />
!Context<br />
|-<br />
| "Give me liberty or give me -- Next slide, please -- Death!"<br />
| Attributed to Patrick Henry, at the Second Virginia convention on march 23, 1775, as part of the revolutionary war against Great Britain. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down -- Next slide, please -- this wall."<br />
| Berlin wall Speech, Attributed to Ronal Reagan. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "It was the best of times -- Next slide, please -- It was the worst of times<br />
| A Tale of Two Cities. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "We have nothing to fear but -- Next slide, please -- fear itself."<br />
| Inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1933. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "To be or -- Next slide, please -- not to be, that is the question"<br />
| Hamlet, a Shakespeare play. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art -- Next slide, please -- More lovely and -- Next slide, please -- more temperate."<br />
| William Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. The inclusion of "Next Slide, please" would break the poetic flow. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "We shall fight -- Next slide, please -- on the beaches, we shall fight on -- Next slide, please -- the landing grounds..."<br />
| Winston Churchill, World War II speech. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "Read my lips -- Next slide, please -- no new taxes."<br />
| George H. W. Bush, spoken at 1988 Republican National Convention, which was initially popular but a poor political choice.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "That's one small step for man -- Next slide, please -- one giant leap for mankind."<br />
| Neil Armstrong, when he stepped off the Apollo 11 landing craft and onto the surface of the moon.<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears! Next slide, please. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."<br />
| One of Shakespeare's plays, a speech taking place after Julius Caesar had a few stab wounds. <br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| " It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of -- Next slide, please -- a good fortune, must be in want of -- Next slide, please -- a wife."<br />
| Intro to Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austin<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "Veni, Vidi -- Velim, Pictura Proxima -- Vici."<br />
| Caesar's famous line before entering Rome<br />
|<br />
|-<br />
| "I have nothing to offer but blood--next slide, please--toil--next slide, please--tears, and--next slide, please--sweat."<br />
| Winston Churchill<br />
|<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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{{comic discussion}}</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2468:_Inheritance&diff=212679Talk:2468: Inheritance2021-05-27T22:07:06Z<p>MAP: Added note about Chess (and possibly other games) using a game-to-game point system, where you can accumulate large numbers, but not inherit them.</p>
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Does anyone feel this is kind of a reference to feudalism?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.88|172.69.71.88]] 19:16, 26 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Seems more like commentary on modern-day capitalism, particularly in the US with increasing inequality and more and more inherited wealth. Randall seems more comfortable with social commentary in recent years.[[User:DKMell|DKMell]] ([[User talk:DKMell|talk]]) 18:41, 26 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
:In 2019 and 2020, the [https://www.edelman.com/trust Edelman Trust Barometer] cited CEOs as the most trusted persons globally. Your company is your castle, with its leader your Lord. That trust collapsed per the 2021 Barometer, so just maybe resistance is not feudal.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.129.132|172.68.129.132]] 18:50, 26 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Might be related to the rise of legacy board games, in which outcomes of prior matches influence future games. Usually, those have a limited number of plays and they are designed such that prior winner's don't have too much of an advantage in future games. But one could imagine a game that, (if it has no limit to the number of plays), after being played for generations gives a significant advantage to whomever inherited a specific character/player role. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.234|162.158.94.234]] 14:21, 26 May 2021 (UTC) Tobl<br />
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Obligatory reminder to everybody that (1) life is not a competition and (2) money is not "victory points". There are ways to cynically portray these things as such, but fully buying into this paradigm inevitably results in profound unhappiness. mezimm [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.178|172.69.71.178]] 14:54, 26 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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This one was pretty early... maybe Randall’s getting back to schedule? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.132.119|172.68.132.119]] 15:14, 26 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Anyone notice anything special about 4000000 and 10019, also what is arigola<br />
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:Agricola is a board game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricola_(board_game) LINK] [[Special:Contributions/172.68.102.194|172.68.102.194]] 15:37, 26 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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:I'm thinking 10019 means Cueball allocated 10000 points from his inheritance, then earned 19 through the course of the game. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.142.160|162.158.142.160]] 16:44, 26 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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huh. ive never seen a comic explanation finished so quickly in a bit! we sure about removing that tag?<br />
:It has been put back in. So no ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:02, 27 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like this is very much a criticism of modern day (colonial) capitalism. It's both concisely stating that the disparity is absurd, that small donations from billionaires are laughable and dont change the inherent unfairness, and implies that the best way of leveling the playing field is to wiping the slate.<br />
:Totally agree. The whole idea of money surviving a wealthy persons death is a pyramid game. The more money that is inherited the more can someone who did nothing expect to buy from others, without they doing any thing to create physical values. Only question is when we run out of people to be at the base of the pyramid... Sadly they cannot like Cueball's playing partners decide not to play the game... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:02, 27 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Is there any chance that this is a reference to the “How We Win” speech which gained some attention last summer in regards to BLM protests? The speech uses a metaphorical game of Monopoly which is rigged for one side to explain how the US still isn’t economically fair, and I know Randall has put up the BLM banner in support. Agricola instead of Monopoly (and race not mentioned) but he might have drawn inspiration there. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.102|108.162.219.102]] 11:38, 27 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The title text references the pro- colonial argument that engaging in exploitation is being smart, because it was bound to be done by somebody, so the perpetrators are smart for taking initiative. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.15|162.158.203.15]] 01:45, 27 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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: Can someone create a [[:Category:Board games]]? [[:Category:Chess]] should be subcategory of this category, and this comic, and [[1566: Board Game]], [[492: Scrabble]], [[839: Explorers]], [[778: Scheduling]], [[738: Incision]] can be added to it. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.39|172.69.35.39]] 18:48, 26 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
:: Created the category, however I'm not brave enough to put Chess into it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:51, 27 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
:: Talking about chess, I quote: "Board games do not normally include an inheritance from previous sessions[citation needed]"...uh, you are probably not old enough to have played an adjourned chess game ;-) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.134|141.101.105.134]] 09:00, 27 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
::: Others where braver I can see. Bu great category. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 07:02, 27 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
:: Also, talking about chess, the rating system (i.e. Grandmaster/Master/etc.) are based on a victory points like system that goes from game to game. It doesn't affect the games themselves, but essentially records how you've done in the games you've played. The totals can be quite large, but, cannot be transferred. There are others that have something like this. Should we mention it? -- [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 22:07, 27 May 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The explanation seems a bit bare of what examples of inherited wealth this is parodying. In the UK there's a bruhaha (in some circles, and equally a bruhaha about the other bruhaha in other circles) about historic Slavery-profits that set up now historical country estates, etc,now maintained on behalf of the nation as a public good but possibly needing contextualising. In Germany (and relatedl there are huge multinational companies that undoubtedly benefitted from Nazi work-camps or assett-confis ations that might owe a moral debt in more recent climate even though generations have passed since such things. Pretty much every culture will have such examples (and if it's not transatlantic slavery, too for the US version, it could be the treatment of native tribes/lands, starting well before; or share-croppers/dustbowl/Great Depression/poor-immigrants issues more recently, if the Agricola reference is any clue), or is it just general inheritance (and maybe Fred Trump in particular?) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.161|141.101.99.161]] 15:27, 27 May 2021 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2416:_Trash_Compactor_Party&diff=205349Talk:2416: Trash Compactor Party2021-01-26T05:42:17Z<p>MAP: </p>
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Who invited the dianoga? Oh, it's ok, it's gone now. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.177|141.101.104.177]] 01:20, 26 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
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If the characters aren't supposed to die, then could someone please change the incomplete explanation template? Former was supposed to be a reference to no longer socially distancing and no longer alive, but I don't have any other ideas.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.79|162.158.187.79]] 02:00, 26 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I read this very differently. I read this as randall needing a trash compactor to force him to stop distancing<br />
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I agree with the unsigned comment above, I read it as forcing the party guests to physically get together and break social distancing habits. Doing some quick and dirty measurements, (read: putting my fingers up to my screen and moving them around) showed that the walls wouldn't be able to physically crush them, just force them incredibly close together.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.60|108.162.215.60]] 02:55, 26 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I measured with a ruler, The pistons seem to have 2cm of movement each and the space between the walls is 7cm. So, only about half the space will be closed off. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 05:42, 26 January 2021 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2397:_I_Just_Don%27t_Trust_Them&diff=203059Talk:2397: I Just Don't Trust Them2020-12-12T15:34:25Z<p>MAP: Discussion of typographic conventions, and definition of "natural" that's not particularly relevant, but responding to others comments.</p>
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Is this a parody of anti-vaxxers? that's what my first thought was, but the way Cueball seems so polite about it just being his opinion makes me think otherwise. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.164|162.158.255.164]] 01:19, 12 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
:It is, but I could definitely see a milder-than-stereotypical "Karen" saying that—I think it'd be more clear on the politeness if Cueball had, y'know, a face. <span style="font-family:serif">[[User:Bubblegum|<span style="color:#00BFFF">bubblegum</span>]]-[[User_talk:Bubblegum|<span style="color:#BF7FFF">talk</span>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Bubblegum|<span style="color:#FF7FFF">contribs</span>]]</span> <span style="font-family:serif">06:33, 12 December 2020 (UTC)</span><br />
<br />
There's obviously also some reference about the fantastical idea of 'microchip' injections, which the more Conspiracy Theorising anti-vaxxer will try to suggest. Right now there's nothing in the Explanation about that, but it agrees with the particular fervency of the statement made (before the bait-n-switch, at least). But what currently ''is'' said is "Bats, which are unhygeinic (sic) disease-carrying animals rather than rational humans." I'd like to add a real (non-injoke) [Citation Needed] to that 'unhygienic' bit. They do a lot of personal (and social) grooming, and its not lack of hygiene that means they can't handle viral transmission (probably the opposite). Maybe reword it as more obviously tongue-in-cheek, if that was the intention?. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.30|162.158.159.30]] 02:59, 12 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
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There actually _are_ some web pages that would work as a "citation" for lethal things that are "natural", for example, I started one (at <http://map.map-ne.com/Rants/natural.html> for reference) but I'm not really maintaining it, because in researching the info I kept running across other sites that had already done it (and I link to the relevant TVtropes page). [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:16, 12 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Were you trying for Markdown-style italics? Those are &apos;&apos;…&apos;&apos; ''double apostrophes (not quotation marks)'' or &lt;i&gt;…&lt;/i&gt; <i>HTML &lt;i&gt; tags</i>.<span style="font-family:serif">[[User:Bubblegum|<span style="color:#00BFFF">bubblegum</span>]]-[[User_talk:Bubblegum|<span style="color:#BF7FFF">talk</span>]]|[[Special:Contributions/Bubblegum|<span style="color:#FF7FFF">contribs</span>]]</span> <span style="font-family:serif">06:33, 12 December 2020 (UTC)</span><br />
::Well, I was habitually typing that because when _I_ started on the net (1974, long before it was the "Internet") that was the way you emphasized things. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 15:34, 12 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
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"While it is usually true that what is "natural" is also "healthy", this is not the case anymore in many modern scenarios that have become more commonplace. Of course, far far more modern things are lethal, than natural things are." Oh, come on. Most plants are poisonous, wood fire is very bad for your langs. Also, what exactly does 'natural' mean. Is it natural or not that some people die from viral disease?<br />
:I refer you to the George Carlin quote from my page. Everything in existence is, in fact, "natural"! [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 15:34, 12 December 2020 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2397:_I_Just_Don%27t_Trust_Them&diff=203046Talk:2397: I Just Don't Trust Them2020-12-12T06:19:00Z<p>MAP: Missing quote in what I just wrote, noticed just as I commited to clicking on the Save button.</p>
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Is this a parody of anti-vaxxers? that's what my first thought was, but the way Cueball seems so polite about it just being his opinion makes me think otherwise. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.164|162.158.255.164]] 01:19, 12 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
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There's obviously also some reference about the fantastical idea of 'microchip' injections, which the more Conspiracy Theorising anti-vaxxer will try to suggest. Right now there's nothing in the Explanation about that, but it agrees with the particular fervency of the statement made (before the bait-n-switch, at least). But what currently ''is'' said is "Bats, which are unhygeinic (sic) disease-carrying animals rather than rational humans." I'd like to add a real (non-injoke) [Citation Needed] to that 'unhygienic' bit. They do a lot of personal (and social) grooming, and its not lack of hygiene that means they can't handle viral transmission (probably the opposite). Maybe reword it as more obviously tongue-in-cheek, if that was the intention?. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.30|162.158.159.30]] 02:59, 12 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
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There actually _are_ some web pages that would work as a "citation" for lethal things that are "natural", for example, I started one (at <http://map.map-ne.com/Rants/natural.html> for reference) but I'm not really maintaining it, because in researching the info I kept running across other sites that had already done it (and I link to the relevant TVtropes page). [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:16, 12 December 2020 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2397:_I_Just_Don%27t_Trust_Them&diff=203045Talk:2397: I Just Don't Trust Them2020-12-12T06:16:47Z<p>MAP: Added note about possible citations.</p>
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Is this a parody of anti-vaxxers? that's what my first thought was, but the way Cueball seems so polite about it just being his opinion makes me think otherwise. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.255.164|162.158.255.164]] 01:19, 12 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
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There's obviously also some reference about the fantastical idea of 'microchip' injections, which the more Conspiracy Theorising anti-vaxxer will try to suggest. Right now there's nothing in the Explanation about that, but it agrees with the particular fervency of the statement made (before the bait-n-switch, at least). But what currently ''is'' said is "Bats, which are unhygeinic (sic) disease-carrying animals rather than rational humans." I'd like to add a real (non-injoke) [Citation Needed] to that 'unhygienic' bit. They do a lot of personal (and social) grooming, and its not lack of hygiene that means they can't handle viral transmission (probably the opposite). Maybe reword it as more obviously tongue-in-cheek, if that was the intention?. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.30|162.158.159.30]] 02:59, 12 December 2020 (UTC)<br />
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There actually _are_ some web pages that would work as a "citation" for lethal things that are "natural, for example, I started one (at <http://map.map-ne.com/Rants/natural.html> for reference) but I'm not really maintaining it, because in researching the info I kept running across other sites that had already done it (and I link to the relevant TVtropes page). [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:16, 12 December 2020 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2385:_Final_Exam&diff=201895Talk:2385: Final Exam2020-11-14T21:55:23Z<p>MAP: Added a personal anecdote to the comments. Not very relevant, but relates a similar real-world event.</p>
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Perhaps add a note about how multiple people trying to achieve the same goal would be impossible, so therefore it would be a test of game theory to see how the final grades end up. You'd want to be the last one to make all the changes. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.197|162.158.107.197]] 23:51, 13 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:It's a contest to hack the grades ''and'' to lock out all of the other students from making further changes. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 00:49, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
Title text seems to be a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guess_2/3_of_the_average.<br />
[[User:Anonymous3|Anonymous3]] ([[User talk:Anonymous3|talk]]) 01:10, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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The current "change every fifth answer to the bubble below it" explanation appears to make the implausible assumption that the exam is multiple-choice. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 03:19, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Clearly the optimal solution for both courses is to change the grade to be ''out of 0'', thus a score of 0 being a perfect score and also meet the requirements for Game Theory. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.165.54|162.158.165.54]] 03:28, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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:great idea! i was considering adding fake students to be statistical extremes but your solution allows all students to ace both courses. [[User:Ocæon|ocæon]] ([[User talk:Ocæon|talk]]) 14:46, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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OMG I want so much to take this class, what an excellent final exam![[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.208|172.68.65.208]] 05:09, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I think the explanation above is largely correct, but I assumed this was a Zoom reference. Since during lockdown the many students she is addressing should be experiencing this through a remote meeting, for which Zoom is often chosen (I'd love an explanation as to why THAT is). Zoom has notorious security flaws which any cybersecurity student should be failed for accepting.<br />
--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.96|162.158.159.96]] 05:11, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:What if they run it in sandboxed virtual machine? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:45, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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No mention of Bobby Tables? [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 06:29, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:That was a mom intentionally hacking multiple systems. Not just school, but also population census systems. This is limited to a single test. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.38|141.101.98.38]] 21:08, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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the zero length exam reminds me of 'zero day' exploits, the students have zero time to respond to the exam requirements before the conclusion of the exam. [[User:Ocæon|ocæon]] ([[User talk:Ocæon|talk]]) 14:39, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I feel like Randall missed a golden opportunity for Danish (instead of generic Ponytail) to prof these classes — this seems right up her alley. [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 16:17, 14 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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1) Hack my Cybersecurity grade, 2) Hack the professor's computer to remove the requiring link to the grade in the other course. -Diana<br />
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There is exactly one Nash Equilibria if you set the utility function to be the sum of the cyber security grade and the game theory grade. And it would be to give yourself a 100% in cyber security - Philip Geißler<br />
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This cartoon reminded me of a programming class I took as a Freshman at MIT (Spring 1974) where the first lecture described the way the programming projects were submitted and automatically graded. "Some of you may be considering finding a way to hack the grading program to just give you a good grade. This is an acceptable way to pass this course, since it is our analysis that subverting the grading program in this way demonstrates mastery of the subject matter." OK, I know this isn't a comment about the comic, but I lust felt like tossing it in. And more relevant (possibly) was the fact that being the last semester the course was taught, the final exam questions were all inside computer programming jokes. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 21:55, 14 November 2020 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2383:_Electoral_Precedent_2020&diff=201555Talk:2383: Electoral Precedent 20202020-11-10T03:08:24Z<p>MAP: clarified LBJ's and Joe's dogs as "rescue" vs "shelter" dogs, LBJ's was a rescue, but not a shelter.</p>
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Can anyone identify the faded background text in the 2016 panel?<br />
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Is there some shadow text behind the main text in the 2016 square? I can barely make it out. <br />
It looks like "No nominee whose first name contains a "k" has lost", which would be the same from the 1122 comic. <br />
[[User:ChunyangD|ChunyangD]] ([[User talk:ChunyangD|talk]]) 00:54, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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It's the alternative text from the 2016 one: "No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost." [[Special:Contributions/172.69.235.143|172.69.235.143]] 00:58, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I'm quite sure that Obama did in fact have a campaign website in 2008 when he was a challenger. See http://www.4president.us/websites/2008/barackobama2008website.htm [[User:Bobjr|Bobjr]] ([[User talk:Bobjr|talk]]) 01:15, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I think "challenger" means that they're going against the incumbent. Obama was up against McCain, who wasn't an incumbent. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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How much do we want the explanation for this one to repeat what is in that of 1122?--[[User:Troy0|Troy0]] ([[User talk:Troy0|talk]]) 01:19, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Didn't Clinton win after being impeached? [[User:Alcatraz ii|Alcatraz ii]] ([[User talk:Alcatraz ii|talk]]) 01:21, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, he was impeached during his first term. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:31, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: No, this is not true, Clinton was impeached during his 2nd term, in 1998, and he was not eligible for a 3rd term. George W. Bush won the following presidential election in 2000. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.42|172.69.34.42]] 01:35, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
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You could also say Joe was the first President with a rescue dog [[User:Squire80513|Squire80513]] ([[User talk:Squire80513|talk]]) 01:57, 10 November 2020 (UTC)Squire80513<br />
:Does not Lyndon B Johnson's dog, Yuki, count? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.128|162.158.159.128]] 02:30, 10 November 2020 (UTC)<br />
::LBJ's Yuki was a "rescue" (found wandering aimlessly around a gas station) but not a "shelter" dog. Joe's dog is the first first canine from a shelter. It's subtle distinction that many repeating the statistic miss [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 03:08, 10 November 2020 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2324:_Old_Days_2&diff=193846Talk:2324: Old Days 22020-06-25T02:38:32Z<p>MAP: Fixed my signature</p>
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I've gotta try that, see how the ice cream truck guy reacts. Wonder where I can find an ice cream truck though? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.16|172.69.71.16]] 23:42, 24 June 2020 (UTC)<br />
: The above is me, wasn't logged in, would I get in trouble for fixing the signature? [[User:Mikemk|Mikemk]] ([[User talk:Mikemk|talk]]) 23:44, 24 June 2020 (UTC)<br />
(@Mikemk, I recon you sorted it by adding what you did. If you'd have just changed things, probably no crime if you explained it in the edit Summary. But I'm just an IP Address, so no authority.) Anyway. The bit about a phone-call stopping all electronic business is obviously rooted in dial-up needing exclusive use of a POTS line, something that only went out with broadband piggy-backing alongside voice-calls, the respective carrier-signals now microfiltered at each end of the house-to-exchange copper cabling to let them coexist over the same circuit without blocking/overwhelming each other. Though, in this comic, it's hyperbole, overly fuzzy memory, leg-pulling and/or an alternate-history being described. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.130|141.101.98.130]] 02:06, 25 June 2020 (UTC)<br />
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In the early days (of the ARPAnet) there was actually something that today would be classed as a "cloud service" (before the term was invented) although limited. It was a computer (in Cambridge, MA) funded by ARPA with massive amounts of storage and anybody on the ARPAnet could use it for storage (primary access was through FTP). So, cloud storage but not cloud computing. If you wanted to do something with the data you had to copy the whole file to your local disk, edit it there, and then send it back. The actual bits were stored on magnetic tape and there was an elaborate X/Y mechanism to select a tape and mount it on a tape drive, and later return it to its cubby. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 02:38, 25 June 2020 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2289:_Scenario_4&diff=190141Talk:2289: Scenario 42020-04-06T23:30:10Z<p>MAP: Added note about the types of curves (well, at least the possible ones).</p>
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<div>Should definitely make a note re: this officially-Friday comic releasing late Saturday afternoon (EDT). [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 22:06, 4 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
Or is this actually the april fool comic, except it fooled us by being on a Saturday? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.81|162.158.74.81]] 22:12, 4 April 2020 (UTC) Sam<br />
Perhaps more likely because the actual April Fool's comic (due Wednesday) delayed 'til Friday. [[User:TPS|TPS]] ([[User talk:TPS|talk]]) 22:19, 4 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
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The title should probably be changed, the xkcd site uses the numeral "4" whereas we're using the word "four."--[[User:GoldNinja|GoldNinja]] ([[User talk:GoldNinja|talk]]) 22:50, 4 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
I accidentaly originally put it under Sequence Four. It shows in the image name.<br />
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I hope I fixed it correctly [[User:Bugstomper|Bugstomper]] ([[User talk:Bugstomper|talk]]) 02:17, 5 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Another instance of a graph with poor labels ("bad stuff"), even without the time travel. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.225|162.158.158.225]] 23:54, 4 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Scenario 1 is almost certainly intended to be a logistic curve. Scenario 2 starts off a bit slower, and it looks like one of the cases where you don't have enough data yet, but _hope_ it'll settle into a logistic. Scenario 3 is probably an exponential. These are the standard three scenarios: good, hopeful, and catastrophic. Then in his usual, now lets just get weird twist, comes the impossible one. I think that's all relevant, but I've been up too long to merge it into the text. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 23:30, 6 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
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The issue of time-traveling COVID-19 problems has already be considered in Onion Public Radio's The Topical. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3GQwOcsChQ Apologies for any poor rule-following as this is my first edit. [[User:RandomEdditMemory|RandomEdditMemory]] ([[User talk:RandomEdditMemory|talk]]) 00:00, 5 April 2020 (UTC)RandomEditMemory<br />
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The time travel in this comic is probably a reference to the time offset resulting from the April Fool's comic, but possibly coincidentally the comic showed up here in New Zealand in the morning of the April 5 change to Standard Time when the clocks did turn back an hour. [[User:Bugstomper|Bugstomper]] ([[User talk:Bugstomper|talk]]) 01:55, 5 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
: The time travel is almost certainly not a deliberate reference to the April Fool's comic being late (or to any implementation of DST). Rather, there's 4 graphs, each with an increasingly higher curve. the first tapers off, appearing to be approaching an asymptote, with an ever-decreasing rate of increase -- or even heading to a decrease. The second has a steeper slope for a while, but then does start to taper off. whether it becomes linear, approaches an asymptote, or starts declining off the edge of the graph is not known. The third scenario appears to be an exponential curve. The 3.5 scenario (not shown) would be to have a vertical asymptote, where "bad stuff" shoots off toward infinity as time approaches T. Then the only other thing left to do with a curve is to have it continue back the way it came. Been too long since I was in that level of math, but I'm pretty sure it's problematic if you Y-axis has two values at a point on the X-axis. This isn't showing two different functions converging as time progresses, but rather that a high values of "bad stuff," time goes backward.<br />
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From the explanation: "This is another comic in the coronavirus series." But ... is it? It certainly isn't explicitly so. The implicit argument is easy to make, but the fact that it is just "bad stuff" as a function of "time," it could easily be relevant to any number of bad scenarios: velociraptor attacks, Macarena flash mobs, mobile game IAP monetization, nationalistic views in politics, cat-based cheeseburger memes, or so on. It's not much of a stretch to say that the comic is topical to current events (especially given that there are many others in a sequence of implicitly or explicitly CoViD-related comics), but it still is a stretch to _definitely_ say so absent Mr. Munroe actually acknowledging so elsewhere, and then a citation would be needed, right?<br />
:It definitely is. All those graphs (except the fourth, obviously) can be found in real countries' data. South Korea would be an example of scenario 1. The United States would be an example of scenario 3. The virus is on everybody's mind, so there's no way it's a coincidence. (I think labeling [[2283: Exa-Exabyte]] as a coronavirus comic is ''way'' more of a stretch.)<br />
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I suggest the mathematical background of the graph 'bending over backwards' should be explained in more detail because the contradiction between what is 'natural' tendency of the graph and what is possible mathematically is what makes for the core of the joke. I mean, let's imagine that the graph is a picture of some tangible object, as a non-mathematically inclined person might do. Let's say, it's a rope. Then after observing it 'bend upwards' more and more with each scenario that gets progressively 'worse', it would be reasonable to conclude that continuing to bend this object even more and 'overbending it' would naturally mean some kind of a catastrophe. In reality, of course, it is impossible just because of the way the graph is being plotted. Each next segment is added as time goes by and placed more to the right because the time is shown to flow right on the horizontal axis. Thus the only way this graph could bend like this is for the next added segment to be in time 'before' the last one. And since it is impossible to travel back in time (citation needed), such a graph is unlikely to be predicting a real scenario. --[[User:SomethingLike|SomethingLike]] ([[User talk:SomethingLike|talk]]) 06:30, 5 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
:There are graphs, however, that have multiple Y-values for single X-values (graph of a square root function, at least for positive values of X, graphs of circles, or the batman equation. Might need an ELI5 why those are okay but the line curving back in time isn't.<br />
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You laugh here, but I have in fact seen graphs in corporate presentations which folded back. The presenter (a) didn't understand data analysis, (b) thought Excel was the right tool, and finally (c) decided the graph looked "better" by using the (incompetent) Excel pseudo-curve-smoothing graphics tool.[[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 18:33, 6 April 2020 (UTC) <br />
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To me this comic seems a commentary on alocalypse. Some see COVID-19 as the start of a coming apocalypse, and some worst apocalypse scenarios involve either an explosive AI researching things like time travel or ending our timeline as physics knows it, or all of us going back to survival mode on a landscape without any modern infrastructure. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.250.58|172.69.250.58]] 22:03, 5 April 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I think that "The only way to make sense of it would be by using the common trope in science fiction of time traveling creating an alternate timeline in which events are different, thus the cases could be 100 in one timeline and 1000 in a different timeline."..etc is utterly wrong creating a new timeline would have two 'forward' lines over a stretch of chart but would not have a single inflection joining a forward over ibto a backwards one. Maybe a (reverse) Z-bend if you include the retrograde (tachyonic?) leg, but then the true alternate timeline (also as per a single line splitting into two forward-going streams at a given ''t'', whether or not that was invoked by time-travellers arriving at that point or 'mundane' quantum superpositioning if alternate outcomes) would not be backwards. (Alternative time-arrow, maybe, but that's more like a continuation of the existence of the usual one, which has no existence beyond the rotation of time into a backwards framing... However that happens - and this graph seems to indicate gradually, like the rate of time goes for +ve to -ve by having less seconds/'second' and passing zero, perhaps by somehow rotating in the imaginary time plane (similar, then, to a spacial one?) in which case there's probably more to worry about than the (presumably unrelated) Bad Stuff. (Darnit, forgot to sign...). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 15:49, 6 April 2020 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2286:_6-Foot_Zone&diff=189479Talk:2286: 6-Foot Zone2020-03-31T03:38:52Z<p>MAP: Added additional comments on Real Estate.</p>
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Ok... 34 feet, in total, but how many hands? (All of which you should wash!) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 23:34, 27 March 2020 (UTC) <br />
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Well, a typical horse stands 15.2 hands tall. You do the math. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 01:09, 29 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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: Love it. Given the extra 1.7 feet for the person, a radius of 20.53 hands. If it were just 6 feet, 18 hands -- brad --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.122|108.162.216.122]] 00:55, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: For a horse of 16 hands (from the USFS document), 130 hands (8x16 'hands' + 2 hands). Or 123 and three loose fingers using Cellocgw's value, with that sounding like it's from actual practical experience. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.89.49|162.158.89.49]] 19:09, 29 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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So Randall is figuring about 1.7 feet diameter for the person. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.70|172.68.174.70]] 00:40, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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The 190,000 people / mile^2 assumes (I'm guessing) flat ground. Skyscrapers make a difference [citation needed] -- brad --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.122|108.162.216.122]] 00:55, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Interesting that the population density he gives ignores circle packing. Population should be 174,000. -- coyne -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.122.156|162.158.122.156]] 04:06, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Circle packing is unimportant since he's just giving the population of this one circle. He's taking a radius of 6 foot ''around'' that person without specifying what he considers to be the radius of the person, but it can be inferred from the numbers: <br>from area: <math>\sqrt{145/\pi} \approx 6.8</math>, <br>from circumference: <math>43/(2\pi) \approx 6.8</math>, <br>from population density: <math>\sqrt{1/190000/\pi} \cdot 5280 \approx 6.8</math>,<br>so apparently he considers a person to have a radius of 0.8 ft, or about 0.5 m diameter, which seems reasonable. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 05:11, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Note that even if you want to know the population of optimally packed people, your number is still wrong since the circles overlap: your circle is supposed to exclude other people, it doesn't exclude other people's circles. Optimally you'd have a triangular lattice of people with a lattice distance of 7.6 ft (assuming we want 6 ft between people and we consider people to be circles of radius 0.8 ft). This yields a population density of 1 person per <math>\tfrac{1}{4}\sqrt{3} \cdot 7.6^2 \text{ ft}^2</math>, which is about 1.1 million people per square mile. [[User:Zmatt|Zmatt]] ([[User talk:Zmatt|talk]]) 05:24, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:But some people still live in cities. So they are not packed 2-dimensional but sometimes in very high skyscrapers. We need to bringt globes into this calculation instead of circles. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:40, 30 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Much as I love thinking about circle packing density in the plane, I think the above explanation is slightly overthinking the issue. The population density figure appears to be using the idea that one person's zone contains one person; 1 person / (145 ft^2) does indeed equal 192,000 people/square mile. So, he's not saying that 'given these constraints, we can pack people at this maximum density'. He's saying 'given this area, and counting it as a tiny sovereignty, we can calculate its population density to be this'. For this reason, I don't think you should say that the 'population density' figure has an error, only that it is calculated in a different sense than you were thinking about. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 18:58, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I agree. My first instinct on what the population density figure means was the same as one used in the comic. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.103.163|162.158.103.163]] 22:29, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Possibly a play on the fact that horses are measured in hands? --orbitalbuzzsaw--<br />
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Page 207 of [https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf07232816/pdf07232816dpi72pt10.pdf US Forest Service Equestrian Design Guidebook for Trails, Trailheads, and Campgrounds] says minimum corral size is 12x12 feet. I didn't find a more likely sounding Forest Service publication. So I assume the ''handbook'' in the comic is a fictional publication. [[User:Hamjudo|Hamjudo]] ([[User talk:Hamjudo|talk]]) 13:15, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:Don't look for corrals. Look for how are you supposed to pack the horses for traveling eg. in train or truck/trailer. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:22, 29 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Always knew cities were bad for humanity. As are airplanes. Need them both to create a pandemic. [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 18:32, 28 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Thanks for that explanation! When I saw the title text, I was worried that WHO had increased the recommendation and I'd missed it. [[User:TobyBartels|TobyBartels]] ([[User talk:TobyBartels|talk]]) 00:47, 29 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Cool. I didn't know the US Forestry Service designed horses. [[User:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For]] ([[User talk:These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For|talk]]) 06:00, 29 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should it be noted that Randall used horses as units of measurement and/or as reference objects before? i.e. [[1461]] [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:52, 30 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm relatively surprised that nobody is discussing the 'real estate' value in these comments. I guess I'm the odd one out. The value of $195k was, to my surprise, very accurate. Zillow.com [https://www.zillow.com/manhattan-ny/home-values/ currently lists] that the average real estate price per square foot in Manhattan is $1,371, which, when multiplied by Randall's approximate 145 square feet, gives $198,795. I can't believe the rest of you are putting this much research into horse dimensions. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.4|162.158.75.4]] 23:55, 30 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:I'm with you, there should be a comment on that reference to NYC Real Estate. I wasn't too sure about how, exactly, to do the math. The Real Estate market actually has those 145 square feet stacked up, so I was thinking about 145 square feet of _land_, but the zillow numbers are for 145 square feet of _floor_. Since your numbers work out, that probably means Randall was going for that reading. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 03:38, 31 March 2020 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2248:_New_Year%27s_Eve&diff=185278Talk:2248: New Year's Eve2019-12-31T14:19:41Z<p>MAP: suggested explaining "off by one"</p>
<hr />
<div>What about people born on New Year's [[User:HelloWorld|HelloWorld]] ([[User talk:HelloWorld|talk]]) 16:28, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:This method works for them too. For instance, someone born 1/1/2000 will still be 19 on 12/31/2019 (2019 - 2000 = 19) but turn 20 the following day. Why do you think there's a problem for them? [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 16:47, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
::For people born late at night on New Year's Eve it could still present an issue ''theoretically'', but it would at least be the day of their birthday so you're not getting their age wrong so much as observing their birthday!<br />
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:31, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::I believe what you're suggesting is that someone is not one year older until the exact time of their birth on the date of their birth. I don't think anyone gets that pedantic about their age unless they're really vain! ;-) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:45, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Think we should mention Randall's past "terrible party themes"? The not-that-fun malaria party and the one to celebrate arsenic-based life spring to mind.<br />
[[User:Enfield|Enfield]] ([[User talk:Enfield|talk]]) 21:13, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Since some readers will not know what "off by one errors" are, that should probably be explained. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 14:19, 31 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Off-by-One Party Theme ==<br />
Anyone have any good tips for an "Off-By-One" party? My birthday is this January & I'm thinking that's as good a theme as any. Of course the invites will feature a "2 guests ±1" RSVP option, but I haven't thought much beyond that yet. Ideas?<br />
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:31, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
:This partly depends on whether it's up to the host or the guests to honor the theme of the party. You've given an example for guests. As the host, you could hold the party the day before or after your birthday, all food could be purchased as baker's dozens (13 items instead of 12), the age on the cake could be off by one, or you could hold the party at your neighbor's house with their agreement (address of house off by one?). [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:55, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Time: You could leave the start/end time flexible (+/- 1) . Or give the incorrect start time. Maybe go with the pun "everyone must be off (leave the party) by one" (am/pm) depending on the party. [[User:Iggynelix|Iggynelix]] ([[User talk:Iggynelix|talk]]) 19:42, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Decor: you could remove a light bulb from each fixture/room. Be short by one for glasses, plates, chairs, etc. Maybe each time a guests as for "a slice/serving/whatever" they get none or 2. (Roll for it? And encourage sharing?) An extra cake with a different number of candles. [[User:Iggynelix|Iggynelix]] ([[User talk:Iggynelix|talk]]) 19:42, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:possible "off-by-1" themed decorations for a party of programmers:<br />
:* Write a message that reads: “The last one of the 4 boxes is obviously box 4.” Below the message, draw four boxes, and write 0-indexed numbers on them as 0, 1, 2, 3.<br />
:*Get 6 party balloons or similar colorful items, write P, A, R, T, Y cheerfully on the first 5 of them, one letter on each. On the last one, write with smaller letters, darkly: “Not null-terminated (not allocated)” If desired add a cartoon character *p++ running left-to-right happily in the cheerful section, not knowing what is going to happen. [[User:Yosei|Yosei]] ([[User talk:Yosei|talk]]) 03:42, 31 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Specific calculations ==<br />
<br />
So, how old's Jesus? Two-thousand and nineteen? Two-thousand and eighteen? Two-thousand and twenty-(three...seven)? Well into this decade, some churches round here ''still'' had the ubiquitous cross-denominational "It is Christ's 2000th birthday!" plaques up from the false-millenium (I might have a look now to see if any still do!) but of all the things they get wrong I don't think that's particularly the biggest thing, so... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.91|162.158.154.91]] 18:49, 30 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I'm going to remove the second paragraph about it not working for New Year's Day, as Cueball explicitly states that New Year's Eve is the ONE day of the year when it works. The extra paragraph is just confusing at a minimum. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 19:37, 30 December 2019 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2147:_Appendicitis&diff=174198Talk:2147: Appendicitis2019-05-16T22:02:39Z<p>MAP: Randall's health is relevant here, if not in more mundane news...</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
started a very brief explanation. I'm unsure what actual medical procedure the "salting of the abdomen" is supposed to refer to.[[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 17:16, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: probably refers to this: {{w|Salting the earth}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 17:23, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
I suspect it refers to the saline lavage at the end of the surgery - isotonic saline is used to wash out any remnants of pus that might cause a new infection. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.45|172.69.54.45]] 09:46, 11 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
Not a medical expert, but could this be cancer? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:14, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: my guess is appendicitis (as that is the title of the comic). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.160|162.158.59.160]] 18:28, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
Randall was supposed to appear at an Adam Savage book release event Tuesday night, but the host reported he was in the hospital recovering from Appendicitis, so I amended the comment about the possibility to make it certain. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 19:41, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Is this reported somewhere, like in the news or on Twitter? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.243|162.158.58.243]] 19:54, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Do you know where was this reported? I've searched for it but I haven't found it yet. If you have the link I can add it to the explanation. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 20:39, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::It was announced on stage at the book signing (and I was really looking forward to Randall and Adam interacting), but I don't know anywhere else it may have showed up.[[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:26, 10 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::I think the fact that Randall had just undergone (and fully recovered from) appendicitis is relevant to the appearance of this comic and think we should really put that detail back. The simple fact that Randall isn't enough of a celebrity for it to be reported elsewhere shouldn't force us not to report it here, where Randall _is_ relevant. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 22:02, 16 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Zapped you with energy beams" sounds like it's referring to X-rays, rather than MRI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.204|162.158.111.204]] 20:17, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Close, contrast CT is more common for diagnosing acute appendicitis, which is basically X-rays, but more of them [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.70|172.68.2.70]] 04:30, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:: Also sure it is not a reference to MRI but to x-rays, probably in the form of a CT. It does not fit with energy beam, putting the patient in a magenetic field and using radio frequencies... I will correct this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:00, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is a little weird to me. Five years ago a bout of appendicitis led to a cancer diagnosis for me. There was, indeed, a sword, biological and chemical weapons and a salting of my interior to prevent further growth. I hope Randall is okay. [[User:KevinLeeC|KevinLeeC]] ([[User talk:KevinLeeC|talk]]) 20:20, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Appendicitis is not linked to cancer, but when you open a patient up, there is the chance the doctors discovers a so far unnoticed cancer. I do not think this is the case here, and also since he makes this comic already he cannot be really bad off. But appendicitis is serious enough. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:00, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:That must be fun - going from a highly dangerous but well understood ailment to a remarkably more lethal and less understood one. Still, better sooner than later.<br />
<br />
I thought the title text referenced Randall mocking his internal organs in the comic. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:08, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]] has appeared in several comics as a doctor, should we add a corresponding category? Maybe a "Doctor Ponytail" or "Doctors" category. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 06:18, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:I think it is enough to have it mentioned in the ponytail page? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:00, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Appendages? ==<br />
<br />
Is there a subtle joke contained herein in that Dr. Ponytail has no appendages that don't appear as hooks? Or am I reading too much in to the discrepancy between her coat and hands as Randall just draws stick figures anyway? {{unsigned|162.158.74.69}}<br />
:I think it's just Randall's standard stick figures, although I think Ponytail is making fists in panels 2 and 3, and raising a single finger in the last panel. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 15:51, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Yeah, just fists.</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2147:_Appendicitis&diff=173789Talk:2147: Appendicitis2019-05-10T06:26:36Z<p>MAP: more notes about where I know what I know.</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
started a very brief explanation. I'm unsure what actual medical procedure the "salting of the abdomen" is supposed to refer to.[[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 17:16, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: probably refers to this: {{w|Salting the earth}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 17:23, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
Not a medical expert, but could this be cancer? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:14, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: my guess is appendicitis (as that is the title of the comic). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.160|162.158.59.160]] 18:28, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
Randall was supposed to appear at an Adam Savage book release event Tuesday night, but the host reported he was in the hospital recovering from Appendicitis, so I amended the comment about the possibility to make it certain. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 19:41, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Is this reported somewhere, like in the news or on Twitter? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.243|162.158.58.243]] 19:54, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
::Do you know where was this reported? I've searched for it but I haven't found it yet. If you have the link I can add it to the explanation. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 20:39, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::It was announced on stage at the book signing (and I was really looking forward to Randall and Adam interacting), but I don't know anywhere else it may have showed up.[[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 06:26, 10 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
"Zapped you with energy beams" sounds like it's referring to X-rays, rather than MRI. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.204|162.158.111.204]] 20:17, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: Close, contrast CT is more common for diagnosing acute appendicitis, which is basically X-rays, but more of them [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.70|172.68.2.70]] 04:30, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:: Also sure it is not a reference to MRI but to x-rays, probably in the form of a CT. It does not fit with energy beam, putting the patient in a magenetic field and using radio frequencies... I will correct this. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:00, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is a little weird to me. Five years ago a bout of appendicitis led to a cancer diagnosis for me. There was, indeed, a sword, biological and chemical weapons and a salting of my interior to prevent further growth. I hope Randall is okay. [[User:KevinLeeC|KevinLeeC]] ([[User talk:KevinLeeC|talk]]) 20:20, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Appendicitis is not linked to cancer, but when you open a patient up, there is the chance the doctors discovers a so far unnoticed cancer. I do not think this is the case here, and also since he makes this comic already he cannot be really bad off. But appendicitis is serious enough. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:00, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I thought the title text referenced Randall mocking his internal organs in the comic. [[User:Jacky720|That's right, Jacky720 just signed this]] ([[User talk:Jacky720|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Jacky720|contribs]]) 21:08, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[[Ponytail]] has appeared in several comics as a doctor, should we add a corresponding category? Maybe a "Doctor Ponytail" or "Doctors" category. [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 06:18, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
:I think it is enough to have it mentioned in the ponytail page? --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:00, 9 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Appendages? ==<br />
<br />
Is there a subtle joke contained herein in that Dr. Ponytail has no appendages that don't appear as hooks? Or am I reading too much in to the discrepancy between her coat and hands as Randall just draws stick figures anyway? {{unsigned|162.158.74.69}}<br />
:I think it's just Randall's standard stick figures, although I think Ponytail is making fists in panels 2 and 3, and raising a single finger in the last panel. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 15:51, 9 May 2019 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2147:_Appendicitis&diff=173747Talk:2147: Appendicitis2019-05-08T19:42:42Z<p>MAP: Minor wording fix to my earlier note</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
started a very brief explanation. I'm unsure what actual medical procedure the "salting of the abdomen" is supposed to refer to.[[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 17:16, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: probably refers to this: {{w|Salting the earth}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 17:23, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
Not a medical expert, but could this be cancer? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:14, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: my guess is appendicitis (as that is the title of the comic). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.160|162.158.59.160]] 18:28, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
Randall was supposed to appear at an Adam Savage book release event Tuesday night, but the host reported he was in the hospital recovering from Appendicitis, so I amended the comment about the possibility to make it certain. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 19:41, 8 May 2019 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2147:_Appendicitis&diff=173746Talk:2147: Appendicitis2019-05-08T19:41:19Z<p>MAP: Note about the edit I just made</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
started a very brief explanation. I'm unsure what actual medical procedure the "salting of the abdomen" is supposed to refer to.[[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 17:16, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: probably refers to this: {{w|Salting the earth}}. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.33.167|172.69.33.167]] 17:23, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
Not a medical expert, but could this be cancer? [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 18:14, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
: my guess is appendicitis (as that is the title of the comic). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.59.160|162.158.59.160]] 18:28, 8 May 2019 (UTC)<br />
Randall was supposed to appear at an Adam Savage Tuesday night, but the host reported he was in the hospital recovering from Appendicitis, so I amended the comment about the possibility to make it certain. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 19:41, 8 May 2019 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2147:_Appendicitis&diff=1737442147: Appendicitis2019-05-08T19:38:03Z<p>MAP: Affirmed that Randall did have Appendicitis (as mentioned by the host at an event he missed Tuesday night).</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2147<br />
| date = May 8, 2019<br />
| title = Appendicitis<br />
| image = appendicitis.png<br />
| titletext = Fortunately, after a brief skirmish, I seem to have gained the upper hand in the battle against my internal organs, at least until they learn to read and find out the mean stuff I've said about them.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a ROGUE ORGAN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
Cueball is visiting his doctor Ponytail (as in [[1839: Doctor Visit|1839]]), this time to diagnose some medical condition. It sounds like he has just undergone an {{w|Magnetic resonance imaging|MRI}} or some kind of {{w|medical imaging}}, and Ponytail is following up on the results. It appears that he may have {{w|appendicitis}}, the title of comic, which could be treated through {{w|antibiotics}}, or through an {{w|appendectomy}} surgery.<br />
<br />
The joke in the comic comes from Ponytail explaining his diagnosis and treatment options as a rebellion that needs to be quashed. His appendicitis is described as his appendix being a "traitor". Antibiotic treatment is described as using "chemical / biological weapons", while the appendectomy is described as "victory through the sword". She further describes more extreme "battle tactics", like crushing all other rebellions in his body. Lastly, she mentions "salting his abdomen" to prevent other rebellions. This is a reference to the {{w|salting the earth}} tactic in battle, which was a ritual to symbolize a curse on a conquered city and would have theoretically have hindered future crop production, thus preventing that city from being rebuilt.<br />
<br />
A possible alternate explanation of panel three and four could involve cancer. Panel three could be construed as exploratory surgery. Panel four could be referencing cancer-preventative drugs.<br />
<br />
After all this explanation, Cueball begins to question Ponytail's methods, and requests to see a different doctor to get a {{w|Second_opinion#Medicine|second opinion}}.<br />
<br />
The title text continues the battle metaphor, saying that Cueball is defeating his illness, at least until they can read his words against them.<br />
<br />
Two days before posting this comic Randall had a case of Appendicitis, but is now recovering after surgery.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is seated on an medical examination table while Ponytail stands dressed in a doctor's coat holding a file in her left hand.]<br />
:Ponytail: Well, we zapped you with energy beams, and it looks like one of your stupid organs is a traitor.<br />
:Cueball: ...which one?<br />
:Ponytail: I dunno, appendix? Gallbladder? One of the little ones that sucks.<br />
:Cueball: What should I do?<br />
<br />
:[Closeup on Ponytail. She holds her left hand in a clenched fist.]<br />
:Ponytail: You could quash the revolt with the ruthless deployment of chemical and biological weapons.<br />
:Cueball (off-screen): ...antibiotics?<br />
:Ponytail: But certain victory comes only through ''the sword''.<br />
:Cueball (off-screen): Surgery.<br />
<br />
:[Closeup on Ponytail with her fists raised.]<br />
:Ponytail: While we're inside, we'll look around-if we see any signs of insurrection elsewhere, we will not hesitate to act. There can be no armistice. Your parts must fall in line or be crushed.<br />
:Cueball (off-screen): Um.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom out again to the entire scene. Ponytail points her left hand up.]<br />
:Ponytail: When the battle is won, we will salt your abdomen so no new organs can ever sprout up to trouble you again.<br />
:Cueball: Maybe I should get a second opinion.<br />
:Ponytail: Only if you care what a ''weaker'' doctor would say.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2128:_New_Robot&diff=171611Talk:2128: New Robot2019-03-25T18:47:05Z<p>MAP: Idea on title text</p>
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Boston Dynamics does this. [[User:Netherin5|“That Guy from the Netherlands”]] ([[User talk:Netherin5|talk]]) 16:23, 25 March 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have to wonder if the title text is referring to the term "search and destroy", which would certainly be the second type. [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 18:47, 25 March 2019 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1777:_Dear_Diary&diff=1329411777: Dear Diary2016-12-26T05:43:35Z<p>MAP: Initial pass, very rough</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1777<br />
| date = December 26, 2016<br />
| title = Dear Diary<br />
| image = dear_diary.png<br />
| titletext = Dear Diary: UNSUBSCRIBE<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Initial cut, please add to this.}}<br />
<br />
Black Hat is writing in a diary (probably his, but possibly not see below). Many people will fantasize in their diary about being royalty and/or very rich. Black Hat's entry has both of these, but is written in the form of a standard phishing scam. Although, with a diary, it's only likely to find victims which are surreptitiously stealing a look at his private diary. But, knowing Black Hat, that my be his point.<br />
<br />
It's also possible he has obtained someone else's diary and is somehow trying to scam the diary's owner, although it's not clear how that might work. The title text mimics a standard way to get off some mailing lists, so perhaps it's Randall's diary that Black Hat is molesting and the title text is Randall expressing a desire to be disassociated form it.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript}}<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1769:_Never_Seen_Star_Wars&diff=132247Talk:1769: Never Seen Star Wars2016-12-07T16:30:50Z<p>MAP: Note about missing superpower comment</p>
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My first time providing an explanation and transcript! For once I'm early enough, understand the joke, AND had time! LOL! Be kind... :)<br />
<br />
(Hey, if I had an account would I still have to do those damned Captchas?) - NiceGuy1 [[Special:Contributions/162.158.126.227|162.158.126.227]] 06:54, 7 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:I assume your account would have to be autoconfirmed. That means its having over a certain "age" and over a certain edit count. I think the age is a couple of days and the edit threshold is fifteen, though this wiki may have those values configured differently. <span style="background:#0064de;font-size:12px;padding:4px 12px;border-radius:8px;">[[User talk:AgentMuffin|<span style="color:#f0faff;">~AgentMuffin</span>]]</span><br />
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You mean it is not a reference to the BBC Radio 4 show. As an experience I will give XKCD 9/10.<br />
: It is the go-to example of a film that 'everyone' has seen. Added a not to this effect, although I feel it could be better phrased. Surprised TVTropes doesn't have a page on this. [[User:Luckykaa|Luckykaa]] ([[User talk:Luckykaa|talk]]) 12:34, 7 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
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--<br />
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I added a few speculations about the number of people who actually have seen the movies (or one of them). If someone find a decent reference feel free to edit that. I also noticed one word play, not sure if it should be explained or not, but probably. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.80.89|141.101.80.89]] 09:44, 7 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
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Is there any canonical evidence Vader didn't eat Jedi though? In the prequel films, he only kills Jedi off-screen. In A New Hope, when he kills Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan disappears. Maybe he just went hungry that day. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.143|141.101.98.143]] 11:38, 7 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Isn't there at least one scene in the prequel trilogy of Anakin eating something? Along with that, Vader has to have his helmet on outside his meditation chamber (evidenced by Luke saying Vader will die if Luke takes his helmet off in RotJ). It would be logical that Vader gets his nutrition intravenously or in a smoothie/drink form that he can ingest through his helmet, and Jedi are notoriously hard to turn into a smoothie. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.40|108.162.238.40]]<br />
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--<br />
I think that the explanation should point out that the author differently form cueball is actually a huge fan of the saga with a vast knowlage of the SW lore including obscure expanded universe publications [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.184|141.101.98.184]] 16:01, 7 December 2016 (UTC)<br />
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--<br />
It's missing any comment on the "superpower" bit. I'm not sure where to add it and kind of rushed now, so I just leave this note to maybe prod someone else... [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]]) 16:30, 7 December 2016 (UTC)</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1751:_Movie_Folder&diff=129375Talk:1751: Movie Folder2016-10-26T18:36:04Z<p>MAP: Oops</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Quite a wacky comic and it isn't even a Friday. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 14:16, 26 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
Ooh, a first draft...<br />
Hoo boy, that last sentence, though... that is in desperate need of some editing [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.49|108.162.237.49]] 16:00, 26 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Small point, but <i>lorem ipsum</i> isn't pseudo-Latin it's from Cicero's <i>de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum</i> (The Extremes of Good and Evil. It's been used since the very early days of printing.[[User:Richardelguru|Richardelguru]] ([[User talk:Richardelguru|talk]]) 16:33, 26 October 2016 (UTC)richardelguru.<br />
::It is, but the "received" lorem ipsum text is pretty garbled, starting with improper word-splitting at the the very beginning. It shouldn't be described as a straight quotation from Cicero. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.53|162.158.74.53]] 17:49, 26 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I'm not sure how to post comments, but I believe it should read 97 previous Titanics sank, if the movie is about the 98th one striking the reef.... User: bsellnow 26 October 2016... {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.126}}<br />
:Regarding your comment that makes sense! On your other Question: To sign a comment just write <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> after you comment. (Or press the signature button in the icons above to post those four tildes). I have signed your comment with a template for unsigned comments from non-users (based on your IP address). Sign up so you can keep track of your contributions and for real call your self User:bsellnow ;-)--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:30, 26 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
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:I saw it, too. And, while Kynde was commenting, I adjusted it... [[User:MAP|MAP]] ([[User talk:MAP|talk]])</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1751:_Movie_Folder&diff=129374Talk:1751: Movie Folder2016-10-26T18:33:52Z<p>MAP: Comment on my edit</p>
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<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~--><br />
Quite a wacky comic and it isn't even a Friday. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.210.196|108.162.210.196]] 14:16, 26 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
Ooh, a first draft...<br />
Hoo boy, that last sentence, though... that is in desperate need of some editing [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.49|108.162.237.49]] 16:00, 26 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
:Small point, but <i>lorem ipsum</i> isn't pseudo-Latin it's from Cicero's <i>de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum</i> (The Extremes of Good and Evil. It's been used since the very early days of printing.[[User:Richardelguru|Richardelguru]] ([[User talk:Richardelguru|talk]]) 16:33, 26 October 2016 (UTC)richardelguru.<br />
::It is, but the "received" lorem ipsum text is pretty garbled, starting with improper word-splitting at the the very beginning. It shouldn't be described as a straight quotation from Cicero. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.53|162.158.74.53]] 17:49, 26 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I'm not sure how to post comments, but I believe it should read 97 previous Titanics sank, if the movie is about the 98th one striking the reef.... User: bsellnow 26 October 2016... {{unsigned ip|108.162.215.126}}<br />
:Regarding your comment that makes sense! On your other Question: To sign a comment just write <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> after you comment. (Or press the signature button in the icons above to post those four tildes). I have signed your comment with a template for unsigned comments from non-users (based on your IP address). Sign up so you can keep track of your contributions and for real call your self User:bsellnow ;-)--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 18:30, 26 October 2016 (UTC)<br />
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:I saw it, too. And, while Kynde was commenting, I adjusted it... <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki></div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1751:_Movie_Folder&diff=1293721751: Movie Folder2016-10-26T18:28:40Z<p>MAP: Adjusted count on Titanics, with some added explanation /* Black Hat's downloaded movies */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1751<br />
| date = October 26, 2016<br />
| title = Movie Folder<br />
| image = movie_folder.png<br />
| titletext = That's actually the original Japanese version of A Million Random Digits, which is much better than the American remake the book was based on.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|First draft}}<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] is looking through [[Black Hat]]'s downloaded movies, which are all adaptations of non-literary works, improbable sequels, and/or crossovers between very disparate properties. Cueball reacts with increasing incredulity to Black Hat's collection, while Black Hat casually responds with equally unlikely (non-)explanations. Knowing Black Hat, his movie folder is deliberately weird just to provoke this kind of reaction.<br />
<br />
In the real world, there are movies which can provoke similar shock. For example, many successful films get {{w|direct-to-video}} (or, now, {{w|direct-to-digital}}) sequels and spinoffs, often featuring none of the original cast and which get very little marketing. Therefore, someone might be surprised to know that there's an ''{{w|American Psycho 2}}'', a ''{{w|Starship Troopers 3: Marauder|Starship Troopers 3}}'', a ''{{w|Dr. Dolittle: Tail to the Chief|Dr. Dolittle 4}}'', or a ''{{w|Bring It On: Fight to the Finish|Bring It On 5}}''. Randall previously made fun of the proliferation of direct-to-video sequels in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/65/ What If: Twitter Timeline Height], with at least 27 ''Land Before Time'' films (in reality, there were 14).<br />
<br />
Another source of weird titles are {{w|mockbuster}}s. When a film uses a {{w|public domain}} property as its basis, or a title that is too generic to trademark, other studios will simply create their own films and pretend that they're a sequel to the more famous film. Examples include ''{{w|Titanic II (film)|Titanic II}}'', ''{{w|Troll 2}}'', ''{{w|Troll 3}}'', the ''other'' ''{{w|Quest for the Mighty Sword|Troll 3}}'', and ''{{w|War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave}}''. <br />
<br />
Marketing wheezes have also produced some crossovers almost as unexpected as those in the comic - ''{{w|Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde}}'', ''{{w|Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery}}'' and ''{{w|Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter}}''.<br />
<br />
=== Black Hat's downloaded movies ===<br />
{|class="wikitable"<br />
! Title<br />
! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
| ''Lorem Ipsum: The Movie'' || ''{{w|Lorem Ipsum}}'' are the first two words of a common block of garbled Latin filler text used by typesetters to layout pages before real text is available. This title implies that this movie is entirely random filler with no meaningful content, although according to the Internet Movie Database, there is a 2011 movie titled [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2032487/ Lorem Ipsum].<br />
|-<br />
| ''Titanic XCVIII'' || The famous Titanic film is the {{w|Titanic (1997 movie)|1997 ''Titanic''}} film by James Cameron, but there have been {{w|List of films about the RMS Titanic|several since trying to cash in on the name}}, including one called ''{{w|Titanic II (film)|Titanic II}}''. Black Hat's dialogue implies the preceding films are about at least 97 different Titanics which all sank, creating an artificial reef, and this film is about the 98th hitting that reef (rather than an iceberg).<br />
|-<br />
| ''Debbie Did 9/11'' || A combination of ''Debbie Does Dallas'', a 1970s porn film about a young woman trying for a cheerleader squad, and a 9/11 conspiracy theory. Actual ''Debbie Does Dallas'' sequels include 5 numbered ones, two titled ''Debbie Does Dallas Again'', several with subtitles, and some parodies, unofficial sequels and spinoffs that - like the title quote here - change what Debbie does. IMDb lists, among others, ''Debbie Does Iowa'', ''Debbie Does Wall Street'', ''Debbie Does 'em All'' and ''Debbie Does Damnation''.<br />
|-<br />
| ''Time Jam: A Connecticut Huskie on King Arthur's Court'' || A combination of ''{{w|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court}}'' by {{w|Mark Twain}} and ''{{w|Space Jam}}''. Mark Twain's story is one of the first time travel stories, while ''Space Jam'' sees cartoon characters and real basketball players team up to defeat basketball-playing aliens. The mention of a husky is a reference to the University of Connecticut sports teams.<br />
|-<br />
| ''Harold and Kumar Go to Howl's Moving Castle'' || A combination of ''{{w|Harold and Kumar go to White Castle}}'' - about the meandering and very adult adventures of {{w|Harold and Kumar|a pair of stoners}} - and ''{{w|Howl's Moving Castle (film)|Howl's Moving Castle}}'' - a tender, often philosophical children's {{w|anime}} film by {{w|Hayao Miyazaki}}, based on a novel by {{w|Diana Wynne Jones}}.<br />
|-<br />
| ''A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates'' || This is actually {{w|A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates|a real book from 1955}} - back before scientists had access to computers that could easily generate random numbers, this book was very useful for statistics and for setting up scientific experiments. The book is {{w|File:Random digits.png|literally just a list of numbers}}, so there would be no movie in it except for flashing numbers on a screen.<br />
|-<br />
| ''Michael Bay's The Vagina Monologues'' || ''{{w|The Vagina Monologues}}'' is a famous play by Eve Ensler. All that happens in it is a series of women talk frankly about their bodies, their sexuality and their lives. There's no space in it for explosions, but Michael Bay (who is known for [http://www.thewrap.com/megan-fox-quit-transformers-over-michael-bays-abuse-17614/ rather unfeminist behaviour] and over-doing explosions in the movies he directs) found a way.<br />
|}<br />
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Title text then talks about ''A Million Random Digits'' again and says that it is an adaptation of Japanese version. But in modern world digits are universal, so it is hard to understand how adaptation would be different from original, unless they used {{w|Japanese numerals}} (which are rarely used for mathematical purposes).<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Black Hat is sitting in an armchair, with the right arm on the armrest and looking at his smartphone held in his left hand, when a voice from behind him (off-panel left) addresses him. It turns out in the next panels that it is Cueball.]<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): Your movie folder is so ''weird''. Where do you find all this stuff?<br />
:Black Hat: Dunno.<br />
:Black Hat: Around.<br />
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:[In an frame-less panel Cueball is seen sitting in an office chair at a desk facing left. He is looking at Black Hat's computer while typing on the keyboard which is on a shelve lower than the regular desk surface. Black Hat replies to his queries from behind him off-panel right.]<br />
:Cueball: ''Lorem Ipsum: The Movie?''<br />
:Cueball: ''Titanic XCVIII?''<br />
:Black Hat (off-panel): That series gets good when they start hitting the reef created by all the previous wrecks.<br />
<br />
:[Cueball leans in closer to the screen.]<br />
:Cueball: ''Debbie Did 9/11?''<br />
:Cueball: ''Time Jam: A Connecticut Huskie on King Arthur's Court?''<br />
:Black Hat (off-panel): Really underrated ''Space Jam'' sequel.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on the scene so nothing beneath the keyboard is visible. The screen and Cueballs head almost spans the width of the panel.]<br />
:Cueball: ''Harold and Kumar Go to Howl's Moving Castle?''<br />
:Cueball: ''A Million Random Digits with 100,000 Normal Deviates?''<br />
:Black Hat (off-panel): That's the original-the book was a novelization.<br />
<br />
:[Back to Black Hat sitting in the chair as in the first panel, but leaning a bit further back and the arm on the armrest has been moved closer to him.]<br />
:Cueball (off-panel): ''Michael Bay's The Vagina Monologues!?''<br />
:Black Hat: It's pretty good, despite all the CGI explosions.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]</div>MAPhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1735:_Fashion_Police_and_Grammar_Police&diff=1274131735: Fashion Police and Grammar Police2016-09-20T03:06:42Z<p>MAP: Used my "Grammar Police" ID badge to fix several minor errors. :-)</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1735<br />
| date = September 19, 2016<br />
| title = Fashion Police and Grammar Police<br />
| image = fashion_police_and_grammar_police.png<br />
| titletext = * Mad about jorts<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Explain the meaning of the Grammar Police sign and the three words on it. Fill out the table explaining how each point in the list can be said to represent both types of police.}}<br />
In this comic, two groups of angry protesters are presented and labeled. They should not be seen as protesting side by side, but rather like two similar groups protesting about different things even though they are in many ways similar.<br />
<br />
The left group represents the '''Fashion Police''' with [[Cueball]] holding a sign saying {{w|Crocs}} not allowed (by showing a pair of Crocs shoes in a circle with a strike through it). The right group represents the '''[https://twitter.com/_grammar_ Grammar Police]''' with another Cueball holding a sign with three commonly-confused words beneath each other; Their, They're, There. The two groups look similar, standing in similar poses and apart from Cueball holding signs in each group [[Megan]] is also in the front line of both groups. [[Hairy]] is only shown with the fashion police, together with yet a [[:Category:Multiple Cueballs|Cueball-like guy]], while [[Ponytail]] is only shown with the grammar police together with a bald man with glasses. <br />
<br />
Both types of police are groups of people who make fun of others who wears or says something that doesn't meet their criteria of "good". Fashion police are people who make fun of others who wear clothing that is mismatched, out of style/{{w|fashion}} or straight-up "ugly" to them. Grammar police are people who are "sticklers" to {{w|grammar}} rules and get mad or contradictory if someone uses non-standard grammar in a sentence. The comic explains how the two groups are similar to each other by listing eight points (plus a ninth in the title text) that can be used on both groups. See explanation in the [[#Table of individual items|table below]].<br />
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The {{w|Fashion Police}} could refer to the American television series of the same name.<br />
<br />
In the caption below the comic [[Randall]] notes that he just realized that these are literally the same people because they both exhibit the listed traits. The use of "[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/literally literally]" to emphasize a statement is considered by the grammar police as a dread crime that should be pointed out as such, although the dictionaries already include this definition as acceptable. However it would likely be more appropriate to say figuratively the same people, see [[725: Literally]]. On the other hand, fashion police is known for overusing "literally" in the way the grammar police finds disgusting.<br />
<br />
Ponytail also represented the grammar police in [[1576: I Could Care Less]], where Megan puts her in place after she polices her sentence. Literally was also used here in the title text.<br />
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The title is a ninth point on the list with the star in front representing one more bullet (see the last entry in the [[#Table of individual items|table below]]): <br />
*Mad about jorts.<br />
<br />
==Table of individual items==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|+Explanation of individual items in the list<br />
!list item<br />
!Explanation<br />
|-<br />
|Judgemental and Smug || Both types of police will look down upon those who violate their 'laws'.<br />
|-<br />
|Angry about something deeply arbitrary || Both grammar and fashion are, essentially, made-up human constructs.<br />
|-<br />
| Strong opinions backed by style guides || Grammar has Strunk and White, fashion has fashion mags.<br />
|-<br />
| Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted <i>is</i> your responsibility || Your choices in both grammar and fashion affect how people see you, and it would be silly to disclaim responsibility for what is essentially your own actions.<br />
|-<br />
| Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own || This means that even if you deliberately choose to not listen to the fashion gurus, then you are actually making a fashion statement anyway, as opposed to those that just don't realize they have a horrible style (and are not dressing wrongly on purpose). Both types can thus be harassed by the Fashion Police. Same goes for those who deliberately do not try to follow the grammar rules. They have thus taken a stance anyway as opposed to those who just do not know how to use grammar correctly. And both types can be harassed for it by the Grammar Police.<br />
|- <br />
|To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well || Deliberately violating fashion or grammar rules gives off a particular 'casual' vibe, distinct from those who violate the rules out of ignorance.<br />
|-<br />
|Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class || "High fashion" and "proper grammar" are both dictated largely (not exclusively, but enough a majority to be troublesome) by rich white people. (someone else explain this better)<br />
|-<br />
| Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you|| This may have to do with the human tendency to view the morality of an activity differently when applied to oneself compared to a stranger.<br />
|-<br />
| Mad about jorts (Title text) || "{{w|Shorts#Jorts|Jorts}}" is a {{w|portmanteau}} for a pair of jeans that are made into shorts. The fashion police would be mad about jorts for being unfashionable, while the grammar police would be mad about the word 'jorts' being an inappropriate portmanteau of jeans and shorts, and also for the fact that the sentence could be misinterpreted as if someone like jorts, as in being mad about something in a positive way. Randall has [[:Category:Portmanteau|often used]] portmanteaus as part of his jokes.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Beneath two headings to the left and right are shown two aggressive-looking groups of people with only the four people in the front clearly shown for each group. Behind them five other people can be seen, but they are not drawn with the same solid line and are only partly shown behind the first four, but legs from all five in each group can be seen along with some heads (all Cueball like) and arms etc. The front of the left group consist of Hairy holding a fist up towards left, Megan with her arms crossed in front of her chest, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, straight up above his head and another Cueball-like guy to the right is holding up a broken branch in one hand toward right. The person behind this last person is shown to hold up his fist towards right like Hairy does to the left. The sign shows a Crocs shoe in a circle with a strike through it going above the Crocs from top left to bottom right. The front of the right group consist of Megan holding both her arms over her head hands folded into fist while looking towards left, Cueball holding a sign, using both hands, towards the right and up above Ponytails head, she is raising one hand in a fist to the left and finally a bald guy with glasses is brandishing a short sword in one hand toward right while holding his other hand palm up. The sign has three similar words written beneath each other.]<br />
:Left: Fashion Police<br />
:Right: Grammar Police<br />
:Sign:<br />
::Their<br />
::They're<br />
::There<br />
<br />
:[Below the two groups are eight points with bullets:]<br />
:*Judgmental and smug<br />
:*Angry about something deeply arbitrary<br />
:*Strong opinions backed by style guides<br />
:*Appreciate that the way that you are interpreted ''is'' your responsibility<br />
:*Understand that there's no way to "opt out" of sending messages by how you present yourself, and attempts to do so send strong messages of their own<br />
:*To seem cool and casual, pretend to ignore them while understanding them very well<br />
:*Vindictive about things that are often uncomfortably transparent proxies for race or social class<br />
:*Fun to cheer on until one of them disagrees with you<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:I just realized these are literally the same people<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:Portmanteau]]</div>MAP