https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=PotatoGod&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-28T12:55:19ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2911:_Greenland_Size&diff=338167Talk:2911: Greenland Size2024-03-25T22:37:15Z<p>PotatoGod: </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 />
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Anyone else really wanting to know the radius for which the title text is true? I got [[356]]'d<br />
[[User:Rxy|Rxy]] ([[User talk:Rxy|talk]]) 20:28, 25 March 2024 (UTC)<br />
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New life goal: Go to the poles, find the ring that is mapped to-scale, and color it. Require all satellite maps to be modified to add this stripe of color. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 22:37, 25 March 2024 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2887:_Minnesota&diff=333835Talk:2887: Minnesota2024-01-30T05:50:22Z<p>PotatoGod: Another question</p>
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Does NGS's request about "supple" have to be "rather than" commenting on the data? It could be in addition to it. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:38, 29 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
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Where do I find the latitude and longitude gain or loss of arbitrary points not relative to the African Plate but to the rotation axis and whatever is the official longitude? Does the official prime meridian move every time the European plate moves or is it fixed to Greenwich Observatory? {{unsigned|Oxygen|19:46, 29 January 2024}}<br />
:Based on {{w|IERS Reference Meridian}} article, I think I can answer that with definitive "maybe". I mean, it's not fixed to Greenwich (is actually 100m apart of it) but I wasn't able to decipher what exactly they are doing regarding tectonic shifts, just that they were thinking about it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 20:39, 29 January 2024 (UTC)<br />
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Personally, my go-to "other question" is "what is the square root of pi?". Tends to get a fun mix of answers. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 05:50, 30 January 2024 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2842:_Inspiraling_Roundabout&diff=326198Talk:2842: Inspiraling Roundabout2023-10-17T14:37:11Z<p>PotatoGod: Repetition fix</p>
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First edit. I'm unfamiliar with the road rules in the comic so I just added the transcript in it's most basic form. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 02:00, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:don't worry, even a wrong explanation is better than no explanation because it tricks people into being correct for you [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]]<sup>&#91;[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]&#93;[[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]]</sup> 03:15, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
: New here, not sure of the procedure for discussing interpretation: I disagree with the interpretation that this is navigable by entering all the way into the center then driving out in a clockwise direction - that would be driving against traffic, which would be illegal and seem to violate the assertion that this is "technically navigable" (anything is "technically navigable" if you have a big enough vehicle and disregard for other people's property, but I'm assuming that we want to stay legal). I believe that the "correct way" to navigate this would be to signal and change to the right-lane until you get to your exit. The inward spiral may give cars a circuit or two to wait for a clear lane to the right, but the deeper you get, the faster you have to change lanes to get out again? --[[User:Candu|Candu]] ([[User talk:Candu|talk]]) 14:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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added longer explanation [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]]<sup>&#91;[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]&#93;[[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]]</sup> 03:05, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Could we create a category for these "traffic" or "driving" related comics? This would include this comic and the previous, and others that relate to driving/cars/traffic. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.37|172.70.211.37]] 04:02, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
in left lane driving countries this would work pretty well as a roundabout<br />
<br />
I've heard the Spanish and British road authorities are planing to implement this for roads going to France. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.144|172.64.236.144]] 06:39, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Actually, the correct solution is an out-spiraling roundabout, which if properly designed means that if you start in the correct lane, you end up at the correct exit without changing lanes. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Well if it spiralled the other way it would be a great roundabout design.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.28|162.158.203.28]] 08:14, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Out-spiraling roundabouts are getting more popular in the UK - they recently repainted the Wandsworth Bridge Roundabout as an out-spiral, and it's gone from one being one of the worst roundabouts in the area to one of the best. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.153|172.70.90.153]] 10:04, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
About driving in circles for hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 11:32, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uzumaki??? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.99|172.71.22.99]] 12:24, 17 October 2023 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
<br />
I think the author of the explanation completely misunderstood the design. This is the turbo roundabout, except instead of getting everybody out it pulls everybody into the center, just like the highway supercollider from early xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.239|172.70.242.239]] 12:29, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Alternative ending/version - there is a singularity at the center of the roundabout [[User:Dllahr|Dllahr]] ([[User talk:Dllahr|talk]]) 12:42, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Magic Roundabouts ==<br />
<br />
See these two "unusual" roundabouts in England<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Hemel_Hempstead)<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)<br />
<br />
Actually, they are (no longer) roundabouts, but Ring Junctions. Effectively mini Ring Roads. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In France at least this design would not create any conundrum because roundabout rules are clearly stated and independent of ground markings. It could still be somewhat confusing.<br />
<br />
<br />
I think the explanation as currently written is way overcomplicating the situation, it seems clear to me that this roundabout is designed (much like in the recent comic #[[2728]]), to require lane changes for some paths, and the inward spiral is simply to guide anyone that's indecisive or otherwise missing their exist out of the way of other drivers, and forcing them to make a decision rather than circling indefinitely to avoid a collision. The current description of having you go backwards out the spiral after reaching the end seems ridiculously over complicated and doesn't match any of the design elements of the path. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 14:36, 17 October 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2842:_Inspiraling_Roundabout&diff=326196Talk:2842: Inspiraling Roundabout2023-10-17T14:36:14Z<p>PotatoGod: Forgot to sign</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 />
First edit. I'm unfamiliar with the road rules in the comic so I just added the transcript in it's most basic form. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 02:00, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
:don't worry, even a wrong explanation is better than no explanation because it tricks people into being correct for you [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]]<sup>&#91;[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]&#93;[[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]]</sup> 03:15, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
added longer explanation [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]]<sup>&#91;[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]&#93;[[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]]</sup> 03:05, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could we create a category for these "traffic" or "driving" related comics? This would include this comic and the previous, and others that relate to driving/cars/traffic. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.37|172.70.211.37]] 04:02, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
in left lane driving countries this would work pretty well as a roundabout<br />
<br />
I've heard the Spanish and British road authorities are planing to implement this for roads going to France. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.144|172.64.236.144]] 06:39, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Actually, the correct solution is an out-spiraling roundabout, which if properly designed means that if you start in the correct lane, you end up at the correct exit without changing lanes. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Well if it spiralled the other way it would be a great roundabout design.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.28|162.158.203.28]] 08:14, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Out-spiraling roundabouts are getting more popular in the UK - they recently repainted the Wandsworth Bridge Roundabout as an out-spiral, and it's gone from one being one of the worst roundabouts in the area to one of the best. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.153|172.70.90.153]] 10:04, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
About driving in circles for hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 11:32, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uzumaki??? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.99|172.71.22.99]] 12:24, 17 October 2023 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
<br />
I think the author of the explanation completely misunderstood the design. This is the turbo roundabout, except instead of getting everybody out it pulls everybody into the center, just like the highway supercollider from early xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.239|172.70.242.239]] 12:29, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Alternative ending/version - there is a singularity at the center of the roundabout [[User:Dllahr|Dllahr]] ([[User talk:Dllahr|talk]]) 12:42, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Magic Roundabouts ==<br />
<br />
See these two "unusual" roundabouts in England<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Hemel_Hempstead)<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)<br />
<br />
Actually, they are (no longer) roundabouts, but Ring Junctions. Effectively mini Ring Roads. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In France at least this design would not create any conundrum because roundabout rules are clearly stated and independent of ground markings. It could still be somewhat confusing.<br />
<br />
<br />
I think the explanation as currently written is way overcomplicating the situation, it seems clear to me that this roundabout is designed to require (much as in the recent comic #[[2728]]), the design is intended to require lane changes for some paths, and the inward spiral is simply to guide anyone that's indecisive or otherwise missing their exist out of the way of other drivers, and forcing them to make a decision rather than circling indefinitely to avoid a collision. The current description of having you go backwards out the spiral after reaching the end seems ridiculously over complicated and doesn't match any of the design elements of the path. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 14:36, 17 October 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2842:_Inspiraling_Roundabout&diff=326195Talk:2842: Inspiraling Roundabout2023-10-17T14:35:47Z<p>PotatoGod: Propose a much more sensible interpretation of correct use</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 />
First edit. I'm unfamiliar with the road rules in the comic so I just added the transcript in it's most basic form. [[User:OmniDoom|OmniDoom]] ([[User talk:OmniDoom|talk]]) 02:00, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
:don't worry, even a wrong explanation is better than no explanation because it tricks people into being correct for you [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]]<sup>&#91;[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]&#93;[[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]]</sup> 03:15, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
added longer explanation [[User:Certified_nqh|Me]]<sup>&#91;[[285: Wikipedian Protester|''citation needed'']]&#93;[[Category:Pages using the "citation needed" template]]</sup> 03:05, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Could we create a category for these "traffic" or "driving" related comics? This would include this comic and the previous, and others that relate to driving/cars/traffic. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.211.37|172.70.211.37]] 04:02, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
in left lane driving countries this would work pretty well as a roundabout<br />
<br />
I've heard the Spanish and British road authorities are planing to implement this for roads going to France. [[Special:Contributions/172.64.236.144|172.64.236.144]] 06:39, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Actually, the correct solution is an out-spiraling roundabout, which if properly designed means that if you start in the correct lane, you end up at the correct exit without changing lanes. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Well if it spiralled the other way it would be a great roundabout design.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.203.28|162.158.203.28]] 08:14, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Out-spiraling roundabouts are getting more popular in the UK - they recently repainted the Wandsworth Bridge Roundabout as an out-spiral, and it's gone from one being one of the worst roundabouts in the area to one of the best. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.153|172.70.90.153]] 10:04, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
About driving in circles for hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc --[[User:Itub|Itub]] ([[User talk:Itub|talk]]) 11:32, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uzumaki??? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.99|172.71.22.99]] 12:24, 17 October 2023 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
<br />
I think the author of the explanation completely misunderstood the design. This is the turbo roundabout, except instead of getting everybody out it pulls everybody into the center, just like the highway supercollider from early xkcd. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.242.239|172.70.242.239]] 12:29, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Alternative ending/version - there is a singularity at the center of the roundabout [[User:Dllahr|Dllahr]] ([[User talk:Dllahr|talk]]) 12:42, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Magic Roundabouts ==<br />
<br />
See these two "unusual" roundabouts in England<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Hemel_Hempstead)<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)<br />
<br />
Actually, they are (no longer) roundabouts, but Ring Junctions. Effectively mini Ring Roads. [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 07:37, 17 October 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In France at least this design would not create any conundrum because roundabout rules are clearly stated and independent of ground markings. It could still be somewhat confusing.<br />
<br />
<br />
I think the explanation as currently written is way overcomplicating the situation, it seems clear to me that this roundabout is designed to require (much as in the recent comic #[[2728]]), the design is intended to require lane changes for some paths, and the inward spiral is simply to guide anyone that's indecisive or otherwise missing their exist out of the way of other drivers, and forcing them to make a decision rather than circling indefinitely to avoid a collision. The current description of having you go backwards out the spiral after reaching the end seems ridiculously over complicated and doesn't match any of the design elements of the path.</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2126:_Google_Trends_Maps&diff=3241792126: Google Trends Maps2023-09-22T05:07:41Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Explanation */ point out reference to 1845, make fun of Florida</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2126<br />
| date = March 20, 2019<br />
| title = Google Trends Maps<br />
| image = google_trends_maps.png<br />
| titletext = It's early 2020. The entire country is gripped with Marco Rubio fever except for Alaska, which is freaking out. You're frantically studying up on etiquette and/or sexting.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Google Trends}} is a website for visualizing {{w|Google}} search activity by date and region. Used properly, it can give a picture of what topics people are interested in (as evidenced by what they search for) at particular times and in different places. Used improperly, it can simply [[1845:_State Word Map|amplify random noise]].<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] has created several Google Trends maps of search activity in the US. Each map colors in states according to which of two (or more) search queries was more popular. As noted at the top of the comic, all of these based on real queries (though not reflecting the same time period across all maps). However, none of them seem to show any especially ''useful'' comparisons. States in gray did not return enough data for Google Trends to consider it significant.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Frostbite</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">heat stroke</span>":''' This is probably the most sensible comparison of the lot, showing which of these two risks of exposure people search up more often. However, the results are fairly obvious: in the colder northern and eastern states, "{{w|frostbite}}" is the more common search, while across the south and west, it's "{{w|heat stroke}}". In the map, a tiny part of North Carolina (specifically on the Outer Banks) is miscolored red compared to the rest of the state being blue.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Best church</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">best strip club</span>":''' This map would seem to indicate people in Nevada (and only in Nevada) are more interested in strip clubs than religion. This may have something to do with the fact that Las Vegas is in Nevada.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Bigfoot</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">Mike Pence</span>":''' Apparently, everywhere except for Indiana, people in the US are more interested in a mythical hairy creature than in the current (at the time of this comic's release) Vice President of the United States. Since {{w|Mike Pence}} was once the governor of Indiana, this makes more sense if the time period covered precedes his nomination as Trump's running mate.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Etiquette</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">sexting</span>":''' Similar to the church/strip club example, this map contrasts search interest in polite behavior (etiquette) against risqué behavior ({{w|sexting}}).<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Little dog</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">big cat</span>":''' The Trend map contrasts two searches for either oddly-sized pets (in particular, "little dog" probably refers to small domestic dog breeds such as the {{w|Chihuahua}}; "big cat" could refer to large domestic cat breeds such as the Maine Coone, but is somewhat more likely to refer to large wildcat species) or unidentified and briefly glimpsed wildlife that often snatch household pets left outside. The smallest canid in the wilds of America is the kit fox, ''Vulpes macrotis'', which is smaller than the American wild dog, ''Canis lupus familiaris''. By contrast, "big cat" is a term for the largest members of the cat family (''Felidae''). Except for the jaguar, which is a roaring cat of the ''Panthera'' genus that inhabits Mexico and sometimes Arizona, the largest wild cat in North America is the mountain lion, ''Puma concolor''. It is also known as cougar, puma, catamount, ghost cat, over seventy other regional names, and the misnomer panther. (The cougar is ironically of the Felinae subfamily, all of which purr, and not Pantherinae, which roar. Black panthers in Africa are black-coated leopards, while black panthers in the Americas are black-coated jaguars, and both are Pantherinae. No black-coated pumas have been verified, leading zoologists to believe such sightings are misidentified.) "Little Dog" is also a Canadian television series, set in Newfoundland and Labrador, which explains the larger number of searches for Little Dog in Maine, the state closest to Newfoundland and Labrador. Interestingly, there mainly seems to be an inverse relationship between the range of coyotes and cougars and the respective searches.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Shark attack</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">childbirth</span>":''' While both of these things might be considered risky, there is not much of a relationship between them. As might be expected, the "shark attack" search is more common in most coastal states (and, for some reason, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Nevada, despite being landlocked). Just like Frostbite vs. heat stroke, a tiny part of North Carolina is miscoloured.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Snakes</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">ants</span>" vs "<span style="color:#e3bc65">bees</span>" vs "<span style="color:#9dc89f">alligators</span>":''' These are all dangerous animals that cause occasional human fatalities (mainly from allergic reactions for ants and bees). There is no noticeable pattern in which animal is searched most often, though only Florida has alligators as the most common search of the four. Florida presumably has Alligators as the most searched item on this list as it is where the Everglades are located, a vast area of swamp and marsh that, aside from maintaining the ecosystem and the water supply of Florida, also is home to an obscene number of alligators. This may also be a reference to comic #[[1845]], as Randall yet again chose a map embedding that draws attention to (and arguably makes fun of) Florida. The search volume for bees in Utah may be erroneous because Salt Lake City is home to the minor league baseball team "The Bees" and thus Utah would have a large number of searches looking for the baseball team rather than the animal.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Retirement planning</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">bungee jumping</span>":''' The implication here is that people in some states are more concerned with short-term fun rather than long-term planning. The contrast is more striking since {{w|bungee jumping}} is a potentially dangerous activity and people practicing it might be seen as likely to die young enough not to need a retirement plan. Bungee jumping is actually a quite safe activity, due to most operators following rigorous safety procedures, but habitual thrill-seekers may then end up putting themselves at greater risks in other ways.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Super Bowl</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">funeral home</span>":''' This is an attempt to contrast interest in a popular sports (and media) event against a rather somber topic.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Resume tips</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">skateboard tricks</span>":''' Another comparison between learning a "serious", goal-oriented skill (career advancement) and a "silly", fun skill (skateboarding). It is also an imperfect rhyme. Interestingly, of the states with enough data for a result, only Arizona had more hits for "skateboard tricks".<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Donald Trump</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">What do I do</span>":''' The implication here seems to be that people in some states are more likely to ask Google "what do I do?", either in panic or in ignorance, than they are to look up the latest doings of the US President. The split shown is not too different from the actual split between states voting for [[Donald Trump]] and for his opponent, {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, with those voting ''against'' Donald Trump being more likely to search for him.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Existential crisis</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">Marco Rubio</span>":''' Senator {{w|Marco Rubio}} was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Everywhere but Alaska, people were more likely to look up his name than to search for "existential crisis". This may be due to {{w|Cabin Fever}}, which is common in Alaska due to the long, dark winters and frequent isolation.<br />
<br />
The title text uses two of these maps to paint a picture of the year 2020 (implying that these search patterns are both meaningful and likely to continue into the future). In this scenario, most of the country continues to read about Marco Rubio (except for Alaskans, still searching for help with their existential crises), and individuals are trying to learn about etiquette, sexting, or both, depending on their location.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:The least informative<br />
:'''Google Trends Maps'''<br />
:I've created over the years<br />
<br />
:(All are real but not all cover the same date range)<br />
<br />
:[12 maps of the United States are shown with the states colored. There are labels for the colors.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 1]<br />
:[Blue:] Frostbite<br />
:[Red:] Heat stroke<br />
:[Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington are red. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 2]<br />
:[Blue:] Best church<br />
:[Red:] Best strip club<br />
:[Nevada is red. Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming are gray. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 3]<br />
:[Blue:] Bigfoot<br />
:[Red:] Mike Pence<br />
:[Indiana is red. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 4]<br />
:[Blue:] Etiquette<br />
:[Red:] Sexting<br />
:[Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia are red. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 5]<br />
:[Blue:] Little dog<br />
:[Red:] Big cat<br />
:[Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 6]<br />
:[Blue:] Shark attack<br />
:[Red:] Childbirth<br />
:[California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 7]<br />
:[Blue:] Snakes<br />
:[Red:] Ants<br />
:[Yellow:] Bees<br />
:[Green:] Alligators<br />
:[Florida is green. Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are red. Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming are yellow. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 8]<br />
:[Blue:] Retirement planning<br />
:[Red:] Bungee jumping<br />
:[Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming are gray. Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 9]<br />
:[Blue:] Super Bowl<br />
:[Red:] Funeral home<br />
:[Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Washington are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 10]<br />
:[Blue:] Resume tips<br />
:[Red:] Skateboard tricks<br />
:[Arizona is red. Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming are gray. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 11]<br />
:[Blue:] Donald Trump<br />
:[Red:] What do I do<br />
:[California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 12]<br />
:[Blue:] Existential crisis<br />
:[Red:] Marco Rubio<br />
:[Alaska is blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:US maps]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:Ants]]<br />
[[Category:Bees]]<br />
[[Category:Sharks]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]<br />
[[Category:Google Search]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2126:_Google_Trends_Maps&diff=3241782126: Google Trends Maps2023-09-22T05:02:34Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Explanation */ Clarifying that states voting for Donald Trump aren't the ones searching for him.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2126<br />
| date = March 20, 2019<br />
| title = Google Trends Maps<br />
| image = google_trends_maps.png<br />
| titletext = It's early 2020. The entire country is gripped with Marco Rubio fever except for Alaska, which is freaking out. You're frantically studying up on etiquette and/or sexting.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Google Trends}} is a website for visualizing {{w|Google}} search activity by date and region. Used properly, it can give a picture of what topics people are interested in (as evidenced by what they search for) at particular times and in different places. Used improperly, it can simply [[1845:_State Word Map|amplify random noise]].<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] has created several Google Trends maps of search activity in the US. Each map colors in states according to which of two (or more) search queries was more popular. As noted at the top of the comic, all of these based on real queries (though not reflecting the same time period across all maps). However, none of them seem to show any especially ''useful'' comparisons. States in gray did not return enough data for Google Trends to consider it significant.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Frostbite</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">heat stroke</span>":''' This is probably the most sensible comparison of the lot, showing which of these two risks of exposure people search up more often. However, the results are fairly obvious: in the colder northern and eastern states, "{{w|frostbite}}" is the more common search, while across the south and west, it's "{{w|heat stroke}}". In the map, a tiny part of North Carolina (specifically on the Outer Banks) is miscolored red compared to the rest of the state being blue.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Best church</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">best strip club</span>":''' This map would seem to indicate people in Nevada (and only in Nevada) are more interested in strip clubs than religion. This may have something to do with the fact that Las Vegas is in Nevada.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Bigfoot</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">Mike Pence</span>":''' Apparently, everywhere except for Indiana, people in the US are more interested in a mythical hairy creature than in the current (at the time of this comic's release) Vice President of the United States. Since {{w|Mike Pence}} was once the governor of Indiana, this makes more sense if the time period covered precedes his nomination as Trump's running mate.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Etiquette</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">sexting</span>":''' Similar to the church/strip club example, this map contrasts search interest in polite behavior (etiquette) against risqué behavior ({{w|sexting}}).<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Little dog</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">big cat</span>":''' The Trend map contrasts two searches for either oddly-sized pets (in particular, "little dog" probably refers to small domestic dog breeds such as the {{w|Chihuahua}}; "big cat" could refer to large domestic cat breeds such as the Maine Coone, but is somewhat more likely to refer to large wildcat species) or unidentified and briefly glimpsed wildlife that often snatch household pets left outside. The smallest canid in the wilds of America is the kit fox, ''Vulpes macrotis'', which is smaller than the American wild dog, ''Canis lupus familiaris''. By contrast, "big cat" is a term for the largest members of the cat family (''Felidae''). Except for the jaguar, which is a roaring cat of the ''Panthera'' genus that inhabits Mexico and sometimes Arizona, the largest wild cat in North America is the mountain lion, ''Puma concolor''. It is also known as cougar, puma, catamount, ghost cat, over seventy other regional names, and the misnomer panther. (The cougar is ironically of the Felinae subfamily, all of which purr, and not Pantherinae, which roar. Black panthers in Africa are black-coated leopards, while black panthers in the Americas are black-coated jaguars, and both are Pantherinae. No black-coated pumas have been verified, leading zoologists to believe such sightings are misidentified.) "Little Dog" is also a Canadian television series, set in Newfoundland and Labrador, which explains the larger number of searches for Little Dog in Maine, the state closest to Newfoundland and Labrador. Interestingly, there mainly seems to be an inverse relationship between the range of coyotes and cougars and the respective searches.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Shark attack</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">childbirth</span>":''' While both of these things might be considered risky, there is not much of a relationship between them. As might be expected, the "shark attack" search is more common in most coastal states (and, for some reason, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Nevada, despite being landlocked). Just like Frostbite vs. heat stroke, a tiny part of North Carolina is miscoloured.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Snakes</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">ants</span>" vs "<span style="color:#e3bc65">bees</span>" vs "<span style="color:#9dc89f">alligators</span>":''' These are all dangerous animals that cause occasional human fatalities (mainly from allergic reactions for ants and bees). There is no noticeable pattern in which animal is searched most often, though only Florida has alligators as the most common search of the four. Florida presumably has Alligators as the most searched item on this list as it is where the Everglades are located, a vast area of swamp and marsh that, aside from maintaining the ecosystem and the water supply of Florida, also is home to an obscene number of alligators. The search volume for bees in Utah may be erroneous because Salt Lake City is home to the minor league baseball team "The Bees" and thus Utah would have a large number of searches looking for the baseball team rather than the animal.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Retirement planning</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">bungee jumping</span>":''' The implication here is that people in some states are more concerned with short-term fun rather than long-term planning. The contrast is more striking since {{w|bungee jumping}} is a potentially dangerous activity and people practicing it might be seen as likely to die young enough not to need a retirement plan. Bungee jumping is actually a quite safe activity, due to most operators following rigorous safety procedures, but habitual thrill-seekers may then end up putting themselves at greater risks in other ways.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Super Bowl</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">funeral home</span>":''' This is an attempt to contrast interest in a popular sports (and media) event against a rather somber topic.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Resume tips</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">skateboard tricks</span>":''' Another comparison between learning a "serious", goal-oriented skill (career advancement) and a "silly", fun skill (skateboarding). It is also an imperfect rhyme. Interestingly, of the states with enough data for a result, only Arizona had more hits for "skateboard tricks".<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Donald Trump</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">What do I do</span>":''' The implication here seems to be that people in some states are more likely to ask Google "what do I do?", either in panic or in ignorance, than they are to look up the latest doings of the US President. The split shown is not too different from the actual split between states voting for [[Donald Trump]] and for his opponent, {{w|Hillary Clinton}}, with those voting ''against'' Donald Trump being more likely to search for him.<br />
<br />
* '''"<span style="color:#4988f1">Existential crisis</span>" vs "<span style="color:#d55c52">Marco Rubio</span>":''' Senator {{w|Marco Rubio}} was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Everywhere but Alaska, people were more likely to look up his name than to search for "existential crisis". This may be due to {{w|Cabin Fever}}, which is common in Alaska due to the long, dark winters and frequent isolation.<br />
<br />
The title text uses two of these maps to paint a picture of the year 2020 (implying that these search patterns are both meaningful and likely to continue into the future). In this scenario, most of the country continues to read about Marco Rubio (except for Alaskans, still searching for help with their existential crises), and individuals are trying to learn about etiquette, sexting, or both, depending on their location.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:The least informative<br />
:'''Google Trends Maps'''<br />
:I've created over the years<br />
<br />
:(All are real but not all cover the same date range)<br />
<br />
:[12 maps of the United States are shown with the states colored. There are labels for the colors.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 1]<br />
:[Blue:] Frostbite<br />
:[Red:] Heat stroke<br />
:[Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington are red. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 2]<br />
:[Blue:] Best church<br />
:[Red:] Best strip club<br />
:[Nevada is red. Alaska, North Dakota, and Wyoming are gray. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 3]<br />
:[Blue:] Bigfoot<br />
:[Red:] Mike Pence<br />
:[Indiana is red. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 4]<br />
:[Blue:] Etiquette<br />
:[Red:] Sexting<br />
:[Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia are red. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 5]<br />
:[Blue:] Little dog<br />
:[Red:] Big cat<br />
:[Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 6]<br />
:[Blue:] Shark attack<br />
:[Red:] Childbirth<br />
:[California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 7]<br />
:[Blue:] Snakes<br />
:[Red:] Ants<br />
:[Yellow:] Bees<br />
:[Green:] Alligators<br />
:[Florida is green. Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are red. Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wyoming are yellow. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 8]<br />
:[Blue:] Retirement planning<br />
:[Red:] Bungee jumping<br />
:[Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming are gray. Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 9]<br />
:[Blue:] Super Bowl<br />
:[Red:] Funeral home<br />
:[Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Washington are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 10]<br />
:[Blue:] Resume tips<br />
:[Red:] Skateboard tricks<br />
:[Arizona is red. Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming are gray. All other states are blue.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 11]<br />
:[Blue:] Donald Trump<br />
:[Red:] What do I do<br />
:[California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin are blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
:[Map 12]<br />
:[Blue:] Existential crisis<br />
:[Red:] Marco Rubio<br />
:[Alaska is blue. All other states are red.]<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:US maps]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:Ants]]<br />
[[Category:Bees]]<br />
[[Category:Sharks]]<br />
[[Category:Politics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]]<br />
[[Category:Google Search]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2824:_Abstract_Pickup&diff=323419Talk:2824: Abstract Pickup2023-09-06T23:00:35Z<p>PotatoGod: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
... nobody has anything to say? -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 02:34, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
: self explanatory [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.144|172.69.22.144]] 02:54, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
: we just dont like pickup artists, not much more to say - [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 03:01, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: I do: I think it is weird it is White Hat who performs the pickup-artistry on the abstract painting. Given the character traits, shouldn't we expect Black Hat? --[[Special:Contributions/172.64.238.101|172.64.238.101]] 12:52, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
:: I get the impression that, while Black Hat has terrifying and misanthropic tendencies, mere pickup artistry is beneath him. He is, after all, a ''classhole''. I think White Hat (also rarely a sympathetic character) is being used because the casual jerkiness and disrespect (even in a slightly surreal scenario) would cheapen Black Hat's brand.[[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 15:03, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
::(Got an Edit Conflict with Fred, above, who seems to have said much of what I do, below but snappier..! But resubmitting mine anyway.) I can't see Black Hat trying to ''neg a painting''. And though BH's SO is notably familiar with and skillful in negging, I don't see it as being BH's MO. Even to make people's life a misery (and it seems a different kind of misery-making thing to nerdsniping or otherwise messing with everyone's heads... somewhat ''too'' personal, at least when not already personally provoked by the target of his actions).<br />
::I'm less clear in my head about whether it's actually a White Hat thing, as I don't relate so much to him in any clear way (even as a counter-example), but I think it's his kind of equivalent to White Beret's misunderstanding of the 'sciences' (the whole gamut of soft-to-hard, from how to conduct a businesses to quantum effects), but in the field of the 'arts' or otherwise performance-related fields. (I really must check WH's profile/prior comics, to refresh my opinion on him, see if I'm remembering his general role in xkcd correctly enough.)<br />
::In short, though the negging might be thought to deserve to 'dark-shade' the hat of the character, a little, it's actually a victimless aggression (against an abstract target, in more ways than one, which cannot suffer ill effects from any of this verbal psychdrama) and overwhelmingly it's a basic misunderstanding incarnated into an odd (but not 'impossible') behaviour. In neither BH nor WB 'territories' of wrongness. But I could perhaps imagine seeing a generic Cueball doing it, however, or even Rob in his odder moments... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.2|172.70.85.2]] 15:13, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::Sounds like we need a grey hat character...[[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.151|172.69.70.151]] 16:26, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
: I suspect the US holiday on Monday had a large portion of editors busy with festivities. Editing will likely pickup today! (See what I did there?) [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 12:54, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Should we add a "pickup artist" category? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.217|108.162.241.217]] 15:57, 5 September 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I too aspire to be a cute dizzying swarm [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 23:00, 6 September 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2823:_Fossil&diff=323143Talk:2823: Fossil2023-09-02T07:53:20Z<p>PotatoGod: Boop!</p>
<hr />
<div>Boop! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:53, 2 September 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=User:PotatoGod&diff=321106User:PotatoGod2023-08-18T01:50:51Z<p>PotatoGod: Got tired of the red links</p>
<hr />
<div>Hi. Potato.</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:741:_Blogging&diff=321105Talk:741: Blogging2023-08-18T01:50:13Z<p>PotatoGod: Viral eye transplant</p>
<hr />
<div>This explanation seems backwards to me. As I see it, on the literal level the audience member is focused only on content, however, they don't actually get any content from Cueball. Instead, a small reporté is build between the two, which makes the audience member happy with whatever arbitrary content Cueball promises.--[[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.163|108.162.238.163]] 14:10, 28 July 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
You mean "rapport"? Fixed the explanation[[Special:Contributions/172.68.79.81|172.68.79.81]] 20:15, 13 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The viral nature of eyeball harvesting could also be referencing the fact that once your eyes are harvested, you'll be inclined to recruit others to the service, as you now are in need of eyes to transplant! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 01:50, 18 August 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1537:_Types&diff=3208461537: Types2023-08-14T17:33:35Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Explanation */ Clarify how unrecognized html color codes are interpreted</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1537<br />
| date = June 12, 2015<br />
| title = Types<br />
| image = types.png<br />
| titletext = colors.rgb("blue") yields "#0000FF". colors.rgb("yellowish blue") yields NaN. colors.sort() yields "rainbow"<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic is a series of programming jokes about a ridiculous new programming language, perhaps inspired by {{w|Mathematica}} and {{w|Wolfram Language}} — the latter was used by [[Randall]] many times before. Maybe it's also inspired by [https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat Gary Bernhardt's CodeMash 2012 lightning talk] on JavaScript's unpredictable typing. In the talk, the highly technical audience was unable to correctly guess the results of adding various JavaScript types and roared with laughter when they were revealed. The programming language shown in this comic has types even more unpredictable than JavaScript.<br />
<br />
Most regular programming languages distinguish types, e.g. integers, strings, lists… all of which have different behaviours. But for instance, the operation "+" is usually conventionally defined over more than one of these types. Applied to two integers, it returns their sum. Applied to two strings (denoted by being enclosed in quotes) it concatenates them:<br />
<br />
<pre>> 2 + 3<br />
5<br />
<br />
> "123" + "abc"<br />
"123abc"</pre><br />
<br />
While these behaviours are standard, conventional, and intuitive, there is a huge amount of variation among programming languages when you apply an operation like "+" to different types. One logical approach is to always return an error in all cases of type mixing, but it is often practical to allow some case mixing, since it can hugely simplify expressions. Variation and lack of a clearly more intuitive behaviour leads some languages to have weird results when you mix types.<br />
<br />
Weird results abound in the new XKCD programming language:<br />
# <code>2 + "2"</code> uses the <code>+</code> operator on a number and a string. In some programming languages, this might result in the number <code>4</code> in math addition, or <code>"22"</code> in string concatenation; however, the new language converts the string to an integer, adds them to produce <code>4</code> and converts back to a string. Alternatively, it may instead be adding 2 to the ASCII value of the character <code>"2"</code> (50), resulting in the character <code>"4"</code> (52). This is (somewhat) consistent with the behavior for item 4.<br />
# <code>"2" + []</code> adds a string to an array or list. This first inexplicably converts the string to a number again, and then it literally adds the number to the list by prepending it. And then the result (the entire array) is converted to a string again. (Possibly, this is meant to be read as 'adding brackets to the string "2" produces the string "[2]"?')<br />
# <code>(2/0)</code> divides <code>2</code> by <code>0</code> and quite reasonably results in <code>NaN</code>, meaning "Not a Number", though in most languages, as prescribed by the IEEE 754 standard for floating point numbers, dividing a nonzero number by zero would instead return an infinity value.<br />
# <code>(2/0)+2</code> adds <code>2</code> to <code>NaN</code>. <code>2</code> Is "added" to the string <code>"NaN"</code> as again, the number is converted to a string for apparently no reason, which produces <code>"NaP"</code>. If the language's convention is to add to the ASCII value of a character or string, then in this case it added 2 to the character <code>"N"</code> (78), resulting in <code>"P"</code> (80). How the string "NaP" is converted into a bare NaP with undefined meaning is not clear. It is possible the "NaP" means "Not a Positive" as opposed to "Not a Negative". It could also mean "Not a Prayer", as you're taking a "NaN" condition and trying to do more with it.<br />
# <code>""+""</code>: In many languages, two consecutive double-quote characters denote an empty string, so this expression would concatenate two empty strings, resulting in an empty string. However, it appears that this language treats only the outermost quotes of the expression as the string boundary, so all of the characters between them become part of the literal string, producing '<code>"+"</code>' (In many programming languages, you can use both <code>"</code> or <code>'</code> to delimit strings and both behave similarly if not identical). Alternately, these two consecutive double quotes may be treated similarly to the way that consecutive single quotes are treated in a SQL string, with the first quote escaping the 2nd. This would result in a string that contains the value <code>"+"</code>. It is also possible to read this expression as <code>'"'+'"'</code>, which would usually be <code>'""'</code>.<br />
# <code>[1,2,3]+2</code> seems to test whether it's sound to append <code>2</code> to the list <code>[1,2,3]</code>, and concludes that it doesn't fit the pattern, returning the boolean value <code>false</code>. It could conceivably also be the result of an attempt to add <code>2</code> to the ''set'' <code>[1,2,3]</code>, which already contains that element (although <code>{1,2,3}</code> would be a more common notation for sets).<br />
# <code>[1,2,3]+4</code> returns <code>true</code> for much the same reason.<br />
# <code>2/(2-(3/2+1/2))</code> is a floating point joke. Floating point numbers are notoriously imprecise. With precise mathematics, <code>(3/2+1/2)</code> would be exactly 2, hence the entire thing would evaluate to <code>2/0</code> or <code>NaN</code> in Randall's new language. However, the result of <code>(3/2+1/2)</code> is "just slightly off," which makes the result "just slightly off" of <code>NaN</code>, which would be ridiculous in a real language. The ironic thing is that fractions with 2 in the denominator are ''not'' the kind of numbers that typically suffer from floating point imprecision. Additionally, if there had indeed been a rounding error, the actual calculation would become something like <code>2/0.000000000000013</code>, which should not return a <code>NaN</code> since it is not division by zero. It is most likely not a coincidence that there are 13 zeros before the "13" at the end of the "decimal".<br />
# <code>RANGE(" ")</code> normally wouldn't make any sense. However, the new language appears to interpret it as ASCII, and in the ASCII table, character #32 is space, #33 is <code>!</code>, and #34 is <code>"</code>. So, instead of interpreting <code>" "</code> as a string, it seems to be interpreted as <code>34, 32, 34</code> (in ASCII), and then <code>range</code> appears to transform this into <code>34, 33, 32, 33, 34</code> (the "ranges" between the numbers), which, interpreted as ASCII, becomes <code>('"','!',' ','!','"')</code>.<br />
# <code>+2</code> adds 2 to the ''line number'', 10, and returns the result, 12.<br />
# <code>2+2</code> would normally be <code>4</code>. However, the interpreter takes this instruction to mean that the user wishes to increase the actual value of the number <code>2</code> (aka the "literal value") by <code>2</code> for the remainder of the program, making it <code>4</code> and then reports that the work is "Done". The result can be seen in the subsequent lines where all <code>2</code>s are replaced by <code>4</code>s. This could be a reference to languages like Fortran where [http://everything2.com/title/Changing+the+value+of+5+in+FORTRAN literals could be assigned new values]. This would normally be <code>2+=2</code>.<br />
#<code>RANGE(1,5)</code> would normally return <code>(1,2,3,4,5)</code>; however, because the value of <code>2</code> has been changed to <code>4</code>, it returns <code>(1,4,3,4,5)</code>. This also affects the line number by changing the "2" in 12 to "4" resulting in the line number 14.<br />
#<code>FLOOR(10.5)</code> should return <code>10</code> (the "floor" of a decimal number is that number rounded down); however, it instead returns {{w|ASCII art}} of the number on a "floor." The floor is also five lines down and ten characters long (if you count the number as part of the floor), making it look like the "10.5" was taken as two separate arguments to the "floor" function. Normally, multiple arguments for a function are separated by commas, not periods. This could be a reference to different decimal notation conventions in different cultures.<br />
<br />
The title text contains three further examples relating to color. <code>color.rgb("blue")</code> returns the hexadecimal code for pure blue (as would be used in HTML, for example), which is how a real programming language might work. The lookup for "yellowish blue" returns "NaN" (Not a Number) again, which makes sense at one level because there is no such color as "yellowish blue" (yellow and blue are opposites on the RGB {{w|color triangle}}, making yellowish-blue an {{w|impossible colour}}, which can only be perceived with great difficulty through contrived figures). However a more typical result would have been a failure indicating that the color database does not include the name, in the same way that a typo such as "bluw" would. (Note that HTML does [http://stackoverflow.com/q/8318911/256431 explicitly attempt] to handle all "color names", though unrecognized ones like "yellowish blue" just interprets them as numbers (with zeros replacing invalid hexadecimal digits). For the record, "yellowish blue" is a dark blue with an imperceptible amount of red — <code style='background-color: #0e00b0; color: white'>#0E00B0</code>.) Similarly sorting the colors would normally produce some defined ordering, such as alphabetical, but in this language it generates the string "rainbow". It seems that Randall's new language understands color theory in an unusually deep way.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Caption above the black part of the comic:]<br />
:My new language is great, but it <br />
:has a few quirks regarding type:<br />
<br />
:[The rest of the comic is written in a black rectangle. All text to the left of ">" is written in gray. Text to the right of the ">" on the lines with numbers are in white, and then gray text on the other lines. There seems to be a missing ">" after line no. 3.]<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[1]> 2+"2"<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=> "4"<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[2]> "2"+[]<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;=> "[2]"<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[3] (2/0)<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > NaN<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[4]> (2/0)+2<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > NaP<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[5]> "" + ""<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > ' "+" '<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[6]> [1,2,3]+2<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > False<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[7]> [1,2,3]+4<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > True<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[8]> 2/(2-(3/2+1/2))<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > NaN.000000000000013<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;[9]> Range("&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;")<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > (' " ',"! "," ","!",' " ')<br />
:[10]> + 2<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > 12<br />
:[11]> 2+2<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > Done<br />
:[14]> Range(1,5)<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > (1,4,3,4,5)<br />
:[13]> Floor(10.5)<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > |<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > |<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > |<br />
:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;= > |_ _ _10.5_ _ _<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*There is an inconsistency in the comic after [3] where the ">" is missing.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:&nbsp;&nbsp;Programming]]<br />
[[Category:&nbsp;&nbsp;Language]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2804:_Marshmallow&diff=3181032804: Marshmallow2023-07-20T05:08:53Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Explanation */ grammar fix</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2804<br />
| date = July 19, 2023<br />
| title = Marshmallow<br />
| image = marshmallow_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 670x334px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = The increasing number of graham crackers and chocolate bars in orbit has created a growing risk of Kessler s'mores.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CELESTIAL S'MORE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows the atmospheric re-entry process of a capsule similar to that used in the Apollo moon landing program in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This capsule features a fictional Reentry Marshmallow Toasting Module, with a marshmallow on a deployable stick, which is exposed to airflow during reentry.<br />
<br />
During reentry, the capsule would presumably be going at orbital speeds, which for Earth are in excess of 8 km/s. This high velocity heats up the air around the capsule as the kinetic energy is dissipated.{{Actual citation needed}} This has the effect of heating the marshmallow. Additionally, reentry heating effects typically look like flames covering the bottom of the reentering object. This is very similar to a common practice on the Earth's surface of holding a marshmallow on a stick over a static fire on the ground, like a campfire, which also heats the marshmallow, improving its taste{{citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
At the start of the panel, the capsule is approaching atmospheric entry, so any aerodynamic forces would not have begun yet. "All systems nominal" is an aerospace phrase that means all systems (including life support, navigation and stability systems) are performing as expected. However, once the atmospheric effects begin then something goes wrong.<br />
<br />
Having a long, thin extension to the airflow will disrupt the aerodynamics, as air starts pushing up against the roasting stick, creating an unbalanced torque that pushes the marshmallow further back into the airflow, rotating the entire capsule. This angular acceleration continues until the aerodynamic design of the rest of the capsule plays a significant factor, rotating the capsule back to its original position, and starting the uncontrollable cycle of oscillations anew. Hence, the astronaut on board reports some oscillations to Houston.<br />
<br />
This prompts the unnamed astronaut to tell his colleague, Smith, to put away the marshmallow roaster. This would clean up the aerodynamic profile and stop the oscillation. This is met with resistance that the marshmallow is not cooked yet. This may be expected, as due to the design of the module, it appears as though the marshmallow has been on the outside of the capsule 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 (approximately -273.15 degrees Celsius, the absolute coldest temperature physically achievable). A very brief moment of shock heating from atmospheric effects may not have bought the marshmallow up to a consumable temperature, or even affected the internals of the marshmallow at all. The goal of roasting marshmallows is often to melt the inside of a marshmallow completely, so if this is still frozen, that defeats the entire purpose of the module.<br />
<br />
Houston is a city in Texas, United States, where Mission Control for NASA is established. Astronauts in space would communicate with "Houston", as the specific person on the other end would vary with which shift was working. These communications are established via radio. During reentry, the superheated air forms a plasma phase and disrupts radio wave signals. Hence, it is doubtful that Mission Control would have received this communication from the capsule, and it is very unlikely Mission Control would have received further updates from the capsule until the reentry process was largely finished. This would make the Mission Control operators very concerned over the success of the reentry.<br />
<br />
The caption for the panel muses that maybe the concept of the module was a mistake, which is a fair assessment given the number of flaws in the design. It would indeed be far better to have ''two'' such units, set upon opposing sides of the module and operated in conjunction, to balance rotational forces. Or even three of them, set 120° apart from each other, perhaps automatically and independently actuated to tune out all ''other'' undesired aerodynamic effects – with the added advantage of simultaneously preparing snacks for all three of the astronauts that typically inhabit an Apollo capsule, not just Smith.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to a popular snack of s'mores, made by placing a marshmallow roasted over a fire with some chocolate between two crackers, similar to a sandwich. It also refers to a problem in rocketry known as Kessler syndrome, where vast amounts of space junk in low earth orbit reduce the chance of successful rocket launches, as new launches may crash into existing space junk, causing a rapid unplanned disassembly. These two concepts are combined in a ridiculous way, whereby instead of space junk, it is Graham crackers and chocolate bars that are polluting space. These, combined with the marshmallow from the toasting module, would create celestial s'mores, a novel and frankly whacky concept, as our space program does not primarily consist of chocolate and Graham crackers.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[as follows, left to right, top to bottom]<br />
:[Capsule begins reentry.]<br />
:Smith: We're approaching atmospheric entry.<br />
:Smith: All systems nominal.<br />
:Fwip<br />
:[Marshmallow roasting rod deployed]<br />
:Smith: Houston, we're experiencing some oscillations. Vehicle is becoming difficult to control.<br />
:Mission control: Smith, retract that stupid arm.<br />
:Smith: No! It's not ready yet!<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:In retrospect, the reentry marshmallow toasting module was a mistake.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2804:_Marshmallow&diff=3181022804: Marshmallow2023-07-20T05:08:24Z<p>PotatoGod: Remove unfounded reference to graham's number</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2804<br />
| date = July 19, 2023<br />
| title = Marshmallow<br />
| image = marshmallow_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 670x334px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = The increasing number of graham crackers and chocolate bars in orbit has created a growing risk of Kessler s'mores.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a CELESTIAL S'MORE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows the atmospheric re-entry process of a capsule similar to that used in the Apollo moon landing program in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This capsule features a fictional Reentry Marshmallow Toasting Module, with a marshmallow on a deployable stick, which is exposed to airflow during reentry.<br />
<br />
During reentry, the capsule would presumably be going at orbital speeds, which for Earth are in excess of 8 km/s. This high velocity heats up the air around the capsule as the kinetic energy is dissipated.{{Actual citation needed}} This has the effect of heating the marshmallow. Additionally, reentry heating effects typically look like flames covering the bottom of the reentering object. This is very similar to a common practice on the Earth's surface of holding a marshmallow on a stick over a static fire on the ground, like a campfire, which also heats the marshmallow, improving its taste{{citation needed}}.<br />
<br />
At the start of the panel, the capsule is approaching atmospheric entry, so any aerodynamic forces would not have begun yet. "All systems nominal" is an aerospace phrase that means all systems (including life support, navigation and stability systems) are performing as expected. However, once the atmospheric effects begin then something goes wrong.<br />
<br />
Having a long, thin extension to the airflow will disrupt the aerodynamics, as air starts pushing up against the roasting stick, creating an unbalanced torque that pushes the marshmallow further back into the airflow, rotating the entire capsule. This angular acceleration continues until the aerodynamic design of the rest of the capsule plays a significant factor, rotating the capsule back to its original position, and starting the uncontrollable cycle of oscillations anew. Hence, the astronaut on board reports some oscillations to Houston.<br />
<br />
This prompts the unnamed astronaut to tell his colleague, Smith, to put away the marshmallow roaster. This would clean up the aerodynamic profile and stop the oscillation. This is met with resistance that the marshmallow is not cooked yet. This may be expected, as due to the design of the module, it appears as though the marshmallow has been on the outside of the capsule 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 (approximately -273.15 degrees Celsius, the absolute coldest temperature physically achievable). A very brief moment of shock heating from atmospheric effects may not have bought the marshmallow up to a consumable temperature, or even affected the internals of the marshmallow at all. The goal of roasting marshmallows is often to melt the inside of a marshmallow completely, so if this is still frozen, that defeats the entire purpose of the module.<br />
<br />
Houston is a city in Texas, United States, where Mission Control for NASA is established. Astronauts in space would communicate with "Houston", as the specific person on the other end would vary with which shift was working. These communications are established via radio. During reentry, the superheated air forms a plasma phase and disrupts radio wave signals. Hence, it is doubtful that Mission Control would have received this communication from the capsule, and it is very unlikely Mission Control would have received further updates from the capsule until the reentry process was largely finished. This would make the Mission Control operators very concerned over the success of the reentry.<br />
<br />
The caption for the panel muses that maybe the concept of the module was a mistake, which is a fair assessment given the number of flaws in the design. It would indeed be far better to have ''two'' such units, set upon opposing sides of the module and operated in conjunction, to balance rotational forces. Or even three of them, set 120° apart from each other, perhaps automatically and independently actuated to tune out all ''other'' undesired aerodynamic effects – with the added advantage of simultaneously preparing snacks for all three of the astronauts that typically inhabit an Apollo capsule, not just Smith.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to a popular snack of s'mores, made by placing a marshmallow roasted over a fire with some chocolate between two crackers, similar to a sandwich. It also refers to a problem in rocketry known as Kessler syndrome, where vast amounts of space junk in low earth orbit reduce the chance of successful rocket launches, as new launches may crash into existing space junk, causing a rapid unplanned disassembly. These two concepts are combined in a ridiculous way, whereby instead of space junk, it is Graham crackers and chocolate bars that are polluting space. These, combined with the marshmallow from the toasting module, would create celestial s'mores, a novel and frankly whacky concept, as our space program does not primarily consist of chocolate, Graham crackers.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[as follows, left to right, top to bottom]<br />
:[Capsule begins reentry.]<br />
:Smith: We're approaching atmospheric entry.<br />
:Smith: All systems nominal.<br />
:Fwip<br />
:[Marshmallow roasting rod deployed]<br />
:Smith: Houston, we're experiencing some oscillations. Vehicle is becoming difficult to control.<br />
:Mission control: Smith, retract that stupid arm.<br />
:Smith: No! It's not ready yet!<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:In retrospect, the reentry marshmallow toasting module was a mistake.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Space]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2804:_Marshmallow&diff=318101Talk:2804: Marshmallow2023-07-20T05:05:39Z<p>PotatoGod: Graham crackers are not referencing graham's number</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
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 />
<br />
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 />
<br />
: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 />
<br />
: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 />
<br />
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 />
<br />
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 />
<br />
"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 />
<br />
I wonder if Randall played Outer wilds recently. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:00, 19 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
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 />
<br />
: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 />
<br />
:Also agreed, graham crackers are the normal recipe for s'mores, there's no reason to expect any reference to Graham's number. I'll remove that from the explanation.[[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 05:05, 20 July 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
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>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2238:_Flu_Shot&diff=318036Talk:2238: Flu Shot2023-07-19T06:23:14Z<p>PotatoGod: Prophetic of covid</p>
<hr />
<div>I don't know why, but the buttons above the comic are all outta wack on my phone. I don't know if they look bad on a desktop, and I don't know how to fix it, so if someone could figure that out, could they tell me so I can fix it in the future?--[[User:TaperingBirch|EightofspadeS]] ([[User talk:TaperingBirch|talk]]) 02:30, 7 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
:ditto[[Special:Contributions/108.162.219.24|108.162.219.24]] 17:53, 7 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
::The buttons have always displayed poorly on mobile for me: The text is cut off at the top of the button (at default text size, default zoom) & the buttons don't display all on one line. Looks that way across most, if not all, mobile devices I've used. <br />
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:09, 7 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::The buttons have only ever looked odd with this one comic for me, though. That must be a pain to have the buttons like that all of the time. --[[User:TaperingBirch|EightofspadeS]] ([[User talk:TaperingBirch|talk]]) 05:43, 8 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
Is it really necessary to include mention of the "untreated/unfiltered probiotic" water fad? It doesn't really say anything about the content in the comic. [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 17:50, 7 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
: I thought it might be relevant to mention why Megan might want to leave her water unboiled. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 18:15, 7 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
:: Well I thought it was because she thought she was immune from any contaminants, not that she thought it was healthier for her! lol [[User:Ianrbibtitlht|Ianrbibtitlht]] ([[User talk:Ianrbibtitlht|talk]]) 18:35, 7 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::Ironically (relative to this comic, anyway) people who drink "raw" unpurified water are probably much more likely to _avoid_ vaccination. I do find the topic relevant enough to be worth mentioning, though. <br />
:::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 21:50, 7 December 2019 (UTC)<br />
'Bitten by bats'.. From a future perspective, turns out the real problem is biting bats, or perhaps biting things that have bitten bats. [[User:Davidgro|davidgro]] ([[User talk:Davidgro|talk]]) 18:12, 15 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Is there a category about comics that seem to have somewhat predicted the future? Or one with comics that contain what could be later misinterpreted as references to events happening after the release of the comic?[[Special:Contributions/172.69.54.202|Joe Mamma]] 09:20, 4 November 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Yeah at this point my brain just skimmed over the comic and assumed it was about the Covid shot, not the flu shot. Strangely prophetic comic! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 06:23, 19 July 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2775:_Siphon&diff=313009Talk:2775: Siphon2023-05-12T19:54:28Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Potential inspiration */ new section</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
My understanding was that siphoning can essentially be explained by the Bernoulli equation? There is a difference in potential energy between the upper and lower container so it flows. The weight of water in the downhill part of the tube pulls water up the uphill section of the tube (think like a vacuum), and so on until there's either no difference in head or no more water. Siphoning will work with any diameter tube. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.151|172.70.91.151]] 15:43, 12 May 2023 (UTC)<br />
:That's right. The only mention of capillary action in the siphon wikipedia article is when talking about phenomenon that *isn't* a siphon. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 16:15, 12 May 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Agree, capillary action does not seem to be referenced or implied in the comic, presenting only the (not "functioning") siphon phenomenon. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.134.142|172.68.134.142]] 16:23, 12 May 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Seconded/thirded. Capillary action isn't even what they were expecting. The small amount of water in the lowe receptical indicates they correctly ''filled'' the tube, but then as the longer length drained it did not then induce further flow up and over through the shorter length. e.g. nature no longer abhored the resulting vacuum (or there was increased negative-pressure vapourisation, beyond that previously expected, or other method of seepage 'airlock'-breaking) and thus the short-end also drained straight back out again instead of becoming a potentially self-sustaining inflow to the whole siphoning setup.<br />
::If the upper end got restricted (say by touching the side of the bucket) the loss of flow would allow air to enter the bottom end and drain out the tube. I've done this. :-( [[User:RIIW - Ponder it|RIIW - Ponder it]] ([[User talk:RIIW - Ponder it|talk]]) 19:07, 12 May 2023 (UTC)<br />
:While the capilliary action element ''could'' induce the start of a rather limited 'empty' siphon setup to start (maybe, I'd have doubts about the 'fluid friction' actually acting against the gravity-feed part, once the surface-tension bit has "climbed the mountain" and started to merely seep out of the other end, almost incidentally, for a sufficiently thin tubing where CA is a significant factor), this suddenly failing for whatever reason (surface-tension effects being nullified) wouldn't then send a token amount of water into the low bucket, nor particularly stop unrelated siphon-flow from continuing properly (in fact, suddenly 'interaction-free' liquid and tubing might siphon ''faster'', with effectively zero fluid boundary effects dragging on the induced flow).<br />
:But perhaps someone with more QFD experience could explain where my assessment is wrong. So not going to personally rewrite the current Explanation intro just now. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.161|172.70.162.161]] 16:21, 12 May 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I'd like to contribute as one more data point. I also don't see capillary action as being relevant. In particular, as another commenter said, the water in the lower bucket quite clearly supports the idea that the siphon effect was the subject of the characters' confusion. How else is Randall supposed to depict the siphon effect anyway? I agree that the drawing alone ''could'' also suggest capillary action is what's being investigated, but I don't think it suggests that the caption has ''incorrectly'' referred to it as the siphon effect. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.100|172.71.254.100]] 18:44, 12 May 2023 (UTC)<br />
<br />
== Potential inspiration ==<br />
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One potential source of inspiration for this comic is the Twitter [https://twitter.com/earth_updates account @Earth_Updates], which produces a lot of similar content. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 19:54, 12 May 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:1869:_Positive_and_Negative_Reviews&diff=312273Talk:1869: Positive and Negative Reviews2023-05-03T21:03:19Z<p>PotatoGod: Claim my old unsigned comment</p>
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This page is now available for discussions. Sorry for the delay. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 14:42, 28 July 2017 (UTC)<br />
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About the Trivia item "The use of the phrase 'physics tells us...' may be alluding to the way people use 'physics' or 'science' to justify nonsense.", I seriously doubt it. If there were no connection to real physics, this comic would be pretty devoid of content. And lacking much of a joke! I've been figuring that this is referencing SOME aspect of physics and applying it to real life in a silly way. I've been wanting to read about it. There must be something, maybe theorizing about time travel, maybe saying something is measured backwards? I'm reminded of the British sitcom, Red Dwarf, the episode Backwards, where they visit a future Earth where time has turned backwards, so everybody speaks backwards and everything is done backwards (where I learned that "Bitter" backwards sounds like "Erskib"). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 30 July 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Am I the only one that would likely agree with the "backwards" reviewers? Those sorts of sports drinks like Gatorade, etc taste terrible to me, and would likely result in me drinking much more water to rinse out the flavor! The same is true of soda for me. I feel like this comic might also be referencing that aspect, and an absurd attempt to justify considering even the negative reviews positive. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 18:54, 30 July 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Fridge genius: First I thought if they live backwards, how come they have no numbers attached to their username? It should be something like Merlin99999999999999, just try to register your first name at any popular website even today. Then of course I realized that they would simply create their account as soon as the site goes up (shortly before it goes down, from their perspective), remembering that it was a popular site and having posted there.[[User:Ruffy314|Ruffy314]] ([[User talk:Ruffy314|talk]]) 19:06, 30 July 2017 (UTC)<br />
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Um... wouldn't Merlin and Benjamin Button perceive it as regurgitating the drinks? I mean, they perceived the reverse results, so ingesting things should have the same effect. [[User:OriginalName|OriginalName]] ([[User talk:OriginalName|talk]]) 16:52, 25 August 2017 (UTC)<br />
: Merlin in ''Once and Future King'' perceives individual "scenes" in his life normally, but they're in reverse order. I haven't read "Benjamin Button". [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 20:05, 15 April 2022 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2748:_Radians_Are_Cursed&diff=308585Talk:2748: Radians Are Cursed2023-03-15T06:30:21Z<p>PotatoGod: Pi day</p>
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how do transcript [[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.37|172.70.127.37]] 19:23, 10 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_degree may be of some help with this one. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.166.124|162.158.166.124]] 19:44, 10 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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The comic isn't actually correct. A radian is not equal to the length of a circle's radius; it is equal to the length of the radius, multiplied by 2π, divided by the perimeter, which is why it has no units, while the length does. In other words, radian/2pi=length of radius/length of perimeter. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.46.84|172.70.46.84]] 19:51, 10 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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As suggested by the above Wikipedia link, square degrees are in fact often used in astronomical contexts. Also, it's quite standard to say that radian=1; see for example [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI_derived_unit SI derived unit]. An angle is the ratio between the arc length and the radius, and we just optionally append "radian" for clarity. So 1 = 57.3 degrees is correct; Randall simply used the wrong argument to obtain it. [[User:Aseyhe|Aseyhe]] ([[User talk:Aseyhe|talk]]) 20:57, 10 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I always understood radian to be the name of the unit, so by definition 1 radian=1. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 21:17, 10 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
:It is a shame that astronomers don't use the proper unit for such things: the steradian. It is literally there for describing the 3D equivalent of angle. Oh well... --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.137|172.69.79.137]] 04:16, 11 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
::It is a shame that astronomers don't use the proper for length, preferring ad-hoc units based on the solar system. But if you use a different ad-hoc unit based on the properties of the solar system they throw a hissy fit.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.150|172.70.38.150]] 06:51, 12 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::Indeed, what ''is'' the "proper [distance unit?] for length"? Light-year, based on Earth's orbital period. AU, based upon Earth's orbital radius. (Kilo)metre, based (approximately, and quartered) upon Earth's circumpolar circumference. Parsec, based upon Earth's orbital radius and a notionally arbitrary subdivision of angle. (Which can be avoided by mathematically more pure "paradians"???) Planck-lengths, might be not solar-/geo-centric but creates horribly huge numbers even at the human scale. ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.128|172.70.86.128]] 16:07, 12 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Someone fix the vandalism, how do you upload images? --[[User:Purah126|Purah126]] ([[User talk:Purah126|talk]]) 03:06, 11 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I'm doing it but that user needs to be blocked.<br />
:To revert images, scroll down and click the revert link next to the last good version.<br />
:And do not feed the trolls. ~ [[user:megan|Megan]] <sup>she</sup>/<sub>her</sub> <sup>[[user talk:megan|talk]]</sup>/<sub>[[special:contribs/megan|contribs]]</sub> 03:10, 11 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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On reading this I vividly remembered a maths teacher once asking our class "What's 10% of a straight line?", and the looks of disgust and bewilderment when he said the answer was 18 degrees. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.147|172.70.86.147]] 08:31, 11 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
:I just hope that was Celsius degrees (or Kelvin), rather than Fahrenheit(/Rankine). ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.190|172.71.242.190]] 10:51, 11 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
::If you use Kelvin with degrees you have already lost...[[Special:Contributions/172.68.51.178|172.68.51.178]] 13:29, 11 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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So the volume of the sky is 4/3 π r³ = 7,092,429 cubic degrees<br />
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I remember in the quantum mechanics class we figured that if \hbar is defined to be h/2π, then we might as well introduce the notation \pibar as an alternative for 1/2. [[User:Captain Nemo|Captain Nemo]] ([[User talk:Captain Nemo|talk]]) 11:08, 12 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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The logic is fine once you recall the formula s = r x theta. The arc length subtended by an angle is equal to the radius times the angle. On the unit circle, the radius is 1 (no unit). Therefore, the subtended arc length of 1 radian is s = 1 x 1 radian = 1 radian. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.22.117|172.71.22.117]] 21:45, 12 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
:"...the radius is 1 (no unit)." There's definitely a unit. It's whatever the unit the unit circle is reflecting (even if that's mathematical Unity). And in the case of dimensional analysis, it's a particular dimension that you'd need to account for, and the difference between this radians thing and the degrees thing is only the inclusion of dimensionless pi-based constant of conversion. Doesn't change the understanding of the issue, but I believe that some explanations/comments aren't then conveying it onwards accurately. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.184|172.69.79.184]] 22:15, 12 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
::I mean, I'm sorry, but respectfully, you are wrong. The unit circle is *by definition* a circle of radius 1. There is no unit attached to that. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.82.41|172.71.82.41]] 01:55, 13 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
:::Correction: The unit is that of the radius, ''by definition''. It is one of that unit, whatever that unit may be. You attach whatever unit you want to it, when you want to, but it isn't actually a unitless value when you start comparing it with othe values whose relationship and own unit are known. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.207|172.71.178.207]] 03:59, 13 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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There is actually some dispute about whether angles should be measured using units. I can't find it now, but there was an article by someone arguing that the current SI definition of the radian as 1 rad = 1 m / 1 m was flawed. He felt that units of angle should have a dimension, A, and rewrote several formulae slightly to accommodate this. But more often today, the radian is considered dimensionless with a value of exactly 1, making it not actually a "unit" so much as a hint telling how the angle was measured. In this definition, an angle has a measure of x (radians) iff the circular arc it intercepts as a central angle has an arclength of x times the circle's radius. Under this definition, the following become mathematically correct:<br />
:rad = 1<br />
:° = π/180<br />
:Radius of unit circle = 1 = (180/π)(π/180) = (180/π)° = 57.29577...°<br />
:(1°)² = π²/32400<br />
There is really nothing mysterious about it. Here, we are just defining the radian and degree as real numbers. This is how we treat them in Calculus. For instance, d/dx sin(2x rad) = 2 cos(2x rad), not (2 rad) cos(2x rad) as the chain rule implies. This is because 2 rad = 2. This also helps explain why Phil Plait's bizarre dimensional analysis actually does work. In particular, the last equation above would normally be written with "rad" on the right-hand side, giving a conversion between square degrees and square radians. Using the fact that the area of a sphere is 4πr², we see that the area of the unit sphere must be 4π square radians, and thus 4π * (32400/π²) * (1°)² = (129600/π)°² = 41252.961...°². Note that a "square radian" is also equal to a "steradian" by definition, which is the solid angle that subtends 1/(4π) of the surface of the sphere. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.127.38|172.70.127.38]] 02:56, 13 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
: In complex analysis we defined the exponential function as a power series. Pure complex numbers, no units or even a hint that there is such a thing as an angle in the definition. Many theorems and lemmas about the properties of exp(z) follow, including derivatives, integrals, Eulers formula, Eulers identity. Sin() and cos() are defined as the real and imaginary parts of exp(); pi is defined as a number via Eulers identity. No circles or angles involved. In the last lecture the properties of the exponential combine in a few lemmas to show that it can trivially solve a bunch of problems such as the simple harmonic oscillator and trigonometry.<br />
: The point is we can define exp(), hence sin() and cos(), without using angles. There is no need for a unit for angles until you start working with angles, just as there is no need for a unit for elephants until you start counting elephants. You could reorder the textbook, put the trigonometry chapter before complex analysis and define angles first, but you'd have to be a masochist or a high school teacher to do it that way.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.174.160|172.70.174.160]] 05:24, 13 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:: Sure, but in the same way "number of elephants" is dimensionless, "measure of angle" is also dimensionless. That's not true of physical quantities like distance or area. And in this convention, we do have radian = 1. (The SI even defines the radian as 1 m / 1 m, so clearly it has to equal 1.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.254.135|172.71.254.135]] 19:18, 13 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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:::2 pi is a full circle, also in another galaxy, or in another universe. All real units contain (are, in fact) some arbitrarily chosen factor. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.246.11|172.71.246.11]] 08:07, 14 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
::::They {{w|Natural units|needn't be}}... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.135|172.70.162.135]] 13:16, 14 March 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Anyone else surprised Randall didn't save this comic for Pi Day? It would've been a perfect fit, and just 4 days later! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 06:30, 15 March 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2732:_Bursa_of_Fabricius&diff=305713Talk:2732: Bursa of Fabricius2023-02-03T23:26:28Z<p>PotatoGod: Only Broca can name things</p>
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One of the reasons for the success of humans is that the tools of humans do not depend on the structure and strength of the human body. Using fire as an example, a single person with a fire stick can burn down an entire forest in a matter of hours. Fire is not limited by the person who started it. The same goes for any other tool we make. ~ [[user:megan|Megan]] <sup>she</sup>/<sub>her</sub> [[user talk:megan|talk]] [[special:contribs/megan|contribs]] 18:35, 1 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Here's the wiki for Bursa of Frabricius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bursa_of_Fabricius <br><br />
And the wiki for Hieronymus Fabricius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Fabricius [[User:Mr. I|Mr. I]] ([[User talk:Mr. I|talk]]) 18:51, 1 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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So ''that's'' why I can't find the Gräfenberg spot! [[User:LunarNapolean|LunarNapolean]] ([[User talk:LunarNapolean|talk]]) 20:34, 1 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Perhaps you should have met {{w|R. G. Waldeck|Frau Gräfenberg}}? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.96|172.70.85.96]] 22:10, 1 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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At first I thought the top character was swinging on a rope like in https://xkcd.com/208/, but now I see he's actually flying. So is he supposed to be Fabricius? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 22:15, 1 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
:Yes - seems kind of obvious given that the comic is about the fact that Fabricius could fly... ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:02, 2 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Perhaps the presence of the organ in avian dinosaurs prevented their demise after the asteroid. [[User:KingPenguin|KingPenguin]] ([[User talk:KingPenguin|talk]]) 23:33, 1 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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omg return of safari hat guy from [[603]]!! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.67.54|172.69.67.54]] 00:44, 2 February 2023 (UTC)Bumpf<br />
:Uhm no. Not drawn the same way at all. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:02, 2 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Adam's apple is named for the legend that a piece of forbidden fruit was stuck in the biblical Adam's throat. I guess you could call him the discoverer, but that's a stretch. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.35.49|172.68.35.49]] 06:21, 2 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
:'Adam's Apple' isn't named after its 'discoverer', but after the Biblical Adam, because it resembles having a piece of the 'forbidden fruit' stuck in one's throat. The earliest use of the name occurs in a 1662 English translation of Thomas Bartholin's 1651 work 'Anatomia', but the Latin phrase translated, 'pomum Adami', had been in use in medical texts across Europe from at least 1600AD.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.79.159|172.69.79.159]] 06:31, 2 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
::Yes the start of the explanation makes no sense at all. Will rewrite --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:02, 2 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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"Sometimes, anatomical sections are named after their first discoverer in a similar fashion: Broca's area, Adam's apple, Achille's tendon, and so on."<br><br />
Broca's area, yes. Adam's apple, as per above, refers to a Biblical story, Achilles tendon (not "Achille's tendon") refers to the Illiad. Terrible, terrible examples. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.94.139|172.71.94.139]] 06:33, 2 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
:No the entire top section is BS. Also it has nothing to do with gaming. Will delete any ref to that and rewrite. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:02, 2 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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So was Paul Langerhans the only resident of his own private archipelago, the islets of Langerhans? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancreatic_islets[[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.193|162.158.79.193]] 19:10, 2 February 2023 (UTC)<br />
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Should we a link to the list of lots of parts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_anatomical_parts_named_after_people<br />
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It's worth noting that if Mr. Broca indeed was the sole owner of Broca's area, he'd also be the only one able to name the area (after himself, evidently). [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 23:26, 3 February 2023 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2727:_Runtime&diff=3052272727: Runtime2023-01-24T20:20:10Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Explanation */ mention that doctor who watching is often recommended to start at season 5, not 1</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2727<br />
| date = January 20, 2023<br />
| title = Runtime<br />
| image = runtime_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 399x389px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = At least there's a general understanding all around that Doctor Who is its own thing.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by THE XKCD CINEMATIC UNIVERSE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
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The comic presents two separate conversations, which boil down to the same premise and yet differing conclusions. In one, a particular TV show is being watched, in the other a film franchise.<br />
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While it is finding its feet, a new season of a television show (perhaps commissioned, on the back of some perceived interest in the story it will tell, for a dozen or so episodes of around 50 minutes - i.e. about ten hours) is not necessarily going to get everything right in the writing style, the slant it puts on the subject matter, the cast of characters or other production values. Or at least not for mass appeal to the everyman, for whom [[Cueball]] is the archetypal representative. Nevertheless, many series ''do'' get further seasons and greatly improve. [[White Hat]] (the optimist, and clearly won over by the production) is on the way to successfully convincing Cueball to view a particular series, or perhaps to continue to watch it after becoming jaded by its early failure to live up to its hype. It sounds reasonable to Cueball, just from his friend's recommendation, to get over the hump and appreciate it "when it gets good".<br />
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On the other hand, many television shows achieve their highest popularity in their first season. The first season is usually when unknown stars achieve their breakout and become popular, when mysteries and cliffhangers that capture the imagination are introduced, and when interesting plotlines that engender viewer interest develop (often which two members of a love triangle will fall for each other). While the next few seasons are often considered the "golden age" of such series (as all of the interest is fresh, plot lines and mysteries are not yet resolved, and actors and writers are in their stride and not yet burned out) it is rare for a popular or well regarded TV series to have a first season that is considered bad.<br />
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A series of films, however, is seemingly a different matter. By substituting 10+ hours of filmed-for-television with something more cinematic, the prospect of getting over the exact same scale of 'hump' in a long-running set of sequels (eight films at a not unreasonable average length of 85 minutes each would ''also'' require a bit more than ten hours of commitment), is not at all enticing. However, since the average movie runs about 131 minutes, 10 hours of TV run time (about 15 episodes each with 40 minutes of show - the 40 minutes being the one hour time slot minus commercials) would only last the same as about four and a half movies, not eight. TV shows on modern streaming services such as Netflix tend to be longer (55 minutes per episode) but also fewer episodes per season (10-13) and so are still only as long as four to five movies. Watching four or so movies seems much less of a burden, many modern film franchises (among them the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Star Trek and the Harry Potter series) have successfully gone well beyond four films.<br />
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The real reasons for this difference are that:<br />
* A television series that gets good can be expected to run for at least five seasons, whereas nine movies is already quite long for a movie series. Sitting through eight bad movies in order to understand two or three good ones is not a worthwhile tradeoff.<br />
* The longer run-time of a movie generally means that a film series will focus on one specific plotline in each entry, whereas televised series are or can be more episodic (the characters are involved in a different situation each time) and can also interweave plotlines throughout individual episodes or episode arcs, so that less time per episode is spent on plots viewers dislike.<br />
* In the US, a film typically begins shooting from a completed script with only minor revisions conducted once filming starts; whereas in television, writers are usually engaged throughout most of a series' season and can more quickly change unpopular elements in future episodes.<br />
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The mention of “after the first 8 movies” might be a reference to the long-running Fast and the Furious franchise, which now has 9 movies (plus a couple of spin-offs) at the time of this comic’s publication. The more recent movies are well-reviewed (rated “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes), even though the first four were widely panned by critics. Someone like Randall, who may have ignored the franchise when it first came out in 2001, may be wondering if he should watch the more recent ones that critics generally like; and, if so, does he need to catch up on the initial movies first?<br />
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The title text talks of the long-running British TV series that is {{w|Doctor Who}}. The original Doctor Who, running from 1963-1989 was typically low budget, for its time and locality, though initially considered cutting edge in many ways. Compared to more modern classics, and especially Hollywood sci-fi, it would be noticeably not as good. The revived series (2005-present) has a much higher production budget and is typically much more aligned to modern viewers, who may wilfully ignore or not even know of the older episodes. Someone just starting to watching Doctor Who sequentially from the ''very'' first season (broadcast in 1963) would have to watch hundreds of episodes (26 'seasons', by some counts) before the series "gets good" to modern eyes, if the {{tvtropes|GrowingTheBeard|"good" point}} is the 2005 series revival, or even quite a few to reach any given key point in the original run. Thus Doctor Who is considered to be its own thing, and unlike other shows where the fans recommend you suffer through a poor first season to enjoy improvement in subsequent seasons, {{w|Whovians}} might recommend potential new fans to begin with the 2005 reboot (technically the 27th season), which was produced to appeal to all new-comers without even necessarily any cultural knowledge of what had been broadcast up until the long hiatus a decade and a half before.<br />
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Furthermore, it is not uncommon to recommend that even within the 2005 reboot of Doctor who, that new viewers don't start at the beginning (season 1 or 27 if counting the original series), but instead start at season 5 (or 31 including the originals), when the Doctor regenerated to his 11th incarnation (due to higher budgets and production values by that point, and the start of a new story arc with new characters being introduced), and later on go back to watch the earlier seasons.<br />
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There is also the wrinkle that anyone wishing to start with the original run would be out of luck, seeing as many early episodes - before the late-70s - were {{w|Doctor Who missing episodes|lost forever}}. ([https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/MissingEpisode/DoctorWho TV Tropes link]).<br />
The BBC didn't see any value in keeping them as they couldn't rerun them, so random episodes would be disposed of or recycled for various reasons, and those episodes are gone, making many stories incomplete. Some have been recovered because fans recorded them, or because tapes were sent to overseas stations for rebroadcast and never discarded (in fact, the ''audio'' for every single episode has been preserved) but most lost episodes remain lost.<br />
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It is vague about Randall's precise opinion, but even the most dedicated fan would acknowledge that it has had a varying quality/charm/consistency/etc, according to one's personal tastes for such things. Comparing the original run (pre-Millenium, featuring seven key actors sequentially taking on the title role over more than four decades, and another for a standalone TV-movie) with the revived series (continuing the pattern with a similar number of additional title-actors in just half the time), and any number of 'show-runners' (producers, main writers, etc) is one possible point of contention, probably more suited to British viewers. Possibly, in Randall's case, it is just the (perceived) ups and downs in the more recent era, which has been more consistently screened in the US.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Two situations are depicted between White Hat and Cueball.]<br />
:[Situation 1:]<br />
:White Hat: You should keep watching! After the first season it gets really good.<br />
:Cueball: Oh yeah, I've heard that!<br />
:[Situation 2:]<br />
:White Hat: You should keep watching! After the first 8 movies, they get really good.<br />
:Cueball: Haha, what? I'm not going to sit through '''''eight''''' bad movies!<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:It's weird how it's way more normal and socially acceptable to suggest someone spend 10-15 hours watching something when it's TV rather than movies.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]<br />
[[Category:Doctor Who]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2557:_Immunity&diff=222913Talk:2557: Immunity2021-12-21T21:15:03Z<p>PotatoGod: laboratory created</p>
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well, if you look at society as a whole it makes more sense. the reason we have so many mutations is that we have a significant portion of the populous with no immunity [[Special:Contributions/172.68.110.125|172.68.110.125]] 20:49, 20 December 2021 (UTC) mark ifi<br />
:But the mutations come about from the virus replicating a lot, i.e in people with the virus. It still doesn't make sense to catch it, because you have a chance of your infection being the one that produces a terrible mutation [[Special:Contributions/141.101.77.130|141.101.77.130]] 22:02, 20 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
::That isn't how mutations work. Mutations are able to propagate strongly only in environments where there is something killing off the parent species, and where the mutation provides better survivability. Like a functioning immune system attacking the parent virus, but a mutation allows something to slip by. Thus, people with the partial immunity provided by either vaccines or infection, are the ones more likely to create a mutation than new patients with no inherent immunity, or people with natural immunity from previous bouts with related diseases.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:11, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I can see this one annoying a lot of people. It's the lot of people who can already be annoying, so I don't think that's a big problem. (A few, who misread it as about ''vaccination'' giving immunity, may actually think it supports them. I'm not sure we can do anything about that either.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 21:51, 20 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Would you kindly provide a link to the "Mount Stupid" comic for reference.{{unsigned|172.70.174.119}}<br />
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To be fair, if the vaccination would only protect you for ONE infection it wouldn't be worth it. The idea about immunity is that immunity trained by either vaccination or infection will then protect you from '''multiple''' following infections. The problem with it is that in case of covid (or flu), the immunity wanes off with time AND the virus mutates into new variants the immunity doesn't work as well against. Sure, it still makes sense to vaccinate, but just because the virus spread so much you are very likely to catch it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 22:32, 20 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Are you making the mistake (without the other baggage) I mentioned above about misreading the comic? This comic isn't about the vaccination at all. It's about infection. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.22|172.70.86.22]] 22:51, 20 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
::Infection is the normal method of vaccination. Until recently with mRNA vaccines, almost all vaccines were about infection- either with the disease itself, a weakened version of the disease, or a related disease.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:11, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
:(And, to add, if the vaccine just protected against ONE infection, where that one infection was sufficiently dangerous, it would indeed be worth it. Better than chancing the infection on a naïve immune system and hoping to come out the other side with a similarly infection-specific immune effect (c.f. annual flu waves) but without the QC and care given to the vector.) ((See, I knew it'd spark response, didn't intend to say much. Maybe I should just stay out of this until it blows over.)) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 23:01, 20 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
::Of course it is about the vaccination - this supports Randall's earlier statements for being pro vaccine, that you should get the immunity from vaccination and not from infection! --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:24, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
:::Hmmm, no. It's about COVID (and that by inference). It doesn't mention the vaccine. The conversation ''might'' have been about the vaccine, but the comic (and its discussion of what it is sensible to do, or not) is vaccine free. It's "anti-infection", but not directly "pro-vaccine". (He, I and you ''are'' all sensibly pro-vaccine, I think. The comic itself is only vocal on that subject by omission and a chain of logic that will never occur to those stuck at the original fallacy.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 13:06, 21 December 2021 (UTC) <br />
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People who know a lot about the immune system could also be referring to people who are aware of possibilities like the varicella zoster virus which causes chickenpox, but stays dormant in your body after you recover and can come back later as shingles. This is less likely to happen if you get the vaccine to prevent chickenpox in the first place. --[[User:Norgaladir|Norgaladir]] ([[User talk:Norgaladir|talk]]) 00:32, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
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A vaccination doesn't necessarily give you immunity, e.g. with the Covid or influenca vaccines, so you still can get infected. But being vaccinated reduces the risk of suffering complications like death that can ruin your and other peoples' life.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.229|162.158.94.229]] 07:59, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
:...''significantly'' reduces the risk, in fact. It likely also (though it's a harder thing to establish) reduces the catch-and-transmit rate, thus yet another thing to do to help others, even those you'll never meet directly, who are unable or (ugh!) unwilling to think this far ahead. Unmitigated (and, especially, sought-after) 'natural' infection as represented in the comic just helps spread the thing further and faster and does a gross disservice to onward contacts, contacts-of-contacts, etc, etc. Excuse my preaching to the choir here, but it needs to be said. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.73|172.70.85.73]] 13:06, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
::You're not preaching to the choir exclusively, plenty of lurkers (like me) are reading along. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.143|108.162.241.143]] 17:01, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
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While trying to update the explanation for 'neutrality of tone' and address some infectious disease history, I came across this [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7120728/#!po=44.6721|Highly Infectious Diseases in Critical Care] article<br />
from the NIH published January 3 of 2020 which includes a comparison of smallpox, measles, SARS-1, and MERS-cov illustrating how significantly vaccination has reduced global infections. Check out the graph of measles from 1980. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.227|172.70.110.227]] 13:46, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
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My hero is the person who added the citation needed to "Diseases are bad", as well as those who realize that vaccination is largely a form of infection on purpose (within one of the following five options: infection by the disease itself, infection by a weakened disease, infection by a killed and inactive version of the disease, infection by a related less dangerous disease that shares some characteristics with the original disease, infection by a laboratory created RNA strands that mimic the disease being attacked). Therefore, catching the disease on purpose, is a form of vaccination. Israel did a study on infection by the disease itself and found 6.7 times stronger immune response than other forms of COVID-19 vaccination. [https://www.science.org/content/article/having-sars-cov-2-once-confers-much-greater-immunity-vaccine-vaccination-remains-vital] [[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 14:11, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
:This should indicate that a better (at preparing your immune system to resist future infection) vaccine (process) may be possible. Without saying that current vaccines are ineffective. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.97|108.162.241.97]] 17:06, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I like how you make sure to use the "laboratory created" modifier for the RNA vaccine, but not the other types. As if they all grew on trees or something. Here's a hint: all vaccines were created in a lab, though many were created more directly by modifying an existing virus, in that lab. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 21:15, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
I would like to add that the comic criticizes only a part of ''anti-vaxxers'' population that show the circular logic presented. There are other parts, e.g. those who are not quite sure if the cost/benefit (or rather risk/risk) calculus is right for the rapidly developed and hastily officially approved (in comparison to long-established vaccines against other diseases) and/or novel (mRNA) vaccine products, fearing long-time side effects of the vaccine. On the other hand, long-term effects of the disease itself are also not known yet, even if some middle-term ones are known or being investigated already. There are still other parts like those who oppose governmental obligations or pressure to vaccinate against covid and related restrictions, and take the refusal as a personal freedom stance. There may be others. -- [[Special:Contributions/198.41.242.219|198.41.242.219]] 15:09, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
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This very much feels like a straw man. I get that it's a webcomic, but can we talk about this? The description says that natural immunity is "short lived" (as in, how short-lived, and how much compared to vaccination?) but meanwhile I hear like one in five COVID hospitalizations were vaccinated patients. Are there studies on reinfection with COVID in vaccinated vs non-vaccinated patients? It seems to me from the latest comics that Randall is frustrated. I think everyone is frustrated. Citation needed, haha. But I get tired of reading "haha the other side is dumb" from both sides of every damn issue these days, and the bigger the impact an issue has, the more furious the mudslinging. One could, for example, make the same "circular argument" jab at trusting the FDA in this example, or in a more agnostic case, the value of a college degree or a certification: Ex. "we're qualified to make decisions about what's right or smart for the populace because we're a bunch of people who say so, and we have a pretty looking seal to prove it, and also please keep giving us a lot of money." I mean, for those of us who have been to college, haven't we all churned our way through that just to get into the workforce and discover that it's completely different than what we actually needed to know? Would we call people "anti-uni's" and laugh at their incompetence for questioning the system? Even at the unlikely minimum of "anti-vaxxers (or x-person who disagrees with me) are 100% dumb and wrong and that's a fact", isn't the discourse important? I understand that the opposite extreme is "I'd rather let my child die of Polio than trust another human being", but isn't that just another straw man? When are we going to stop polarizing? Thoughts?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.147|108.162.237.147]] 16:28, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
:It might be Randall is (intentionally or accidentally) touching on your point by making this comic's thesis ambiguous. People who aren't thinking deeply about the topic on both sides will initially think it confirms their worldview, until they see more discussion on the matter. So the comic's ambiguity might prompt more discussion by and between both sides. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.241.143|108.162.241.143]] 17:18, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
:Re: "I hear like one in five COVID hospitalizations were vaccinated patients." ....if less than one in five people are vaccinated, this is a problem. Either it means there is a problem with the vaccine (unlikely) or that the vaccinated are putting themselves more at risk thinking they are more 'virusproof' than they are. If more (and hopefully significantly more) than 20% of the populace are vaccinated then this is actually a positive sign for the whole issue - even if there's still social hubris underestimating the precautions they still may need to take.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.73|162.158.159.73]] 17:34, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
::At least in the US, significantly more than 1 in 5 people are vaccinated. It's a little over 3 in 5 fully vaccinated. But I would suggest that even that isn't necessarily the statistic to look at - pretty sure covid is still more likely to be serious for older people and folks with preexisting conditions, all else being equal, and those populations have an even higher vaccination rate. 78% of folks 50-64 are fully vaccinated, and 84% 65+, per the CDC. So that makes the 1 in 5 represent *even less* risk.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.45|172.70.110.45]] 18:30, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
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(Re: The "Why does my IP keep changing?" asked as an Edit-comment (see page history)... Because your gateway/pathway between yourself and the site goes through a limited and shared ''set'' of possible IPv4s. There's no guarantee you'll get the same IP (or even obvious range!) between edits, nor that your current IP won't be used by someone else in a few minutes. It's just a technical thing that greases the wheels of the Internet, even if it has funny repurcussions for some things like this.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.73|162.158.159.73]] 17:34, 21 December 2021 (UTC)<br />
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"However, what Cueball (and by extension Randall) fail to note is that bad or not, there are plenty of instances where someone has already recovered, and therefore already in possession of natural immunity." - Isn't that what the comic is about? I'm confused as to why this is on the explanation page? --[[User:Enchantedsleeper|enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 19:45, 21 December 2021 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2446:_Spike_Proteins&diff=209710Talk:2446: Spike Proteins2021-04-06T07:08:47Z<p>PotatoGod: Comment on why existing explanation is in accurate</p>
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I got my 1st dose today. My apartment is swarming with spike proteins. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 01:17, 6 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
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Can someone here create a "COVID-19 vaccine" category (as a subcategory of COVID-19)? Randall has been posting a lot of vaccine-related comics recently. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.113|172.69.35.113]] 02:11, 6 April 2021 (UTC)<br />
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I don't think the description as it is right now is very accurate. It seems to be stating that the spike protein is a normal protein normally produced by humans, rather than a protein used by SARS-CoV-2 (and likely other similar viruses (virii?) to aid in their infection. In this case, beret guy has gotten an MRNA vaccine (either Moderna or Pfizer), so has given his cells the recipe to make this spike protein for themselves, until the immune system realizes it shouldn't be there. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:08, 6 April 2021 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2440:_Epistemic_Uncertainty&diff=2087032440: Epistemic Uncertainty2021-03-23T01:12:18Z<p>PotatoGod: Minor tampering</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2440<br />
| date = March 22, 2021<br />
| title = Epistemic Uncertainty<br />
| image = epistemic_uncertainty.png<br />
| titletext = Luckily, unlike in our previous study, we have no reason to believe Evangeline the Adulterator gained access to our stored doses.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by GEORGE THE DATA TAMPERER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT tamper with 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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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Statistics]]<br />
[[Category:Research Papers]]<br />
[[Category:Biology]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2407:_Depth_and_Breadth&diff=204043Talk:2407: Depth and Breadth2021-01-05T04:58:16Z<p>PotatoGod: Breakfast search</p>
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where did the quality go<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.24|172.69.34.24]] 19:34, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I noticed this too. As discussed at [[User:DgbrtBOT]] there are two sizes of each comic. The default (smaller) size of [https://xkcd.com/2407/ 2407] looks much worse than the original, which you can find at [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/depth_and_breadth_2x.png https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/depth_and_breadth_2x.png] I suggest we use the larger version for this comic. [[User:Alchemistmatt|Alchemistmatt]] ([[User talk:Alchemistmatt|talk]]) 20:18, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
: I tried to upload the higher quality PNG but I do not have permission; we'll have to wait for an editor to provide their opinion. [[User:Alchemistmatt|Alchemistmatt]] ([[User talk:Alchemistmatt|talk]]) 20:35, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
It would appear that the first version of the picture of this day's cartoon presents artifacts due to an unusual export method. <br />
The image seems to have been exported using the 'nearest neighbor' resampling method, which would explain the jaggy edges.<br />
Usually, the images appear to be exported using bilinear downsampling from an white-grey-black original, resulting in a published version with a larger color palette.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.161|162.158.111.161]] 20:17, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
: Randall has uploaded a new image: [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/depth_and_breadth.png], which I uploaded to explainxkcd. [[User:Natg19|Natg19]] ([[User talk:Natg19|talk]]) 21:48, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
In the breadth-first, for the second node on the right, the right branch is searched first, while everywhere else, the left branch is.<br />
And in deadth-first, the nodes are searched multiple times (e.g. left-most node of layer 3 is search 3 times, assuming a search is at the end of a continuous line). Alternatively, maybe the search goes up first sometimes (it's not actually clear when a node is being looked at), but that doesn't explain the order of the left-most node of layer 2. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.142.201|172.68.142.201]] 22:15, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
:I noticed that. With perhaps two reasons: 1) aesthetics - drawn to go to nodes .2, .2.1, (.2), .2.2, then .1.1.1 (via .1.1, crossing .2.1, .1.2) would look a bit worse than this (crossing just .1.2); or 2) there's no absolute sorting order vs choice, it's just chance (or aesthetic choice) that .1s take priority over .2s in every other case - 3 out of the four choices is well within explorative chance.<br />
: I favour the latter (with maybe an aesthetic bias) as often when I run a tree-searching algorithm I like to randomly splice the next option out of the list of options (rather than run from first to last or last to first) where I am not aware of any advantageous link (maybe in ruling out 'dead' branches early to prune off useless branches early) and thus whatever natural sort-order the structure imposes would create biases.<br />
: Alternately, if continued it would definitely prioritise .2s down every .2(-dominant) branch, for a nicely symmetric 'wide-breadth first' pattern (.2.2.2 over .2.2.1, etc) for a pattern only visible once continued beyond the step currently shown. The root choice ''cannot'' be anything other than symmetry-breaking, but could as easily be a coinflip. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.68|141.101.98.68]] 00:32, 5 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
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The top two drawings for "depth" and "breadth" are legitimate methods of listing out a tree structure. The next two drawings substitute the "d" and "br" from "depth" and "breadth" to get "brepth" and "deadth". The fifth drawing removes the "th" from "breadth" to get "bread". And the title text substitutes the "p" from "depth" with an "a" to get "death". [[User:Rtanenbaum|Rtanenbaum]] ([[User talk:Rtanenbaum|talk]]) 22:32, 4 January 2021 (UTC)<br />
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After the bread-first search, the next logical variant is the breakfast search! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 04:58, 5 January 2021 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2396:_Wonder_Woman_1984&diff=202946Talk:2396: Wonder Woman 19842020-12-10T02:23:32Z<p>PotatoGod: sites -> media</p>
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Is it really "common" as the explanation reads, to block "all news media" to avoid spoilers? Wouldn't most people just block the relevant keywords, or perhaps movie review sites and channels in particular? Blocking the entirety of news sources is rather absurd, in a fitting way for xkcd, but not a realistic way for real-world people to behave, as the explanation currently implies it is.<br />
[[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:22, 10 December 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2396:_Wonder_Woman_1984&diff=202945Talk:2396: Wonder Woman 19842020-12-10T02:22:46Z<p>PotatoGod: not common to block all news</p>
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Is it really "common" as the explanation reads, to block "all news sites" to avoid spoilers? Wouldn't most people just block the relevant keywords, or perhaps movie review sites in particular? Blocking the entirety of news sources is rather absurd, in a fitting way for xkcd, but not a realistic way for real-world people to behave, as the explanation currently implies it is.<br />
[[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:22, 10 December 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2372:_Dialect_Quiz&diff=199962Talk:2372: Dialect Quiz2020-10-16T06:56:59Z<p>PotatoGod: "Scallions" sounds like "Trebek"</p>
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Fun fact: shallots, scallops, and scallions ran against each other in [[1529: Bracket]]. (This will probably end up in the Trivia tab when one is created.) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.10.135|172.69.10.135]] 20:50, 14 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Cosmetology both sounds like "Cosmology" but it's also the fancy word for people who study cosmetics. --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.174.92|172.68.174.92]] 21:22, 14 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Aren't stars the people we took cosmetics advice from before there were influencers? Or are they the same thing? Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.102|162.158.155.102]] 00:55, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I mean the water fountains might as well be gutter pipes<br />
21:49, 14 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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@kswoll: Pretty sure this is a direct parody of the NYTimes quiz here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html<br />
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* I agree, this was also tweeted about 3 days earlier by Nate Silver [https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1315348221565206530] - based on [[2371: Election Screen Time]], it's likely that Randall saw that tweet [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.27|162.158.62.27]] 03:29, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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The Google pronunciation question might be a reference to a reference to [https://youtu.be/epj8OzP6z-M?t=177 a scene] from the second-to-last episode of Halt and Catch Fire. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.165|162.158.79.165]] 23:35, 14 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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My guess is it is a reference to Yahoo another search engine that had commercials with high pitched yelp and some might put emphasis on either the "Ya" or the "hoo"<br />
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While I agree that most people know what a hammer is, this is not hammer - or rather, may not be considered "standard" hammer. Personally I would call it "Hammer with that thing for pulling nails out", but I could be easily convinced that it has some other name which doesn't include the word "hammer", instead of (presumably correct) {{w|claw hammer}}. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:55, 14 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
:My feeling is that claw hammers are the type of hammer that most people are familiar with, and would consider the archetype of hammer. If you go to {{w|hammer}} the first picture is a claw hammer. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] <br />
:: Objection, your honor! In German, this would be called a "Zimmermannshammer" (carpenter's hammer, which IS a claw hammer). But the Plato hammer has a simple wedge on the other side. Maybe a German almost never has the need to pull out nails again, /schweinhund/! :-) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.103|162.158.158.103]] 08:08, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 06:02, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
::: Well, this quiz is about English dialects, so German words aren't very relevant, and that term includes "hammer" as part of it anyway, as with most terms an English speaker would call this type of hammer, as people would indeed recognize it as a type of hammer and understand anyone referring to it as just "hammer" even if they might have a more specific name for the variety of hammer it is. People would not normally use the terms listed here for it.--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.109|162.158.74.109]] 08:49, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
* Yeah, I was thinking it was a claw hammer, also. I do have a friend that pronounces the word jen-er-uh, even though I have specifically said the word correctly around him after he has used it. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 00:40, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: "genera" is a word. I typed it into Google, marvelled at the incomprehensible phonetic version, and tapped a speaker button. My computer said "Genera" and a box popped up that reads "Learn to pronounce", which I consider to be rude. But after all, I pressed the button. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.225|162.158.158.225]] 00:51, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Russian probe sent to Venus? And I'm so confident about that, that I shall not even check before posting. (No idea how it's said in Russian, but the Anglophone versios doesn't differ between anglophonic countries as much as "Moscow" does.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.72|162.158.155.72]] 01:34, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Yeah, yeah, so I now know I merged two different Russian space-thingies. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.140|162.158.159.140]] 01:40, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Ok, who’s the joker that put “Citation needed” at the end of “ "Google" is not generally pronounced with a high-pitched yelp on either syllable.[citation needed]”<br />
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"Many-legged scaly creature" makes me think of silverfish, centipedes or millipedes, though they have exoskeletons rather than scales, and ''certainly'' don't eat light bulbs. It seems to me that a segmented exoskeleton is reminiscent of scales, though. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.167|162.158.154.167]] 07:37, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Question 8 sounds like a hybrid, to me, with another part coming from a glow worm / firefly question. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.12|141.101.68.12]] 10:19, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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13 seems to be referring to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pholcidae these] to me. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.52.169|173.245.52.169]] 12:30, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Please feel free to edit/condense my rambly explanation of shallots/scallions. Debating removing the second and third detailed paragraphs entirely. I'm from NSW and have seen confusion on recipes posted online so not exactly impartial. [[Special:Contributions/103.22.201.134|103.22.201.134]] 16:40, 15 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I'm half remembering in the original Thunderbirds series, an old NASA colleague of Geoff Tracey who 'poses' as an generic ¿Deep South? country-bumpkin/local-yokel (grown up in the area, though obviously smart enough to get into NASA and then later 'retire' to become a trusted International Rescue local agent... or so I may extrapolate) calling Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, with whom he was clearly familiar, "Penn elope" (to "rhyme with antelope"). I shall have to dig up my complete VHS tapes to confirm... and probably spend a couple of days just watching them all, for old times' sake ...but clearly the script called for an uneducated (mis)pronunciation of her name - maybe feigned as part of his act/through habit. So if it aint an actual misconception/affectation by ''someone'', that the scriptwriters (or voice-actor) used, then it needs far more explanation. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.72|162.158.155.72]] 02:43, 16 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Re: "genre" - what about the Alex Trebek pronunciation? [[User:QoopyQoopy|QoopyQoopy]] ([[User talk:QoopyQoopy|talk]]) 03:52, 16 October 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Anecdotal, I know, but I've never heard someone pronounce "genre" the same way they pronounce "Alex Trebek".<br />
Also it was only a few months ago I figured out that Scallions weren't Scallops, so they can indeed easily be confused (in discussion, not when actually present, hopefully!) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 06:56, 16 October 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2335:_Photo_Deposit&diff=196059Talk:2335: Photo Deposit2020-08-17T06:13:03Z<p>PotatoGod: Add a .</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 />
<br />
Depositing cash through a smartphone app was one of the silliest and most useful features in GTA V. Unfortunately, depositing money would not duplicate it. Presumably the characters in the game are very honest and trustworthy, destroying any cash instantly after scanning it in. This honesty is to be expected from thieving killers such as these.<br />
<br />
You can also withdraw cash via the app. How that works is beyond me.<br />
<br />
--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 23:38, 20 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A frequent joke in "The Goon Show" on 1950s British radio was the offer of a printed photograph of usually a small sum of money, treated as the photograph actually having value itself. Sometimes it's a phonograph disc. And sometimes the money represented turns out to be a forgery. In a less silly context, the photograph might be considered as an I.O.U., as evidence that the money exists and will be paid... which is what a banknote is, really. But in practice someone influencing you with pictures of money might be dishonest. Bank advertising for instance.<br />
<br />
Wikipedia's article on "The Goon Show running jokes" (!) doesn't mention money photographs, although there is a reference to handing out pictures of Queen Victoria, especially in historical stories. Pictures of Queen Victoria may be on older money, but these ones don't seem to be.<br />
<br />
Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.26|141.101.98.26]] 08:18, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Search for "photo"(graph) in http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e07_foiled_by_president_fred for the instant(s) that came straight to my mind, being recently broadcast. (I assume you're familiar with LSD?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.14|162.158.159.14]] 09:38, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Other nations ... have started introducing plastic banknotes" Lol. Australia had *finished* introducing plastic bank notes 30 years ago. [https://csiropedia.csiro.au/polymer-banknotes/] [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 01:43, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hmm. How much money would that be? Say each photo is 4MB and your upload speed is 25 or so Mb/s. Each upload would take about 1.3 secs. We'll round up to 1.5. To keep it simple, we'll say that they have a stack of bills, and are able to scan each new bill within those 1.5 seconds. Now, if the bank allows you to upload $100 bills, without any rate limiting, you'd be able to make $400/min (the same as the what if article, weird). Which means that in six hours, they could make $144,000 dollars! Of course, this is mostly guesswork, but it should be somewhere in the ballpark. <br />
Could be a little more: Smaller photos, better network.<br />
Or a lot less: Most people don't have $144,000 in cash ready at a moment's notice, and scanning could take more than 1.5 secs. <br />
Of course, if this was a feature that was announced, and they had time to prepare....<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.102|108.162.245.102]] 04:11, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: $100*(60/1.5)sec = $4000 per min, or $1.44 million in 6 hours. You forgot that there are 2 phones, so double that. Also, you wouldn't need ALL the money, you (or an assistant) can take the money already scanned to another bank and swap it for new cash, repeat. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.173|162.158.123.173]] 17:57, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
The feature of depositing check is this new or old... Is it something from before or after the Corona outbreak? It is a smart feature to avoid visits to banks during the pandemic - also the money thing, which of course is not realistic irl. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:19, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:depositing checks by smartphone is old, going back to 2018 if not earlier, and the depositing of currency could be realistic if bills used blockchain ledger entries instead of easily guessed serial numbers and everyone verified every currency transaction against the blockchain every time (this would end counterfeiting as a side effect). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 09:53, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Yes but that entirely defeats the purpose of cash, if you have to verify every transaction against a database. Also blockchain is entirely unnecessary. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 06:11, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:The Chase app started allowing deposits ten years ago. See this article from ten years ago today: https://phys.org/news/2010-07-banking-deposit-smart-phone-photo.html [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:44, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it by the way illegal to even take a picture of banknote? I know printing one out is... Even if only one side and not very good quality. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:27, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:if taking pictures of banknotes is illegal then bank security cameras (and security cameras in many retail establishments and casinos) are routinely breaking the law. Also, aren’t change machines taking a picture as part of their anti-counterfeiting circuits? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 09:58, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Even printing banknote is legal if you follow some rules. I read that you need to make it bigger than 150% or smaller than 75% of real size, although details may vary depending on country. Of course, doesn't change the fact that your graphics program might refuse to work with that image and your printer may refuse to print it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Not to mention that the act of depositing a check over a smartphone has been a thing for several years, so all the banks that offer this feature would be breaking the law as well. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 23:12, 1 August 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I know it's acceptable in the 'colonial' idiom, but seeing "cheques" spelt as "checks" always confuses me for a micromoment. As well as imagining a test/verification being somehow a bartered service, I'm only just getting past it also being a bill-of-fare (in the UK we may pay a bill with a cheque, over there you can pay a check with a bill). But carry on carrying on! I'll get my coat. (If I can find the coat-check.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.100|162.158.159.100]] 10:01, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, we need to spell it as "chex" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.173|162.158.123.173]] 17:46, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why is cryptocurrency in there, it seems tangential at best? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:01, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:The more paranoid (or stand-offish for their own good reasons) Crypto users might not even connect bitwallets electronically but pass a transaction-code by other means (retyped from hardcopy, or rescan an on-screen generated QR, depending on requirements) and then rely upon the decentralised 'audit book' checking and authorising that transaction with minimal{{Citation needed}} risk of subsequent tracing-and-linking-together by The Man/whoever. I think it's both far too paranoid ''and'' not paranoid enough, in equal measure, if you're trying to keep your associations off-grid, but it seems there are those who seem to like doing it that way. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 20:35, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:cryptocurrency seems relevant, as the subject is about transmitting currency electronically and 'crypto' is about the closest thing you can get to real electronic cash [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.162|162.158.75.162]] 15:21, 23 July 2020 (UTC) Sam<br />
<br />
The explanation seems excessive, given how obvious the joke is. [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 04:58, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Curse my memory over ~10-15years! I vaguely remember a traveler focused bank that accepted cash deposits. They'd add the amount to your account, you could spend it and they'd cover the costs, and if you didn't have the bills submitted to one of their locations across the globe within a certain amount of time they'd rip you a new one in fees. The photos had to be perfect, and even then they were up for review and could be rejected by a human who didn't like the background it was sitting on. I remember my parents only ever used it once and needed my help understanding it so it was just right. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 18:50, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This reminds me of that time Domino's allowed you to earn points to a free pizza by taking pictures of pizza. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.44|172.69.34.44]] 22:34, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:When you got your free Pepperoni from that, did they put the slices on in the EURion pattern? ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.71|162.158.154.71]] 23:03, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::I didn't actually do that. I'd rather eat somewhere else. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.124|108.162.215.124]] 19:06, 25 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder if Randall is subtly responding to the current coin shortage in the US, and the following wave of conspiracy theorists call it as a sign of an oncoming "cashless society" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.162|162.158.75.162]] 15:21, 23 July 2020 (UTC) Sam<br />
:I hadn't heard about that, what states or news agencies are talking about that? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.210|108.162.216.210]] 18:02, 24 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
Am I the only one that has contemplated this concept before, and consider it theoretically workable-ish, with the addition of a feature to destroy (burn or otherwise) the original bill? Obviously there'd be other complexities, such as preventing countermeasures to the destruction, and where does the bank's copy of the money come from (presumably register the cash as destroyed to the government, and the treasury pays the bank accordingly.)<br />
<br />
The other similar context where I'd like something similar is with modern video game systems, such as the PS4, where the physical disk isn't actually used for playing the game, other than as an alternative to downloading it, and to verify you still own a copy. I find it much more convenient to just select between downloaded games without a disk, yet occasionally still have to insert or remove a disk given as a gift, or included with the system. I'd love an option for the PlayStation itself to destroy the disk, and in the process add a copy of the game to my account, so I'd no longer need to mess with the disk at all. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 06:12, 17 August 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2335:_Photo_Deposit&diff=196058Talk:2335: Photo Deposit2020-08-17T06:12:19Z<p>PotatoGod: Make this really plz</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
Depositing cash through a smartphone app was one of the silliest and most useful features in GTA V. Unfortunately, depositing money would not duplicate it. Presumably the characters in the game are very honest and trustworthy, destroying any cash instantly after scanning it in. This honesty is to be expected from thieving killers such as these.<br />
<br />
You can also withdraw cash via the app. How that works is beyond me.<br />
<br />
--[[User:NeatNit|NeatNit]] ([[User talk:NeatNit|talk]]) 23:38, 20 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
A frequent joke in "The Goon Show" on 1950s British radio was the offer of a printed photograph of usually a small sum of money, treated as the photograph actually having value itself. Sometimes it's a phonograph disc. And sometimes the money represented turns out to be a forgery. In a less silly context, the photograph might be considered as an I.O.U., as evidence that the money exists and will be paid... which is what a banknote is, really. But in practice someone influencing you with pictures of money might be dishonest. Bank advertising for instance.<br />
<br />
Wikipedia's article on "The Goon Show running jokes" (!) doesn't mention money photographs, although there is a reference to handing out pictures of Queen Victoria, especially in historical stories. Pictures of Queen Victoria may be on older money, but these ones don't seem to be.<br />
<br />
Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@excite.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.26|141.101.98.26]] 08:18, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Search for "photo"(graph) in http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e07_foiled_by_president_fred for the instant(s) that came straight to my mind, being recently broadcast. (I assume you're familiar with LSD?) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.14|162.158.159.14]] 09:38, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Other nations ... have started introducing plastic banknotes" Lol. Australia had *finished* introducing plastic bank notes 30 years ago. [https://csiropedia.csiro.au/polymer-banknotes/] [[User:Boatster|Boatster]] ([[User talk:Boatster|talk]]) 01:43, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Hmm. How much money would that be? Say each photo is 4MB and your upload speed is 25 or so Mb/s. Each upload would take about 1.3 secs. We'll round up to 1.5. To keep it simple, we'll say that they have a stack of bills, and are able to scan each new bill within those 1.5 seconds. Now, if the bank allows you to upload $100 bills, without any rate limiting, you'd be able to make $400/min (the same as the what if article, weird). Which means that in six hours, they could make $144,000 dollars! Of course, this is mostly guesswork, but it should be somewhere in the ballpark. <br />
Could be a little more: Smaller photos, better network.<br />
Or a lot less: Most people don't have $144,000 in cash ready at a moment's notice, and scanning could take more than 1.5 secs. <br />
Of course, if this was a feature that was announced, and they had time to prepare....<br />
[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.102|108.162.245.102]] 04:11, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
: $100*(60/1.5)sec = $4000 per min, or $1.44 million in 6 hours. You forgot that there are 2 phones, so double that. Also, you wouldn't need ALL the money, you (or an assistant) can take the money already scanned to another bank and swap it for new cash, repeat. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.173|162.158.123.173]] 17:57, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
The feature of depositing check is this new or old... Is it something from before or after the Corona outbreak? It is a smart feature to avoid visits to banks during the pandemic - also the money thing, which of course is not realistic irl. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:19, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:depositing checks by smartphone is old, going back to 2018 if not earlier, and the depositing of currency could be realistic if bills used blockchain ledger entries instead of easily guessed serial numbers and everyone verified every currency transaction against the blockchain every time (this would end counterfeiting as a side effect). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 09:53, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Yes but that entirely defeats the purpose of cash, if you have to verify every transaction against a database. Also blockchain is entirely unnecessary. [[User:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|Probably not Douglas Hofstadter]] ([[User talk:Probably not Douglas Hofstadter|talk]]) 06:11, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:The Chase app started allowing deposits ten years ago. See this article from ten years ago today: https://phys.org/news/2010-07-banking-deposit-smart-phone-photo.html [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 03:44, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is it by the way illegal to even take a picture of banknote? I know printing one out is... Even if only one side and not very good quality. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 09:27, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:if taking pictures of banknotes is illegal then bank security cameras (and security cameras in many retail establishments and casinos) are routinely breaking the law. Also, aren’t change machines taking a picture as part of their anti-counterfeiting circuits? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 09:58, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Even printing banknote is legal if you follow some rules. I read that you need to make it bigger than 150% or smaller than 75% of real size, although details may vary depending on country. Of course, doesn't change the fact that your graphics program might refuse to work with that image and your printer may refuse to print it. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:39, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Not to mention that the act of depositing a check over a smartphone has been a thing for several years, so all the banks that offer this feature would be breaking the law as well. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.172|162.158.63.172]] 23:12, 1 August 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I know it's acceptable in the 'colonial' idiom, but seeing "cheques" spelt as "checks" always confuses me for a micromoment. As well as imagining a test/verification being somehow a bartered service, I'm only just getting past it also being a bill-of-fare (in the UK we may pay a bill with a cheque, over there you can pay a check with a bill). But carry on carrying on! I'll get my coat. (If I can find the coat-check.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.100|162.158.159.100]] 10:01, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Yes, we need to spell it as "chex" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.123.173|162.158.123.173]] 17:46, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why is cryptocurrency in there, it seems tangential at best? [[User:Djbrasier|Djbrasier]] ([[User talk:Djbrasier|talk]]) 19:01, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:The more paranoid (or stand-offish for their own good reasons) Crypto users might not even connect bitwallets electronically but pass a transaction-code by other means (retyped from hardcopy, or rescan an on-screen generated QR, depending on requirements) and then rely upon the decentralised 'audit book' checking and authorising that transaction with minimal{{Citation needed}} risk of subsequent tracing-and-linking-together by The Man/whoever. I think it's both far too paranoid ''and'' not paranoid enough, in equal measure, if you're trying to keep your associations off-grid, but it seems there are those who seem to like doing it that way. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.222|141.101.98.222]] 20:35, 21 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:cryptocurrency seems relevant, as the subject is about transmitting currency electronically and 'crypto' is about the closest thing you can get to real electronic cash [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.162|162.158.75.162]] 15:21, 23 July 2020 (UTC) Sam<br />
<br />
The explanation seems excessive, given how obvious the joke is. [[User:Gvanrossum|Gvanrossum]] ([[User talk:Gvanrossum|talk]]) 04:58, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Curse my memory over ~10-15years! I vaguely remember a traveler focused bank that accepted cash deposits. They'd add the amount to your account, you could spend it and they'd cover the costs, and if you didn't have the bills submitted to one of their locations across the globe within a certain amount of time they'd rip you a new one in fees. The photos had to be perfect, and even then they were up for review and could be rejected by a human who didn't like the background it was sitting on. I remember my parents only ever used it once and needed my help understanding it so it was just right. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.34|108.162.216.34]] 18:50, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This reminds me of that time Domino's allowed you to earn points to a free pizza by taking pictures of pizza. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.44|172.69.34.44]] 22:34, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
:When you got your free Pepperoni from that, did they put the slices on in the EURion pattern? ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.71|162.158.154.71]] 23:03, 22 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
::I didn't actually do that. I'd rather eat somewhere else. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.124|108.162.215.124]] 19:06, 25 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I wonder if Randall is subtly responding to the current coin shortage in the US, and the following wave of conspiracy theorists call it as a sign of an oncoming "cashless society" [[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.162|162.158.75.162]] 15:21, 23 July 2020 (UTC) Sam<br />
:I hadn't heard about that, what states or news agencies are talking about that? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.210|108.162.216.210]] 18:02, 24 July 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
Am I the only one that has contemplated this concept before, and consider it theoretically workable-ish, with the addition of a feature to destroy (burn or otherwise) the original bill? Obviously there'd be other complexities, such as preventing countermeasures to the destruction, and where does the bank's copy of the money come from (presumably register the cash as destroyed to the government, and the treasury pays the bank accordingly.<br />
<br />
The other similar context where I'd like something similar is with modern video game systems, such as the PS4, where the physical disk isn't actually used for playing the game, other than as an alternative to downloading it, and to verify you still own a copy. I find it much more convenient to just select between downloaded games without a disk, yet occasionally still have to insert or remove a disk given as a gift, or included with the system. I'd love an option for the PlayStation itself to destroy the disk, and in the process add a copy of the game to my account, so I'd no longer need to mess with the disk at all. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 06:12, 17 August 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2319:_Large_Number_Formats&diff=1934522319: Large Number Formats2020-06-15T06:08:10Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Table of types */ add wikilink for hexadecimal for the unfamiliar</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2319<br />
| date = June 12, 2020<br />
| title = Large Number Formats<br />
| image = large number formats-2.png<br />
| titletext = 10^13.4024: A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows what the way you write large numbers says about you. Different people use different methods to express large numbers. And this comic claims it can tell something about you based on the way you format large numbers. In this way, the comic is similar in idea to [[977: Map Projections]], where it was your choice of map projections that could tell something about you.<br />
<br />
See the [[#Table of types|table]] below for each of the 10 different ways to express large numbers, plus the 11th mentioned in the title text.<br />
<br />
The number used as an example is the [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Distance+to+Jupiter+in+inches approximate distance] from the planet {{w|Earth}} to the planet {{w|Jupiter}} as of the release day of the comic on June 12th 2020, in {{w|inch|inches}} (1 inch = 2.54 cm).<br />
<br />
Two days after the release of the comic the following text could be found on [https://theskylive.com/jupiter-info Jupiter info] on [https://theskylive.com/ The Sky Live].<br />
:The distance of Jupiter from Earth is currently 640,084,108 kilometers, equivalent to 4.278698 Astronomical Units. Light takes 35 minutes and 35.0908 seconds to travel from Jupiter and arrive on Earth.<br />
<br />
64,008,410,800,000 cm / 2.54 inches/cm = 25,200,161,732,283 inches - much less than the number used in the comic. But Jupiter's distance to Earth changes quite quickly, and was decreasing at the time of the release of the comic. <br />
<br />
According to a graph of the distance as a function of time on The Sky Live, the distance on the release day was 643,1 million km. This will give 25,3<sup>13</sup> which the used number will round to. <br />
<br />
The used number 25,259,974,097,204 is equivalent to 641,6 million km. On June 13th the distance is given as 641,7 million km in the graph on The Sky Live, very close to the number used. As this was the day after the release of this comic, it seems like [[Randall]] used a different distance than the exact one for the release day. He may have also used an average for June which would be 642 million km based on the average of the distance on June and July 1st.<br />
<br />
==Table of types==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Number<br />
! Type of person<br />
! Notes<br />
|-<br />
| 25,259,974,097,204<br />
| Normal Person<br />
| This is the full number, 25259974097204, written out in the normal fashion, with commas to indicate powers of 1000. Although writing out the number in full is indeed a common action for normal people, the specific comma convention depicted here is only considered normal in the Anglo-Saxon world; conventions for writing large numbers in full vary considerably across cultures. For example, in countries where the comma is used as a {{w|decimal separator}} (including Europe outside the UK), one would write the number as 25.259.974.097.204 (or 25'259'974'097'204 in Switzerland, or 25 259 974 097 204 in Poland, France and Estonia). Under the {{w|Indian numbering system}}, this number would be written as 25,25,997,40,97,204. <br />
|-<br />
| 25 Trillion<br />
| Normal Person<br />
| This is the number, rounded to trillions in the normal fashion.<br />
|-<br />
| 25 Billion<br />
| Old British Person<br />
| In current English usage, across the Anglophonic world with some hold-outs, an n-illion means 10^(3n+3) as per the {{w|short scale}} system popularised by American influence in international trade, so a trillion means 10^12, as above. However, older British English use had an n-illion meaning 10^(6n) (i.e. the simpler calculation of ''million^n''), so a billion meant 10^12. The change stems from a 1974 commitment by Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister of the UK at the time, to change from the {{w|long scale}} (previously often described as the British system) to the short one for all official purposes.<br />
<br />
Though not instantly widely adopted for common usage, the mid-'70s could therefore be considered the key turning point between when an older or younger British person learns (as the change filters through the system at various stages of education) what their "Billion"s and "Trillion"s are supposed to represent.<br />
<br />
As well as 'traditionalist' British use, the long scale is widely used in the non-Anglophone world, in local language versions, though while the British system tended to infill n-and-a-half powers of the million with the term "thousand n-illion", the suffix "-illi''ard''", or equivalent, is often used for the thousands multiple directly atop the respective "-illion" point.<br />
|-<br />
|2.526x10<sup>13</sup><br />
|Scientist<br />
|This number is formatted in {{w|scientific notation}}, using the exponent 10<sup>13</sup>.<br />
|-<br />
| 2.525997x10<sup>13</sup><br />
| Scientist trying to avoid rounding up<br />
| Using as many decimal places as necessary until hitting a digit (0-4) that results in rounding down, even if it goes against the common scientific practice of reporting the correct amount of "significant figures". [[:File:large number formats.png|A previous version of the comic]] had a typo (the number was ''2.5997x10<sup>13</sup>''), but Randall updated the comic.<br />
|-<br />
| 2.526e13 or<br />
2.526*10^13<br />
| Software developer <br />
| The first example is how the number would be expressed as a floating point number in scientific notation in [https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Literals/Floating_point most common programming languages]. The second example is a technically correct way of expressing the same thing in some programming languages in which exponentiation is indicated by the ^ operator. However writing it that way instead of the first way could be considered quirky, as it is written as an instruction to the computer to calculate the product of a number with 10 raised to power 13, instead of just writing the number (although in many situations the compiler or preprocessor would detect this and solve it correctly, making it functionally identical to the first case). A software developer might write it that way if they are a novice who is not familiar with the first notation, or they could simply have an personal preference that considers the second version easier to read. Perhaps an additional joke for the second version is that it is the standard scientific notation with the x for multiplication and superscript for raising to a power replaced with the notation used in many programming languages of * and ^, i.e., a software developer writing down a number in scientific notation, not necessarily while writing a program, would by habit write a * for multiplication and a ^ for exponentiation. <br />
|-<br />
| 25,259,973,541,888<br />
| Software developer who forgot about floats<br />
| The two most common computer {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating-point}} formats are the IEEE 754 {{w|Single-precision floating-point format|single-precision}} and {{w|Double-precision floating-point format|double-precision}} representations. These are ''binary'' floating-point formats, representing numbers as the quantity ''a'' &times; 2<sup>''e''</sup>, for some fractional number ''a'' and exponent ''e''. Both the values ''a'' and ''e'' have a fixed size in bits, and therefore a finite range. In single-precision, ''a'' and ''e'' have (effectively) 24 and 8 bits, respectively, while in double precision the effective sizes are 53 and 11 bits.<br />
<br />
Fully representing the number 25,259,974,097,204 (in any format) requires at least 45 bits. Therefore this number cannot be represented exactly as a single-precision float. The closest possible representations are 0.717931628 &times; 2<sup>45</sup> and 0.717931688 &times; 2<sup>45</sup>; these work out to 25,259,973,541,888 and 25,259,975,639,040, respectively. Of these, the one ending in 888 is considerably closer to the original, so is chosen due to {{w|rounding}}. (Naturally these numbers are represented internally in binary, not decimal; the actual representations, in {{w|hexadecimal}}, are <tt>0.b7ca5e</tt> &times; 2<sup><tt></tt>2d</sup> and <tt>0.b7ca5f</tt> &times; 2<sup><tt></tt>2d</sup>.)<br />
<br />
In many programming languages, the keyword to request a single-precision floating-point variable is <tt>float</tt>, while the keyword to request double-precision is <tt>double</tt>. It is an easy mistake to make to forget about the limited precision available with type <tt>float</tt>, especially since its name sounds like what you want for "floating point". (Had the programmer remembered to use type <tt>double</tt>, the number 25,259,974,097,204 could have been represented exactly (still in hexadecimal), as <tt>0.b7ca5e43c9a000</tt> &times; 2<sup><tt></tt>2d</sup>.)<br />
|-<br />
| 10<sup>13</sup><br />
| Astronomer<br />
| For extremely large distances, astronomers typically only care about orders of magnitude, e.g. whether a number is 10<sup>13</sup>, as opposed to 10<sup>12</sup> or 10<sup>14</sup>. Randall often jokes about the lack of precision needed by astronomers, such as in [[2205: Types of Approximation]] where the astronomer-cosmologist is equally willing to make pi equal to one, or ten. The original number is rounded to the nearest power of ten.<br />
|-<br />
| {∅,{∅},{∅,{∅}},{∅,{∅},{...<br />
| Set theorist<br />
| In {{w|Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory}}, the natural numbers are defined recursively by letting 0 = ∅ (the {{w|empty set}}), and ''n'' + 1 = ''n'' ∪ {''n''}. So, every natural number ''n'' is the set of all natural numbers less than ''n'', and since 0 is defined as the empty set, all numbers are nested sets of empty sets. Note that writing out the full number in this fashion would take more than its square in number of characters; that is to say, if each character took up one square inch, this "number" would not fit on a square piece of paper whose edge reached to Jupiter.<br />
|-<br />
| 1,262,998,704,860 score and four<br />
| Abraham Lincoln<br />
| In the {{W|Gettysburg Address}}, Lincoln speaks the number "87" as "four score and seven" ("score" meaning "20"). Base-20 or {{w|vigesimal}} numeral systems are or have been used in pre-Columbian-American, African and many other cultures. In French it is used only for higher numbers (e.g. 92 = quatre-vingt-douze). In English it can appear in certain archaic and classic contexts, such as the King James translation of the Bible ("threescore years and ten" to be the life expectancy of a human according to Psalm 90:10). In these cases, a number is written in "score" (multiples of 20) plus a remainder. In this case 1,262,998,704,860 * 20 + 4 yields the exact number.<br />
|-<br />
| 10^13.4024 ''(title text)''<br />
| A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field<br />
| In some fields of mathematics, especially those dealing with very {{w|large numbers}}, numbers are sometimes represented by raising ten (or some other convenient base) to an oddly precise power, to facilitate comparison of their magnitudes without filling up pages upon pages of digits. An example of this is {{w|Skewes's number}}, which is formally calculated to be ''e''<sup>''e''<sup>''e''<sup>79</sup></sup></sup>, but is more commonly approximated as 10<sup>10<sup>10<sup>34</sup></sup></sup>. 13.4024 is a rounded version of the {{w|common logarithm}} of 25,259,974,097,204 (log<sub>10</sub> 25,259,974,097,204 = 13.4024329009); thus, this "format" is still mathematically correct, but uncommon. However, only by using many more digits will the result get close enough to be rounded to the original number 10^13.40243290087302 = 25,259,974,097,203.5, which would round up to the correct number. This number 10^13.4024 = 25,258,060,548,319.6 deviating almost 2 billion from the correct number<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A panel only with text. At the top there is four lines of explanatory text. Below that are 2 columns with 5 rows of number formats. Each numerical format is in red, with black text explaining the format below it.]<br />
<br />
:<big>What the way you write large numbers says about you</big><br />
:(Using the approximate current distance to Jupiter in inches as an example)<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">25,259,974,097,204</span><br />
:Normal person<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">25 trillion</span><br />
:Normal person<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">25 billion</span><br />
:Old British person<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">2.526x10<sup>13</sup></span><br />
:Scientist<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">2.525997x10<sup>13</sup></span><br />
:Scientist trying to avoid rounding up<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">2.526e13 or 2.526*10^13</span><br />
:Software developer<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">25,259,973,541,888</span><br />
:Software developer who forgot about floats<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">10<sup>13</sup></span><br />
:Astronomer<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">{∅,{∅},{∅,{∅}},{∅,{∅},{...</span><br />
:Set theorist<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">1,262,998,704,860 score and four</span><br />
:Abraham Lincoln<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2319:_Large_Number_Formats&diff=1934512319: Large Number Formats2020-06-15T06:05:17Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Table of types */ Clarifications regarding the software developer aspects</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2319<br />
| date = June 12, 2020<br />
| title = Large Number Formats<br />
| image = large number formats-2.png<br />
| titletext = 10^13.4024: A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
This comic shows what the way you write large numbers says about you. Different people use different methods to express large numbers. And this comic claims it can tell something about you based on the way you format large numbers. In this way, the comic is similar in idea to [[977: Map Projections]], where it was your choice of map projections that could tell something about you.<br />
<br />
See the [[#Table of types|table]] below for each of the 10 different ways to express large numbers, plus the 11th mentioned in the title text.<br />
<br />
The number used as an example is the [https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Distance+to+Jupiter+in+inches approximate distance] from the planet {{w|Earth}} to the planet {{w|Jupiter}} as of the release day of the comic on June 12th 2020, in {{w|inch|inches}} (1 inch = 2.54 cm).<br />
<br />
Two days after the release of the comic the following text could be found on [https://theskylive.com/jupiter-info Jupiter info] on [https://theskylive.com/ The Sky Live].<br />
:The distance of Jupiter from Earth is currently 640,084,108 kilometers, equivalent to 4.278698 Astronomical Units. Light takes 35 minutes and 35.0908 seconds to travel from Jupiter and arrive on Earth.<br />
<br />
64,008,410,800,000 cm / 2.54 inches/cm = 25,200,161,732,283 inches - much less than the number used in the comic. But Jupiter's distance to Earth changes quite quickly, and was decreasing at the time of the release of the comic. <br />
<br />
According to a graph of the distance as a function of time on The Sky Live, the distance on the release day was 643,1 million km. This will give 25,3<sup>13</sup> which the used number will round to. <br />
<br />
The used number 25,259,974,097,204 is equivalent to 641,6 million km. On June 13th the distance is given as 641,7 million km in the graph on The Sky Live, very close to the number used. As this was the day after the release of this comic, it seems like [[Randall]] used a different distance than the exact one for the release day. He may have also used an average for June which would be 642 million km based on the average of the distance on June and July 1st.<br />
<br />
==Table of types==<br />
{| class="wikitable"<br />
|-<br />
! Number<br />
! Type of person<br />
! Notes<br />
|-<br />
| 25,259,974,097,204<br />
| Normal Person<br />
| This is the full number, 25259974097204, written out in the normal fashion, with commas to indicate powers of 1000. Although writing out the number in full is indeed a common action for normal people, the specific comma convention depicted here is only considered normal in the Anglo-Saxon world; conventions for writing large numbers in full vary considerably across cultures. For example, in countries where the comma is used as a {{w|decimal separator}} (including Europe outside the UK), one would write the number as 25.259.974.097.204 (or 25'259'974'097'204 in Switzerland, or 25 259 974 097 204 in Poland, France and Estonia). Under the {{w|Indian numbering system}}, this number would be written as 25,25,997,40,97,204. <br />
|-<br />
| 25 Trillion<br />
| Normal Person<br />
| This is the number, rounded to trillions in the normal fashion.<br />
|-<br />
| 25 Billion<br />
| Old British Person<br />
| In current English usage, across the Anglophonic world with some hold-outs, an n-illion means 10^(3n+3) as per the {{w|short scale}} system popularised by American influence in international trade, so a trillion means 10^12, as above. However, older British English use had an n-illion meaning 10^(6n) (i.e. the simpler calculation of ''million^n''), so a billion meant 10^12. The change stems from a 1974 commitment by Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister of the UK at the time, to change from the {{w|long scale}} (previously often described as the British system) to the short one for all official purposes.<br />
<br />
Though not instantly widely adopted for common usage, the mid-'70s could therefore be considered the key turning point between when an older or younger British person learns (as the change filters through the system at various stages of education) what their "Billion"s and "Trillion"s are supposed to represent.<br />
<br />
As well as 'traditionalist' British use, the long scale is widely used in the non-Anglophone world, in local language versions, though while the British system tended to infill n-and-a-half powers of the million with the term "thousand n-illion", the suffix "-illi''ard''", or equivalent, is often used for the thousands multiple directly atop the respective "-illion" point.<br />
|-<br />
|2.526x10<sup>13</sup><br />
|Scientist<br />
|This number is formatted in {{w|scientific notation}}, using the exponent 10<sup>13</sup>.<br />
|-<br />
| 2.525997x10<sup>13</sup><br />
| Scientist trying to avoid rounding up<br />
| Using as many decimal places as necessary until hitting a digit (0-4) that results in rounding down, even if it goes against the common scientific practice of reporting the correct amount of "significant figures". [[:File:large number formats.png|A previous version of the comic]] had a typo (the number was ''2.5997x10<sup>13</sup>''), but Randall updated the comic.<br />
|-<br />
| 2.526e13 or<br />
2.526*10^13<br />
| Software developer <br />
| The first example is how the number would be expressed as a floating point number in scientific notation in [https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Literals/Floating_point most common programming languages]. The second example is a technically correct way of expressing the same thing in some programming languages in which exponentiation is indicated by the ^ operator. However writing it that way instead of the first way could be considered quirky, as it is written as an instruction to the computer to calculate the product of a number with 10 raised to power 13, instead of just writing the number (although in many situations the compiler or preprocessor would detect this and solve it correctly, making it functionally identical to the first case). A software developer might write it that way if they are a novice who is not familiar with the first notation, or they could simply have an personal preference that considers the second version easier to read. Perhaps an additional joke for the second version is that it is the standard scientific notation with the x for multiplication and superscript for raising to a power replaced with the notation used in many programming languages of * and ^, i.e., a software developer writing down a number in scientific notation, not necessarily while writing a program, would by habit write a * for multiplication and a ^ for exponentiation. <br />
|-<br />
| 25,259,973,541,888<br />
| Software developer who forgot about floats<br />
| The two most common computer {{w|Floating-point arithmetic|floating-point}} formats are the IEEE 754 {{w|Single-precision floating-point format|single-precision}} and {{w|Double-precision floating-point format|double-precision}} representations. These are ''binary'' floating-point formats, representing numbers as the quantity ''a'' &times; 2<sup>''e''</sup>, for some fractional number ''a'' and exponent ''e''. Both the values ''a'' and ''e'' have a fixed size in bits, and therefore a finite range. In single-precision, ''a'' and ''e'' have (effectively) 24 and 8 bits, respectively, while in double precision the effective sizes are 53 and 11 bits.<br />
<br />
Fully representing the number 25,259,974,097,204 (in any format) requires at least 45 bits. Therefore this number cannot be represented exactly as a single-precision float. The closest possible representations are 0.717931628 &times; 2<sup>45</sup> and 0.717931688 &times; 2<sup>45</sup>; these work out to 25,259,973,541,888 and 25,259,975,639,040, respectively. Of these, the one ending in 888 is considerably closer to the original, so is chosen due to {{w|rounding}}. (Naturally these numbers are represented internally in binary, not decimal; the actual representations, in hexadecimal, are <tt>0.b7ca5e</tt> &times; 2<sup><tt></tt>2d</sup> and <tt>0.b7ca5f</tt> &times; 2<sup><tt></tt>2d</sup>.)<br />
<br />
In many programming languages, the keyword to request a single-precision floating-point variable is <tt>float</tt>, while the keyword to request double-precision is <tt>double</tt>. It is an easy mistake to make to forget about the limited precision available with type <tt>float</tt>, especially since its name sounds like what you want for "floating point". (Had the programmer remembered to use type <tt>double</tt>, the number 25,259,974,097,204 could have been represented exactly (still in hexadecimal), as <tt>0.b7ca5e43c9a000</tt> &times; 2<sup><tt></tt>2d</sup>.)<br />
|-<br />
| 10<sup>13</sup><br />
| Astronomer<br />
| For extremely large distances, astronomers typically only care about orders of magnitude, e.g. whether a number is 10<sup>13</sup>, as opposed to 10<sup>12</sup> or 10<sup>14</sup>. Randall often jokes about the lack of precision needed by astronomers, such as in [[2205: Types of Approximation]] where the astronomer-cosmologist is equally willing to make pi equal to one, or ten. The original number is rounded to the nearest power of ten.<br />
|-<br />
| {∅,{∅},{∅,{∅}},{∅,{∅},{...<br />
| Set theorist<br />
| In {{w|Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory}}, the natural numbers are defined recursively by letting 0 = ∅ (the {{w|empty set}}), and ''n'' + 1 = ''n'' ∪ {''n''}. So, every natural number ''n'' is the set of all natural numbers less than ''n'', and since 0 is defined as the empty set, all numbers are nested sets of empty sets. Note that writing out the full number in this fashion would take more than its square in number of characters; that is to say, if each character took up one square inch, this "number" would not fit on a square piece of paper whose edge reached to Jupiter.<br />
|-<br />
| 1,262,998,704,860 score and four<br />
| Abraham Lincoln<br />
| In the {{W|Gettysburg Address}}, Lincoln speaks the number "87" as "four score and seven" ("score" meaning "20"). Base-20 or {{w|vigesimal}} numeral systems are or have been used in pre-Columbian-American, African and many other cultures. In French it is used only for higher numbers (e.g. 92 = quatre-vingt-douze). In English it can appear in certain archaic and classic contexts, such as the King James translation of the Bible ("threescore years and ten" to be the life expectancy of a human according to Psalm 90:10). In these cases, a number is written in "score" (multiples of 20) plus a remainder. In this case 1,262,998,704,860 * 20 + 4 yields the exact number.<br />
|-<br />
| 10^13.4024 ''(title text)''<br />
| A person who has come back to numbers after a journey deep into some random theoretical field<br />
| In some fields of mathematics, especially those dealing with very {{w|large numbers}}, numbers are sometimes represented by raising ten (or some other convenient base) to an oddly precise power, to facilitate comparison of their magnitudes without filling up pages upon pages of digits. An example of this is {{w|Skewes's number}}, which is formally calculated to be ''e''<sup>''e''<sup>''e''<sup>79</sup></sup></sup>, but is more commonly approximated as 10<sup>10<sup>10<sup>34</sup></sup></sup>. 13.4024 is a rounded version of the {{w|common logarithm}} of 25,259,974,097,204 (log<sub>10</sub> 25,259,974,097,204 = 13.4024329009); thus, this "format" is still mathematically correct, but uncommon. However, only by using many more digits will the result get close enough to be rounded to the original number 10^13.40243290087302 = 25,259,974,097,203.5, which would round up to the correct number. This number 10^13.4024 = 25,258,060,548,319.6 deviating almost 2 billion from the correct number<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[A panel only with text. At the top there is four lines of explanatory text. Below that are 2 columns with 5 rows of number formats. Each numerical format is in red, with black text explaining the format below it.]<br />
<br />
:<big>What the way you write large numbers says about you</big><br />
:(Using the approximate current distance to Jupiter in inches as an example)<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">25,259,974,097,204</span><br />
:Normal person<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">25 trillion</span><br />
:Normal person<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">25 billion</span><br />
:Old British person<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">2.526x10<sup>13</sup></span><br />
:Scientist<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">2.525997x10<sup>13</sup></span><br />
:Scientist trying to avoid rounding up<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">2.526e13 or 2.526*10^13</span><br />
:Software developer<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">25,259,973,541,888</span><br />
:Software developer who forgot about floats<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">10<sup>13</sup></span><br />
:Astronomer<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">{∅,{∅},{∅,{∅}},{∅,{∅},{...</span><br />
:Set theorist<br />
<br />
:<span style="color:#ba0000">1,262,998,704,860 score and four</span><br />
:Abraham Lincoln<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]<br />
[[Category:Math]]<br />
[[Category:Astronomy]]<br />
[[Category:Science]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring politicians]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2055:_Bluetooth&diff=1929952055: Bluetooth2020-06-08T07:21:57Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Trivia */ very minor 2016</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2055<br />
| date = October 5, 2018<br />
| title = Bluetooth<br />
| image = bluetooth.png<br />
| titletext = Bluetooth is actually named for the tenth-century Viking king Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, but the protocol developed by Harald was a wireless charging standard unrelated to the modern Bluetooth except by name.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Bluetooth}} is a technology invented in the mid 1990s and intended for devices to connect wirelessly over a relatively short range for the purpose of transmitting information and/or audio. For example, a headset that connects via Bluetooth could be connected to a computer that's also Bluetooth-enabled, and then whatever would normally come out of the computer's speakers would come out the headset's ear pieces instead, and whatever was spoken into the headset's microphone would be transmitted to the computer's audio input system as if coming in through the computer's microphone. For this to work, the two devices need to be paired, which means they need to know the unique identification number of the other device and have been given permission to communicate with it, as well as knowing what kind of data exchanges are both possible and allowed. Pairing is not always a smooth process, especially given the somewhat limited methods some of these devices have for user interaction. For example, headsets typically don't have screens and user interfaces that make it easy to select what computer or other device you want them to connect to, so you're often confronted by blinking lights and/or sounds to make it through the pairing process, with each device having its own method for initiating or accepting a pairing request.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] is talking to [[White Hat]] about {{w|Bluetooth}} and wireless connectivity. He asks if it has become easier to stream audio via Bluetooth since he last used it. White Hat then jests that it has become an easy-to-use and streamlined service, where connecting devices is easy, and he gives some examples of how easy it is to use. Cueball is excited about this, until White Hat reveals that he was lying and that Bluetooth is still as hard to use as ever. Cueball then invokes the name of "Josiah Bluetooth", a fictitious person implied to have invented the eponymous Bluetooth. "Josiah" is an old-timey name and suggests the amusing idea that in the 1700s or 1800s a hardy inventor named Josiah Bluetooth came up with the idea for wireless audio. (Note that while there is no "Josiah Bluetooth" person, there is a "[https://www.provenance.org/stories/yair-neuman-ceramic-bluetooth-speaker Josiah]" Bluetooth ceramic speaker.)<br />
<br />
This comic also references the common problem of audio playing through the wrong device when Bluetooth is activated.<br />
<br />
The title text is another misdirection joke because while the first part of the sentence is true (Bluetooth was indeed named after a tenth-century Viking king), it goes on to make the silly claim that King Harald himself developed a wireless charging standard. This is a reference to the {{w|Qi_(standard)|Qi wireless power transfer standard}} that, like Bluetooth, is a well-branded industry standard with a catchy name and wide adoption that also does not work quite as well as promised even 10 years after its first release. (It could also be a reference to Medieval Vikings charging into battle, which is, by most accounts, usually a fairly wireless affair (assuming one discounts chainmail armor). In this case, the standard could be a pun as a standard also denotes a royal or military flag.)<br />
<br />
Specifically, the Viking king referenced in the title text, {{w|Harald Bluetooth|Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson}}, usually called Harald Bluetooth, was a ruler of Denmark and Norway who died in 985 or 986. Jim Kardach of Intel named the Bluetooth protocol after him, apparently as he united the various Norse tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom just as Bluetooth unites communication protocols. The {{w|Bluetooth#Logo|Bluetooth logo}} unites the two Norse {{w|runes}} corresponding to "H" and "B" for Harald Bluetooth.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and White Hat are talking, Cueball is holding a cell phone and wireless headphones.]<br />
:Cueball: I haven’t used a wireless/bluetooth thingy in like ten years. Is audio stuff still a nightmare?<br />
:White Hat: Nah, it’s great now.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on White Hat, Cueball is off-screen.]<br />
:White Hat: You tap devices together twice to link them and they flash in sync. (It pairs using accelerometer timing and sound.) Tap them three times to disconnect.<br />
:White Hat: You can pair multiple inputs and outputs and it handles it smoothly.<br />
:Cueball (off screen): Nice!<br />
:White Hat: It just works. Sound comes from where you expect.<br />
:Cueball (off screen): Wonderful.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom out to White Hat and Cueball facing each other.]<br />
:White Hat: Haha, just kidding, it’s a nightmare.<br />
:Cueball: ''Noooooo!''<br />
:White Hat: When I connect to my car, music starts blasting from my headphones while the car repeatedly plays a “New connection!” chime.<br />
:Cueball: ''This is not what Josiah Bluetooth intended!''<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
Though it has been around since 2001 (the specification was proposed in 1989 but first interoperable implementations didn't appear until 2000). Bluetooth has been a well known technology for use with wireless speakers and headphones since smartphones became popular in the early 2010s. <br />
<br />
Bluetooth was the subject of particularly wide public attention in 2016 when Apple announced the removal of the 3.5 mm headphone jack in their then-latest smartphone, the {{w|iPhone 7}}. Apple believes the future of audio lies in Bluetooth earphones, but some others argue that the technology is not advanced enough to replace wired earphones. The debate continues as other companies have followed suit in removing headphone jacks in favor of Bluetooth devices.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2055:_Bluetooth&diff=1929942055: Bluetooth2020-06-08T07:20:53Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Trivia */ de run-on-ize the trivia again</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2055<br />
| date = October 5, 2018<br />
| title = Bluetooth<br />
| image = bluetooth.png<br />
| titletext = Bluetooth is actually named for the tenth-century Viking king Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, but the protocol developed by Harald was a wireless charging standard unrelated to the modern Bluetooth except by name.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Bluetooth}} is a technology invented in the mid 1990s and intended for devices to connect wirelessly over a relatively short range for the purpose of transmitting information and/or audio. For example, a headset that connects via Bluetooth could be connected to a computer that's also Bluetooth-enabled, and then whatever would normally come out of the computer's speakers would come out the headset's ear pieces instead, and whatever was spoken into the headset's microphone would be transmitted to the computer's audio input system as if coming in through the computer's microphone. For this to work, the two devices need to be paired, which means they need to know the unique identification number of the other device and have been given permission to communicate with it, as well as knowing what kind of data exchanges are both possible and allowed. Pairing is not always a smooth process, especially given the somewhat limited methods some of these devices have for user interaction. For example, headsets typically don't have screens and user interfaces that make it easy to select what computer or other device you want them to connect to, so you're often confronted by blinking lights and/or sounds to make it through the pairing process, with each device having its own method for initiating or accepting a pairing request.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] is talking to [[White Hat]] about {{w|Bluetooth}} and wireless connectivity. He asks if it has become easier to stream audio via Bluetooth since he last used it. White Hat then jests that it has become an easy-to-use and streamlined service, where connecting devices is easy, and he gives some examples of how easy it is to use. Cueball is excited about this, until White Hat reveals that he was lying and that Bluetooth is still as hard to use as ever. Cueball then invokes the name of "Josiah Bluetooth", a fictitious person implied to have invented the eponymous Bluetooth. "Josiah" is an old-timey name and suggests the amusing idea that in the 1700s or 1800s a hardy inventor named Josiah Bluetooth came up with the idea for wireless audio. (Note that while there is no "Josiah Bluetooth" person, there is a "[https://www.provenance.org/stories/yair-neuman-ceramic-bluetooth-speaker Josiah]" Bluetooth ceramic speaker.)<br />
<br />
This comic also references the common problem of audio playing through the wrong device when Bluetooth is activated.<br />
<br />
The title text is another misdirection joke because while the first part of the sentence is true (Bluetooth was indeed named after a tenth-century Viking king), it goes on to make the silly claim that King Harald himself developed a wireless charging standard. This is a reference to the {{w|Qi_(standard)|Qi wireless power transfer standard}} that, like Bluetooth, is a well-branded industry standard with a catchy name and wide adoption that also does not work quite as well as promised even 10 years after its first release. (It could also be a reference to Medieval Vikings charging into battle, which is, by most accounts, usually a fairly wireless affair (assuming one discounts chainmail armor). In this case, the standard could be a pun as a standard also denotes a royal or military flag.)<br />
<br />
Specifically, the Viking king referenced in the title text, {{w|Harald Bluetooth|Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson}}, usually called Harald Bluetooth, was a ruler of Denmark and Norway who died in 985 or 986. Jim Kardach of Intel named the Bluetooth protocol after him, apparently as he united the various Norse tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom just as Bluetooth unites communication protocols. The {{w|Bluetooth#Logo|Bluetooth logo}} unites the two Norse {{w|runes}} corresponding to "H" and "B" for Harald Bluetooth.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and White Hat are talking, Cueball is holding a cell phone and wireless headphones.]<br />
:Cueball: I haven’t used a wireless/bluetooth thingy in like ten years. Is audio stuff still a nightmare?<br />
:White Hat: Nah, it’s great now.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on White Hat, Cueball is off-screen.]<br />
:White Hat: You tap devices together twice to link them and they flash in sync. (It pairs using accelerometer timing and sound.) Tap them three times to disconnect.<br />
:White Hat: You can pair multiple inputs and outputs and it handles it smoothly.<br />
:Cueball (off screen): Nice!<br />
:White Hat: It just works. Sound comes from where you expect.<br />
:Cueball (off screen): Wonderful.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom out to White Hat and Cueball facing each other.]<br />
:White Hat: Haha, just kidding, it’s a nightmare.<br />
:Cueball: ''Noooooo!''<br />
:White Hat: When I connect to my car, music starts blasting from my headphones while the car repeatedly plays a “New connection!” chime.<br />
:Cueball: ''This is not what Josiah Bluetooth intended!''<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
Though it has been around since 2001 (the specification was proposed in 1989 but first interoperable implementations didn't appear until 2000). Bluetooth has been a well known technology for use with wireless speakers and headphones since smartphones became popular in the early 2010s. <br />
<br />
Bluetooth was the subject of particularly wide public attention when Apple announced the removal of the 3.5 mm headphone jack in their latest smartphone, the {{w|iPhone 7}}. Apple believes the future of audio lies in Bluetooth earphones, but some others argue that the technology is not advanced enough to replace wired earphones. The debate continues as other companies have followed suit in removing headphone jacks in favor of Bluetooth devices.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2055:_Bluetooth&diff=1929932055: Bluetooth2020-06-08T07:18:30Z<p>PotatoGod: /* Trivia */ Clarify that bluetooth was widely used and know since long before apple's removal of the headphone jack from iPhones, and clean up that sentence's grammar. Much like this edit summary, it's rather run-on-y, but oh well, someone'll clean it up</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2055<br />
| date = October 5, 2018<br />
| title = Bluetooth<br />
| image = bluetooth.png<br />
| titletext = Bluetooth is actually named for the tenth-century Viking king Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, but the protocol developed by Harald was a wireless charging standard unrelated to the modern Bluetooth except by name.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Bluetooth}} is a technology invented in the mid 1990s and intended for devices to connect wirelessly over a relatively short range for the purpose of transmitting information and/or audio. For example, a headset that connects via Bluetooth could be connected to a computer that's also Bluetooth-enabled, and then whatever would normally come out of the computer's speakers would come out the headset's ear pieces instead, and whatever was spoken into the headset's microphone would be transmitted to the computer's audio input system as if coming in through the computer's microphone. For this to work, the two devices need to be paired, which means they need to know the unique identification number of the other device and have been given permission to communicate with it, as well as knowing what kind of data exchanges are both possible and allowed. Pairing is not always a smooth process, especially given the somewhat limited methods some of these devices have for user interaction. For example, headsets typically don't have screens and user interfaces that make it easy to select what computer or other device you want them to connect to, so you're often confronted by blinking lights and/or sounds to make it through the pairing process, with each device having its own method for initiating or accepting a pairing request.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] is talking to [[White Hat]] about {{w|Bluetooth}} and wireless connectivity. He asks if it has become easier to stream audio via Bluetooth since he last used it. White Hat then jests that it has become an easy-to-use and streamlined service, where connecting devices is easy, and he gives some examples of how easy it is to use. Cueball is excited about this, until White Hat reveals that he was lying and that Bluetooth is still as hard to use as ever. Cueball then invokes the name of "Josiah Bluetooth", a fictitious person implied to have invented the eponymous Bluetooth. "Josiah" is an old-timey name and suggests the amusing idea that in the 1700s or 1800s a hardy inventor named Josiah Bluetooth came up with the idea for wireless audio. (Note that while there is no "Josiah Bluetooth" person, there is a "[https://www.provenance.org/stories/yair-neuman-ceramic-bluetooth-speaker Josiah]" Bluetooth ceramic speaker.)<br />
<br />
This comic also references the common problem of audio playing through the wrong device when Bluetooth is activated.<br />
<br />
The title text is another misdirection joke because while the first part of the sentence is true (Bluetooth was indeed named after a tenth-century Viking king), it goes on to make the silly claim that King Harald himself developed a wireless charging standard. This is a reference to the {{w|Qi_(standard)|Qi wireless power transfer standard}} that, like Bluetooth, is a well-branded industry standard with a catchy name and wide adoption that also does not work quite as well as promised even 10 years after its first release. (It could also be a reference to Medieval Vikings charging into battle, which is, by most accounts, usually a fairly wireless affair (assuming one discounts chainmail armor). In this case, the standard could be a pun as a standard also denotes a royal or military flag.)<br />
<br />
Specifically, the Viking king referenced in the title text, {{w|Harald Bluetooth|Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson}}, usually called Harald Bluetooth, was a ruler of Denmark and Norway who died in 985 or 986. Jim Kardach of Intel named the Bluetooth protocol after him, apparently as he united the various Norse tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom just as Bluetooth unites communication protocols. The {{w|Bluetooth#Logo|Bluetooth logo}} unites the two Norse {{w|runes}} corresponding to "H" and "B" for Harald Bluetooth.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and White Hat are talking, Cueball is holding a cell phone and wireless headphones.]<br />
:Cueball: I haven’t used a wireless/bluetooth thingy in like ten years. Is audio stuff still a nightmare?<br />
:White Hat: Nah, it’s great now.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on White Hat, Cueball is off-screen.]<br />
:White Hat: You tap devices together twice to link them and they flash in sync. (It pairs using accelerometer timing and sound.) Tap them three times to disconnect.<br />
:White Hat: You can pair multiple inputs and outputs and it handles it smoothly.<br />
:Cueball (off screen): Nice!<br />
:White Hat: It just works. Sound comes from where you expect.<br />
:Cueball (off screen): Wonderful.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom out to White Hat and Cueball facing each other.]<br />
:White Hat: Haha, just kidding, it’s a nightmare.<br />
:Cueball: ''Noooooo!''<br />
:White Hat: When I connect to my car, music starts blasting from my headphones while the car repeatedly plays a “New connection!” chime.<br />
:Cueball: ''This is not what Josiah Bluetooth intended!''<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
Though it has been around since 2001 (the specification was proposed in 1989 but first interoperable implementations didn't appear until 2000), Bluetooth has been a well known technology for use with wireless speakers and headphones since smartphones became popular, and was the subject of particularly wide public attention when Apple announced the removal of the 3.5 mm headphone jack in their latest smartphone, the {{w|iPhone 7}}. Apple believes the future of audio lies in Bluetooth earphones, but others argue that the technology is not advanced enough to replace wired earphones. The debate continues as other companies have followed suit in removing headphone jacks in favor of Bluetooth devices.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2304:_Preprint&diff=191828Talk:2304: Preprint2020-05-10T17:27:18Z<p>PotatoGod: Circledar</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 />
I was going to mention the TeX format(/family), but someone got in there before me. So how about if it's a .wp4 document? ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.84|141.101.107.84]] 01:40, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
:But now [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2304:_Preprint&diff=191780&oldid=191776 the <span class="texhtml" style="font-family: 'CMU Serif', cmr10, LMRoman10-Regular, 'Latin Modern Math', 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">L<span style="text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 0.75em; vertical-align: 0.25em; margin-left: -0.36em; margin-right: -0.15em; line-height: 1ex;">a</span>T<span style="text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: -0.5ex; margin-left: -0.1667em; margin-right: -0.125em; line-height: 1ex;">e</span>X</span> reference is removed], anyway. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.163|162.158.158.163]] 16:14, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why is this comic labeled as a Saturday comic? I don't know what timezone you use, but it was posted Friday, well before midnight UTC. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.204|172.69.69.204]] 02:15, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: I'm pretty sure that's just an error. The date for the comic in the [https://xkcd.com/archive/ archive] is "2020-5-8", which is today (Friday). Comic #[[2303]] correctly has the "Wednesday comic" category, and the archive lists its date as 2020-5-6 (which is Wednesday). ...And I've fixed it now. The category is automatically generated based on the date listed in the [[Template:Comic]] infobox at the top of the article; someone incorrectly entered it as "May 9, 2020" instead of "May 8, 2020". --[[User:V2Blast|V2Blast]] ([[User talk:V2Blast|talk]]) 02:53, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
::'Someone' == DgbrtBOT; and thus probably based off the time() it thinks it is, upon autocreating the base article, rather than any human erring. Depending on the home system's timezone, it probably ''was'' Saturday for DB, if not for Randall. Maybe an offset/correction/relocali(s|z)ation should be put into the code, but it seems to normally work out Ok and this comic might have been ''just'' over a threshhold... ''(edit: Wiki time in history seems to be UTC, for me at least - I'm in UTC+1/BST but as an IP-editor I haven't made any setting changes to my personal login that I don't have. DgbrtBOT piped up at 22:48, which at UTC+2 or more (Central Europe Daylight Savings, which matches what I recall of knowing about that entity, or anywhere more Easterly) would have been 'tomorrow', and I didn't spot the new comic until at least those dozen minutes after that which occured before my own clocks ticked past midnight. Given that Randall is (usually?) In UTC-5, or UTC-4 when daylight savings is established, maybe Dgbrt needs a special offset of -6 hours (or go directly via localtime() with the best current known Munroevian locale specified) in calculating things. Or we can let the community smooth these things out like we just did when a possible late-evening update causes this to be an issue?)'' [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.62|162.158.155.62]] 03:17, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Is "sarcastically pronouncing the registered trademark symbol" meant as pronouncing it "arr" in the way pirates talk? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 15:00, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I would expect professional news anchors can come with something even more sarcastic. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:08, 10 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
::Perhaps they'd go with something like "R in a circle" or "Circled R" (pronounced "Circledar"). [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 17:27, 10 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
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In 2020 I use pdf to put documents with tables onto a website, because html exports from editors are voluminous and brittle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.6.118|162.158.6.118]] 10:32, 10 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
:As someone who regularly takes tables ''from'' PDF in order to put them into spreadsheets for further use, some people don't do me any favours by that method. Among the problems, if the table setter didn't pay attention to the column widths then the copied-out text of two adjacent cells that don't ''appear'' to overlap each other will interlace at a character level and need editing back to separate entites. And then there's the inconsistencies of Header rows atop the table and/or atop the next newpage the table splits over. I could run a quick script on (X)HTML tables, and get it perfectly for my needs. CSV, or even TabSV, would actually be my preferred transport format (i.e. ''no'' format, just pure layout without even spanned/merged cells, and I can redo what needs redoing on the final redo), but I can't ever seem to get them to do that for me despite having the data almost in that form prior to the PDFing... Grrrr. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.142|162.158.159.142]] 11:30, 10 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think Randall's last point (no unprofessional humans use PDFs in 2020) is very wrong. Especially due to the coronavirus, all college classes have switched to online assignment submissions, and the teachers only accept PDF submissions (although, annoyingly, they give the original template files in .doc format!) I would NOT trust random college student's assignment submissions as a reputable information source! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 17:22, 10 May 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2304:_Preprint&diff=191827Talk:2304: Preprint2020-05-10T17:22:15Z<p>PotatoGod: Mention how PDFs are widely used in non-professional circles (education) in 2020</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
I was going to mention the TeX format(/family), but someone got in there before me. So how about if it's a .wp4 document? ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.84|141.101.107.84]] 01:40, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
:But now [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2304:_Preprint&diff=191780&oldid=191776 the <span class="texhtml" style="font-family: 'CMU Serif', cmr10, LMRoman10-Regular, 'Latin Modern Math', 'Nimbus Roman No9 L', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">L<span style="text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 0.75em; vertical-align: 0.25em; margin-left: -0.36em; margin-right: -0.15em; line-height: 1ex;">a</span>T<span style="text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: -0.5ex; margin-left: -0.1667em; margin-right: -0.125em; line-height: 1ex;">e</span>X</span> reference is removed], anyway. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.163|162.158.158.163]] 16:14, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Why is this comic labeled as a Saturday comic? I don't know what timezone you use, but it was posted Friday, well before midnight UTC. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.204|172.69.69.204]] 02:15, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
: I'm pretty sure that's just an error. The date for the comic in the [https://xkcd.com/archive/ archive] is "2020-5-8", which is today (Friday). Comic #[[2303]] correctly has the "Wednesday comic" category, and the archive lists its date as 2020-5-6 (which is Wednesday). ...And I've fixed it now. The category is automatically generated based on the date listed in the [[Template:Comic]] infobox at the top of the article; someone incorrectly entered it as "May 9, 2020" instead of "May 8, 2020". --[[User:V2Blast|V2Blast]] ([[User talk:V2Blast|talk]]) 02:53, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
::'Someone' == DgbrtBOT; and thus probably based off the time() it thinks it is, upon autocreating the base article, rather than any human erring. Depending on the home system's timezone, it probably ''was'' Saturday for DB, if not for Randall. Maybe an offset/correction/relocali(s|z)ation should be put into the code, but it seems to normally work out Ok and this comic might have been ''just'' over a threshhold... ''(edit: Wiki time in history seems to be UTC, for me at least - I'm in UTC+1/BST but as an IP-editor I haven't made any setting changes to my personal login that I don't have. DgbrtBOT piped up at 22:48, which at UTC+2 or more (Central Europe Daylight Savings, which matches what I recall of knowing about that entity, or anywhere more Easterly) would have been 'tomorrow', and I didn't spot the new comic until at least those dozen minutes after that which occured before my own clocks ticked past midnight. Given that Randall is (usually?) In UTC-5, or UTC-4 when daylight savings is established, maybe Dgbrt needs a special offset of -6 hours (or go directly via localtime() with the best current known Munroevian locale specified) in calculating things. Or we can let the community smooth these things out like we just did when a possible late-evening update causes this to be an issue?)'' [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.62|162.158.155.62]] 03:17, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is "sarcastically pronouncing the registered trademark symbol" meant as pronouncing it "arr" in the way pirates talk? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 15:00, 9 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I would expect professional news anchors can come with something even more sarcastic. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:08, 10 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In 2020 I use pdf to put documents with tables onto a website, because html exports from editors are voluminous and brittle. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.6.118|162.158.6.118]] 10:32, 10 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
:As someone who regularly takes tables ''from'' PDF in order to put them into spreadsheets for further use, some people don't do me any favours by that method. Among the problems, if the table setter didn't pay attention to the column widths then the copied-out text of two adjacent cells that don't ''appear'' to overlap each other will interlace at a character level and need editing back to separate entites. And then there's the inconsistencies of Header rows atop the table and/or atop the next newpage the table splits over. I could run a quick script on (X)HTML tables, and get it perfectly for my needs. CSV, or even TabSV, would actually be my preferred transport format (i.e. ''no'' format, just pure layout without even spanned/merged cells, and I can redo what needs redoing on the final redo), but I can't ever seem to get them to do that for me despite having the data almost in that form prior to the PDFing... Grrrr. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.142|162.158.159.142]] 11:30, 10 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think Randall's last point (no unprofessional humans use PDFs in 2020) is very wrong. Especially due to the coronavirus, all college classes have switched to online assignment submissions, and the teachers only accept PDF submissions (although, annoyingly, they give the original template files in .doc format!) I would NOT trust random college student's assignment submissions as a reputable information source! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 17:22, 10 May 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2280:_2010_and_2020&diff=191616Talk:2280: 2010 and 20202020-05-05T02:29:04Z<p>PotatoGod: Undo revision as I realize the comment spacing "social distancing" was intentional. 191615 by PotatoGod (talk)</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 />
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Please maintain your distance in these comments. No comments within 6 vertical inches of other comments, please. And any in-comment sneezing or coughing will result in your account being banned for a period of 3 weeks. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] Achoo! [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:09, 13 March 2020 (UTC) <br />
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:I used a large projection screen & zoomed in to post this comment, so my comment appears 8" separated from yours. (Your argument is invalid.) <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 12:08, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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What is this "inch" of which you speak? I, for one, actually stay 2 meters away from any time-travel-caused disturbance in the space-time continuum.[[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 15:24, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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If the above information was new to you, please take this concise pamphlet. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.250.58|172.69.250.58]] 23:17, 13 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Maybe we should add a section on what holo-banshees are? That could be useful. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.183|162.158.58.183]] 01:51, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Since Holo-banshees are something Randall made up, that could be difficult. LOL! All we have is the name, and that's already explained. Though since the explanation talks about how this wouldn't make sense if they're present in EVERY household I'm somewhat inclined to add "therefore this is probably only a common problem, like rats, ants or cockroaches today." :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:09, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: Well, it says " often " there are holo-banshees. Not always or nearly. Banshees are female Irish vocalists who predict a death in the household, so I will assume that The Corrs joined the current mini-trend for touring your music act as a " hologram " and it got out of hand in some way. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.5|141.101.69.5]] 11:00, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::I think they're like asbestos. Perhaps at one time considered a good idea (insulating/advanced indications of life-threatening household situations) but later on discovered to have unwanted properties forcing complicated handling procedures to make them safe. In the one case, the shedding of fine carcinogenic dust, in the other perhaps the 'holo' emits excessive intensities of certain wavelengths of light that are directly or indirectly an environmental biohazard. Sealing in situ may be the optimal situation. If, say, the non-corporeal (i.e. unmovable) holo-banshee must be sealed within an asbestos container, which must itself be safely coated then that would easily provoke the scenario hinted at. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.14|162.158.94.14]] 15:32, 14 March 2020 (UTC) <br />
::::Fun fact: Fiberglass & other silica-based fiber insulation materials do not dissolve in the lungs & continue inflicting severe tissue damage even longer than asbestos does, the scar tissue from which is a major cause of emphysema & risk factor in lung cancer. (Not that asbestos is ''OK'', mind you...) We've replaced an evil we knew with one we knew (at the time) much less about. Much like "PBA-free" plastic... So really unless your home\school\workplace\brake-pad is insulated with wool, try real hard to avoid breathing those fibers no matter what they are.<br />
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 12:26, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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:I find the entire section about Holo-banshees ridiculously off-topic. It doesn't add anything to understanding the comic and should probably be removed. umläute [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.122|162.158.94.122]] 21:43, 15 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::You say that now. But what about in a few comics time, when there may arise a clear and urgent need for an entire Category:Holo-banshees, eh? (Srsly, it's a potential "what's that about, then?" question by those who think they are missing a reference. Even if the answer we have to give is "apparently nothing".) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.174|162.158.90.174]] 22:50, 15 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Re: houses being sold for a dollar, wasn't that the going price for some houses in Detroit? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.49|172.68.189.49]] 19:46, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Shouldn't it be COVID-19 syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection instead of the other way around?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.43|162.158.91.43]]<br />
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The whole houses and holo-banshee thing seems relevant to how the price for oil recently went negative for a bit: as the buyer assumes responsibility for storing all that oil, and no financial traders want to have to physically do that (especially when trading thousands of barrels of the stuff!) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:24, 5 May 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2280:_2010_and_2020&diff=191615Talk:2280: 2010 and 20202020-05-05T02:27:14Z<p>PotatoGod: Fix layout and remove huge gap between comments</p>
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Please maintain your distance in these comments. No comments within 6 vertical inches of other comments, please. And any in-comment sneezing or coughing will result in your account being banned for a period of 3 weeks. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] Achoo! [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:09, 13 March 2020 (UTC) <br />
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:I used a large projection screen & zoomed in to post this comment, so my comment appears 8" separated from yours. (Your argument is invalid.) <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 12:08, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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What is this "inch" of which you speak? I, for one, actually stay 2 meters away from any time-travel-caused disturbance in the space-time continuum.[[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 15:24, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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If the above information was new to you, please take this concise pamphlet. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.250.58|172.69.250.58]] 23:17, 13 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Maybe we should add a section on what holo-banshees are? That could be useful. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.183|162.158.58.183]] 01:51, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Since Holo-banshees are something Randall made up, that could be difficult. LOL! All we have is the name, and that's already explained. Though since the explanation talks about how this wouldn't make sense if they're present in EVERY household I'm somewhat inclined to add "therefore this is probably only a common problem, like rats, ants or cockroaches today." :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:09, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: Well, it says " often " there are holo-banshees. Not always or nearly. Banshees are female Irish vocalists who predict a death in the household, so I will assume that The Corrs joined the current mini-trend for touring your music act as a " hologram " and it got out of hand in some way. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.5|141.101.69.5]] 11:00, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::I think they're like asbestos. Perhaps at one time considered a good idea (insulating/advanced indications of life-threatening household situations) but later on discovered to have unwanted properties forcing complicated handling procedures to make them safe. In the one case, the shedding of fine carcinogenic dust, in the other perhaps the 'holo' emits excessive intensities of certain wavelengths of light that are directly or indirectly an environmental biohazard. Sealing in situ may be the optimal situation. If, say, the non-corporeal (i.e. unmovable) holo-banshee must be sealed within an asbestos container, which must itself be safely coated then that would easily provoke the scenario hinted at. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.14|162.158.94.14]] 15:32, 14 March 2020 (UTC) <br />
::::Fun fact: Fiberglass & other silica-based fiber insulation materials do not dissolve in the lungs & continue inflicting severe tissue damage even longer than asbestos does, the scar tissue from which is a major cause of emphysema & risk factor in lung cancer. (Not that asbestos is ''OK'', mind you...) We've replaced an evil we knew with one we knew (at the time) much less about. Much like "PBA-free" plastic... So really unless your home\school\workplace\brake-pad is insulated with wool, try real hard to avoid breathing those fibers no matter what they are.<br />
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 12:26, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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:I find the entire section about Holo-banshees ridiculously off-topic. It doesn't add anything to understanding the comic and should probably be removed. umläute [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.122|162.158.94.122]] 21:43, 15 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::You say that now. But what about in a few comics time, when there may arise a clear and urgent need for an entire Category:Holo-banshees, eh? (Srsly, it's a potential "what's that about, then?" question by those who think they are missing a reference. Even if the answer we have to give is "apparently nothing".) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.174|162.158.90.174]] 22:50, 15 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Re: houses being sold for a dollar, wasn't that the going price for some houses in Detroit? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.49|172.68.189.49]] 19:46, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Shouldn't it be COVID-19 syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection instead of the other way around?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.43|162.158.91.43]]<br />
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The whole houses and holo-banshee thing seems relevant to how the price for oil recently went negative for a bit: as the buyer assumes responsibility for storing all that oil, and no financial traders want to have to physically do that (especially when trading thousands of barrels of the stuff!) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:24, 5 May 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2280:_2010_and_2020&diff=191614Talk:2280: 2010 and 20202020-05-05T02:24:32Z<p>PotatoGod: Draw parallels between $1 houses, and negative oil futures</p>
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Please maintain your distance in these comments. No comments within 6 vertical inches of other comments, please. And any in-comment sneezing or coughing will result in your account being banned for a period of 3 weeks. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] Achoo! [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:09, 13 March 2020 (UTC) <br />
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:I used a large projection screen & zoomed in to post this comment, so my comment appears 8" separated from yours. (Your argument is invalid.) <br />
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 12:08, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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What is this "inch" of which you speak? I, for one, actually stay 2 meters away from any time-travel-caused disturbance in the space-time continuum.[[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 15:24, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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The whole houses and holo-banshee thing seems relevant to how the price for oil recently went negative for a bit: as the buyer assumes responsibility for storing all that oil, and no financial traders want to have to physically do that (especially when trading thousands of barrels of the stuff!) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:24, 5 May 2020 (UTC)<br />
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If the above information was new to you, please take this concise pamphlet. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.250.58|172.69.250.58]] 23:17, 13 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Maybe we should add a section on what holo-banshees are? That could be useful. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.58.183|162.158.58.183]] 01:51, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:Since Holo-banshees are something Randall made up, that could be difficult. LOL! All we have is the name, and that's already explained. Though since the explanation talks about how this wouldn't make sense if they're present in EVERY household I'm somewhat inclined to add "therefore this is probably only a common problem, like rats, ants or cockroaches today." :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:09, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: Well, it says " often " there are holo-banshees. Not always or nearly. Banshees are female Irish vocalists who predict a death in the household, so I will assume that The Corrs joined the current mini-trend for touring your music act as a " hologram " and it got out of hand in some way. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.5|141.101.69.5]] 11:00, 14 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::I think they're like asbestos. Perhaps at one time considered a good idea (insulating/advanced indications of life-threatening household situations) but later on discovered to have unwanted properties forcing complicated handling procedures to make them safe. In the one case, the shedding of fine carcinogenic dust, in the other perhaps the 'holo' emits excessive intensities of certain wavelengths of light that are directly or indirectly an environmental biohazard. Sealing in situ may be the optimal situation. If, say, the non-corporeal (i.e. unmovable) holo-banshee must be sealed within an asbestos container, which must itself be safely coated then that would easily provoke the scenario hinted at. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.14|162.158.94.14]] 15:32, 14 March 2020 (UTC) <br />
::::Fun fact: Fiberglass & other silica-based fiber insulation materials do not dissolve in the lungs & continue inflicting severe tissue damage even longer than asbestos does, the scar tissue from which is a major cause of emphysema & risk factor in lung cancer. (Not that asbestos is ''OK'', mind you...) We've replaced an evil we knew with one we knew (at the time) much less about. Much like "PBA-free" plastic... So really unless your home\school\workplace\brake-pad is insulated with wool, try real hard to avoid breathing those fibers no matter what they are.<br />
::::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 12:26, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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:I find the entire section about Holo-banshees ridiculously off-topic. It doesn't add anything to understanding the comic and should probably be removed. umläute [[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.122|162.158.94.122]] 21:43, 15 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
::You say that now. But what about in a few comics time, when there may arise a clear and urgent need for an entire Category:Holo-banshees, eh? (Srsly, it's a potential "what's that about, then?" question by those who think they are missing a reference. Even if the answer we have to give is "apparently nothing".) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.90.174|162.158.90.174]] 22:50, 15 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Re: houses being sold for a dollar, wasn't that the going price for some houses in Detroit? --[[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.49|172.68.189.49]] 19:46, 16 March 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Shouldn't it be COVID-19 syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection instead of the other way around?<br />
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.43|162.158.91.43]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:893:_65_Years&diff=191066Talk:893: 65 Years2020-04-22T07:04:38Z<p>PotatoGod: April 2020 update</p>
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<div>I wonder if it would be possible to identify ''individual people'' who are behind those vertical jumps in the graph (in the not projected part)... --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 19:18, 14 December 2012 (UTC)<br />
*Glad you asked! </Information Hen> Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in July 1969; that's two. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean joined the group that November; that's four. Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell in February '71; that's six. David Scott and James Irwin in July '71; that's eight. John W. Young and Charles Duke in April '72; that's ten. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in December '72; that's twelve. Irwin died in '91, dropping it to 11. Shepard and Conrad died in '98 and '99 respectively, making it 9 as of the date this comic was published. Armstrong died in '12, so our current number is 8. The oldest living person to have landed on the moon is Aldrin, 83. There are two 82-year-olds, two 80s, one 78 and two 77s. [[User:Ekedolphin|Ekedolphin]] ([[User talk:Ekedolphin|talk]]) 13:28, 27 January 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Almost prophetic and very, very sad. RIP Neil Armstrong ------<br />
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Can we add the 5% and 95% columns to the table? [[User:Spongebog|Spongebog]] ([[User talk:Spongebog|talk]])<br />
::i dont feel like this would add to the explanation of the comic and would require us to know a great deal about the author's calculations. rather than attempt to redo the actuarial calculations performed to make the chart and assign this to the individuals in the table we should rather explain the concepts behind the 5% and 95% and preserve the intention of actuarial information as applying to demographic groups. 5% of people in the demographic the author selected live to _ age 95% of those people live to _ age and how this affects our subject population. [[User:Mrarch|Mrarch]] ([[User talk:Mrarch|talk]]) 21:43, 6 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
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Why is this explanation incomplete? The second paragraph does a good job explaining what the 5th percentile and 95th percentile are referring to. [[User:String userName &#61; new String();|String userName &#61; new String();]] ([[User talk:String userName &#61; new String();|talk]]) 23:35, 19 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I prefer to think of the inhabitable planets as extensions to earth reserved for when we have learned not to kill all the inhabitants of the only inhabited planet in the universe.<br />
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[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 22:39, 23 January 2015 (UTC)<br />
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I see no reason this is marked as incomplete; I've tidied up the percentile explanations, but haven't really added much more. I think it's fine, and will remove the incomplete tag in a few days if nobody objects. [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 13:53, 24 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
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'''UPDATED GRAPH:''' I've updated the image with a red line showing actual moon walker deaths. View here: [https://i.imgur.com/G7DbbBi.png]. Sadly, it's right on track. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.58.59|172.68.58.59]] 22:19, 9 August 2018 (UTC)<br />
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As of mid April, 2020, this prediction is still accurate, but I'm really scared of what it'll be by the end of 2020 or 2021. Stay healthy everyone, astronaut or not! [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 07:04, 22 April 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:477:_Typewriter&diff=188669Talk:477: Typewriter2020-03-15T05:45:17Z<p>PotatoGod: Add an analogous anecdote</p>
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<div>The spaces are because he's trying to alt-tab. [[Special:Contributions/98.201.111.246|98.201.111.246]] 22:21, 31 January 2013 (UTC)mr<br />
:You are absolutely correct, and the is much more missing. So I did tag this as incomplete.--[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:31, 19 September 2013 (UTC)<br />
::Ctrl+Tab, next tab in tab bar. Alt+Tab, next top level window on desktop. If he uses a browser based email program it could be either [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.117|108.162.249.117]] 01:44, 30 December 2013 (UTC)<br />
:::Ctrl+Shift+Tab is back a tab. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.40|108.162.245.40]] 20:08, 16 November 2016 (UTC)<br />
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I don't know you , but it looks like a "Madlibs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madlibs) meets Firefox tabs" kind of letter to me. {{unsigned ip|141.101.103.206}}<br />
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Technically it's the carriage that holds the type hammers for the letters. The platen is the rubber cylinder that holds the paper in place for the hammers. The ribbon is between the hammer and paper. -gateway mike {{unsigned ip|173.245.55.119}}<br />
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The platen is indeed the rubber cylinder. The carriage, though, is the larger piece the platen is part of, which moves back and forth as you type. Hence "carriage return" at the end of a line. Either one works in this case, since the position of the next character is determined by moving the paper, not the hammers. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.64}}<br />
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Unless there was a change in the way a browser worked between then and now, Ctrl-tab is not something you would type an URL into after hitting as it switched between already open tabs. You would need to use Ctrl-T to open a new tab where the cursor would then be in the address bar to type an URL to go to. CTrl-Tab with only 1 tab open does nothing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.166|108.162.216.166]] 16:44, 19 July 2017 (UTC)<br />
: This is less about Ctrl-tab but rather about Alt+Tab. The joke is that he would be typing within some text processor or email client, Alt-tab to the browser and enter an address there. --[[User:SlashMe|SlashMe]] ([[User talk:SlashMe|talk]]) 22:48, 19 July 2017 (UTC)<br />
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I had always seen this one as a somewhat unrealistic exaggeration, though lately I have found myself occasionally attempting to 2-finger tap to undo a line written with pencil on paper, with no success. Oh, the magic of technology. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 05:45, 15 March 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2261:_Worst_Thing_That_Could_Happen&diff=186839Talk:2261: Worst Thing That Could Happen2020-02-03T17:50:23Z<p>PotatoGod: Fixed my broken link</p>
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What? No one mentioned Earth being hit by asteroid or one of close stars going supernova? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:43, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:No, this is just dealing with the worst scenarios. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:05, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film) , isn't it? Wouldn't it be more destructive than just ramming and pecking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.216|141.101.105.216]] 21:56, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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I very recently saw a meme I had to think of (and want to share the funny part), where a badass-person was described. The last point was "the morals of a seagull." --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:10, 30 January 2020 (UTC) Edit: Just googled it. It was a reddit post about seals, and the conclusion was, they are like "if a cat weighed 300 kilos and had the intelligence of a toddler & the morals of a seagull". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:25, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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“Much of the computer networking technology used today has its roots in research into hardening nuclear command and control systems against an incoming first strike...”. This is false, at least as far as the early internet goes. https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet/#f5 — “5 It was from the RAND study that the false rumor started claiming that the ARPANET was somehow related to building a network resistant to nuclear war. This was never true of the ARPANET, only the unrelated RAND study on secure voice considered nuclear war. However, the later work on Internetting did emphasize robustness and survivability, including the capability to withstand losses of large portions of the underlying networks.” Since the authors include Vint Cerf, I’m inclined to give it a lot of credibility. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.214}}<br />
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How does ''Ninja Warrior'' subject contestants to pain/humiliation on failure? The only humiliation factor is from failing in the first place, and the water is there to ''minimize'' pain (well, to minimize ''injuries'' anyway). There are plenty of ''much'' better examples of game shows that "punish" failure. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 16:12, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ninja Warrior is the 'painful' contest that I happen to have seen most recently, but on reflection I suppose MXC/Takeshi's Castle is a little more straightforward on the "humiliation" factor. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 02:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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CTRL-f for searching... I always imagined Randal as an Emacs user (Emacs standard binding for incremental search is ctrl-s) but I guess no one is perfect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.70|172.68.70.70]] 05:14, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ctrl-F works on almost anything nowadays, such as web browsers, which he probably uses more frequently than Emacs. Of course, Ctrl-F notably does NOT work in Microsoft Outlook. Thanks, Bill. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
::It says he's searching release notes, which would be located where the upgrade came from, which means the website it was downloaded from (so, reading in a web browser) or some App Store or another (I would think the notes are in the Store app itself or a plain text file). Since I've never used eMacs, it seems an unlikely format for something meant to be widely seen like release notes. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::in this comic Cueball et al. are representing programmers not users, they would not be installing the latest release of an app from an App Store but rather applying a patch to, and then recompiling, source code. The release notes would be in a text file, most likely with a .txt extension, and would be readable with any software tool that would be used for displaying or editing .txt files. But setting that aside, to think that because you personally haven’t used of a particular tool has any bearing on its popularity is hubris of the highest order.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 10:11, 2 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:You're right about Randal being an Emacs user though, see title text of [[561]]. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 08:13, 3 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Just added two new categories for this comic: [[:Category:Volcanoes]] and [[:Category:Nuclear weapons]]. They were long overdue with 22 and 25 comics respectively after I searched through for relevant words. This is the fourth with Supervolcanoes mentioned. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:58, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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There are presumably many more people than wells (citation needed). If everybody fell down a well, the people in any particular well would be piled on top of each other, and the ones at the top should be able to climb out. Then they can help the people below them. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
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"Since Randall is just reading but not changing the patch notes, a web browser, PDF viewer, or word processing program such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word might have been used."... Uhhhh, just because he's not changing the release notes doesn't mean he isn't using something like Notepad, which to me seems the most likely unless it's an App Store, about just as likely that it's a web browser on the upgrade's website. Also, not to be pedantic (okay, to be pedantic, LOL!), Adobe ACROBAT Reader wouldn't be a "word processing program". I could see calling the writer program Adobe Acrobat that, but the more widespread READER is exactly that, just a reader, no processing. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Am I the only one that thinks the link to Lassie is extremely tenuous? It seems far more likely to be referencing the general trope of falling down a well, such as this [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThrownDownAWell example from TVTropes] or even some previous comics, such as [[568]]. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 03:55, 3 February 2020 (UTC) EDIT: fixed the broken link to tvtropes [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 17:50, 3 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:I'd say the Lassie connection is valid, partly because it's the first thing I thought of as well. The tvtropes article you referenced doesn't seem to exist and [[568]] has nothing to do with falling into wells. Mike probably got in voluntarily. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 08:09, 3 February 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2261:_Worst_Thing_That_Could_Happen&diff=186828Talk:2261: Worst Thing That Could Happen2020-02-03T03:59:38Z<p>PotatoGod: Figured out internal link :)</p>
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What? No one mentioned Earth being hit by asteroid or one of close stars going supernova? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:43, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:No, this is just dealing with the worst scenarios. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:05, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film) , isn't it? Wouldn't it be more destructive than just ramming and pecking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.216|141.101.105.216]] 21:56, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I very recently saw a meme I had to think of (and want to share the funny part), where a badass-person was described. The last point was "the morals of a seagull." --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:10, 30 January 2020 (UTC) Edit: Just googled it. It was a reddit post about seals, and the conclusion was, they are like "if a cat weighed 300 kilos and had the intelligence of a toddler & the morals of a seagull". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:25, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
“Much of the computer networking technology used today has its roots in research into hardening nuclear command and control systems against an incoming first strike...”. This is false, at least as far as the early internet goes. https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet/#f5 — “5 It was from the RAND study that the false rumor started claiming that the ARPANET was somehow related to building a network resistant to nuclear war. This was never true of the ARPANET, only the unrelated RAND study on secure voice considered nuclear war. However, the later work on Internetting did emphasize robustness and survivability, including the capability to withstand losses of large portions of the underlying networks.” Since the authors include Vint Cerf, I’m inclined to give it a lot of credibility. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.214}}<br />
<br />
How does ''Ninja Warrior'' subject contestants to pain/humiliation on failure? The only humiliation factor is from failing in the first place, and the water is there to ''minimize'' pain (well, to minimize ''injuries'' anyway). There are plenty of ''much'' better examples of game shows that "punish" failure. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 16:12, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ninja Warrior is the 'painful' contest that I happen to have seen most recently, but on reflection I suppose MXC/Takeshi's Castle is a little more straightforward on the "humiliation" factor. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 02:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
CTRL-f for searching... I always imagined Randal as an Emacs user (Emacs standard binding for incremental search is ctrl-s) but I guess no one is perfect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.70|172.68.70.70]] 05:14, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ctrl-F works on almost anything nowadays, such as web browsers, which he probably uses more frequently than Emacs. Of course, Ctrl-F notably does NOT work in Microsoft Outlook. Thanks, Bill. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
::It says he's searching release notes, which would be located where the upgrade came from, which means the website it was downloaded from (so, reading in a web browser) or some App Store or another (I would think the notes are in the Store app itself or a plain text file). Since I've never used eMacs, it seems an unlikely format for something meant to be widely seen like release notes. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::in this comic Cueball et al. are representing programmers not users, they would not be installing the latest release of an app from an App Store but rather applying a patch to, and then recompiling, source code. The release notes would be in a text file, most likely with a .txt extension, and would be readable with any software tool that would be used for displaying or editing .txt files. But setting that aside, to think that because you personally haven’t used of a particular tool has any bearing on its popularity is hubris of the highest order.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 10:11, 2 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just added two new categories for this comic: [[:Category:Volcanoes]] and [[:Category:Nuclear weapons]]. They were long overdue with 22 and 25 comics respectively after I searched through for relevant words. This is the fourth with Supervolcanoes mentioned. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:58, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
There are presumably many more people than wells (citation needed). If everybody fell down a well, the people in any particular well would be piled on top of each other, and the ones at the top should be able to climb out. Then they can help the people below them. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Since Randall is just reading but not changing the patch notes, a web browser, PDF viewer, or word processing program such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word might have been used."... Uhhhh, just because he's not changing the release notes doesn't mean he isn't using something like Notepad, which to me seems the most likely unless it's an App Store, about just as likely that it's a web browser on the upgrade's website. Also, not to be pedantic (okay, to be pedantic, LOL!), Adobe ACROBAT Reader wouldn't be a "word processing program". I could see calling the writer program Adobe Acrobat that, but the more widespread READER is exactly that, just a reader, no processing. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Am I the only one that thinks the link to Lassie is extremely tenuous? It seems far more likely to be referencing the general trope of falling down a well, such as this [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThrownDownAWell| example from TVTropes] or even some previous comics, such as [[568]]. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 03:55, 3 February 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2261:_Worst_Thing_That_Could_Happen&diff=186827Talk:2261: Worst Thing That Could Happen2020-02-03T03:58:35Z<p>PotatoGod: Link formatting fix</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
What? No one mentioned Earth being hit by asteroid or one of close stars going supernova? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:43, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:No, this is just dealing with the worst scenarios. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:05, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film) , isn't it? Wouldn't it be more destructive than just ramming and pecking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.216|141.101.105.216]] 21:56, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I very recently saw a meme I had to think of (and want to share the funny part), where a badass-person was described. The last point was "the morals of a seagull." --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:10, 30 January 2020 (UTC) Edit: Just googled it. It was a reddit post about seals, and the conclusion was, they are like "if a cat weighed 300 kilos and had the intelligence of a toddler & the morals of a seagull". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:25, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
“Much of the computer networking technology used today has its roots in research into hardening nuclear command and control systems against an incoming first strike...”. This is false, at least as far as the early internet goes. https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet/#f5 — “5 It was from the RAND study that the false rumor started claiming that the ARPANET was somehow related to building a network resistant to nuclear war. This was never true of the ARPANET, only the unrelated RAND study on secure voice considered nuclear war. However, the later work on Internetting did emphasize robustness and survivability, including the capability to withstand losses of large portions of the underlying networks.” Since the authors include Vint Cerf, I’m inclined to give it a lot of credibility. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.214}}<br />
<br />
How does ''Ninja Warrior'' subject contestants to pain/humiliation on failure? The only humiliation factor is from failing in the first place, and the water is there to ''minimize'' pain (well, to minimize ''injuries'' anyway). There are plenty of ''much'' better examples of game shows that "punish" failure. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 16:12, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ninja Warrior is the 'painful' contest that I happen to have seen most recently, but on reflection I suppose MXC/Takeshi's Castle is a little more straightforward on the "humiliation" factor. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 02:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
CTRL-f for searching... I always imagined Randal as an Emacs user (Emacs standard binding for incremental search is ctrl-s) but I guess no one is perfect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.70|172.68.70.70]] 05:14, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ctrl-F works on almost anything nowadays, such as web browsers, which he probably uses more frequently than Emacs. Of course, Ctrl-F notably does NOT work in Microsoft Outlook. Thanks, Bill. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
::It says he's searching release notes, which would be located where the upgrade came from, which means the website it was downloaded from (so, reading in a web browser) or some App Store or another (I would think the notes are in the Store app itself or a plain text file). Since I've never used eMacs, it seems an unlikely format for something meant to be widely seen like release notes. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::in this comic Cueball et al. are representing programmers not users, they would not be installing the latest release of an app from an App Store but rather applying a patch to, and then recompiling, source code. The release notes would be in a text file, most likely with a .txt extension, and would be readable with any software tool that would be used for displaying or editing .txt files. But setting that aside, to think that because you personally haven’t used of a particular tool has any bearing on its popularity is hubris of the highest order.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 10:11, 2 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just added two new categories for this comic: [[:Category:Volcanoes]] and [[:Category:Nuclear weapons]]. They were long overdue with 22 and 25 comics respectively after I searched through for relevant words. This is the fourth with Supervolcanoes mentioned. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:58, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
There are presumably many more people than wells (citation needed). If everybody fell down a well, the people in any particular well would be piled on top of each other, and the ones at the top should be able to climb out. Then they can help the people below them. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Since Randall is just reading but not changing the patch notes, a web browser, PDF viewer, or word processing program such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word might have been used."... Uhhhh, just because he's not changing the release notes doesn't mean he isn't using something like Notepad, which to me seems the most likely unless it's an App Store, about just as likely that it's a web browser on the upgrade's website. Also, not to be pedantic (okay, to be pedantic, LOL!), Adobe ACROBAT Reader wouldn't be a "word processing program". I could see calling the writer program Adobe Acrobat that, but the more widespread READER is exactly that, just a reader, no processing. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Am I the only one that thinks the link to Lassie is extremely tenuous? It seems far more likely to be referencing the general trope of falling down a well, such as this [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThrownDownAWell| example from TVTropes] or even some previous comics, such as 568. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 03:55, 3 February 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2261:_Worst_Thing_That_Could_Happen&diff=186826Talk:2261: Worst Thing That Could Happen2020-02-03T03:55:47Z<p>PotatoGod: Well probably not referencing lassie</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
<br />
What? No one mentioned Earth being hit by asteroid or one of close stars going supernova? -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 19:43, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
:No, this is just dealing with the worst scenarios. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:05, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_(film) , isn't it? Wouldn't it be more destructive than just ramming and pecking? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.216|141.101.105.216]] 21:56, 29 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I very recently saw a meme I had to think of (and want to share the funny part), where a badass-person was described. The last point was "the morals of a seagull." --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:10, 30 January 2020 (UTC) Edit: Just googled it. It was a reddit post about seals, and the conclusion was, they are like "if a cat weighed 300 kilos and had the intelligence of a toddler & the morals of a seagull". --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 07:25, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
“Much of the computer networking technology used today has its roots in research into hardening nuclear command and control systems against an incoming first strike...”. This is false, at least as far as the early internet goes. https://www.internetsociety.org/internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet/#f5 — “5 It was from the RAND study that the false rumor started claiming that the ARPANET was somehow related to building a network resistant to nuclear war. This was never true of the ARPANET, only the unrelated RAND study on secure voice considered nuclear war. However, the later work on Internetting did emphasize robustness and survivability, including the capability to withstand losses of large portions of the underlying networks.” Since the authors include Vint Cerf, I’m inclined to give it a lot of credibility. {{unsigned ip|162.158.2.214}}<br />
<br />
How does ''Ninja Warrior'' subject contestants to pain/humiliation on failure? The only humiliation factor is from failing in the first place, and the water is there to ''minimize'' pain (well, to minimize ''injuries'' anyway). There are plenty of ''much'' better examples of game shows that "punish" failure. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 16:12, 30 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ninja Warrior is the 'painful' contest that I happen to have seen most recently, but on reflection I suppose MXC/Takeshi's Castle is a little more straightforward on the "humiliation" factor. --[[User:NotaBene|NotaBene]] ([[User talk:NotaBene|talk]]) 02:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
CTRL-f for searching... I always imagined Randal as an Emacs user (Emacs standard binding for incremental search is ctrl-s) but I guess no one is perfect. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.70|172.68.70.70]] 05:14, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Ctrl-F works on almost anything nowadays, such as web browsers, which he probably uses more frequently than Emacs. Of course, Ctrl-F notably does NOT work in Microsoft Outlook. Thanks, Bill. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:34, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
::It says he's searching release notes, which would be located where the upgrade came from, which means the website it was downloaded from (so, reading in a web browser) or some App Store or another (I would think the notes are in the Store app itself or a plain text file). Since I've never used eMacs, it seems an unlikely format for something meant to be widely seen like release notes. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
:::in this comic Cueball et al. are representing programmers not users, they would not be installing the latest release of an app from an App Store but rather applying a patch to, and then recompiling, source code. The release notes would be in a text file, most likely with a .txt extension, and would be readable with any software tool that would be used for displaying or editing .txt files. But setting that aside, to think that because you personally haven’t used of a particular tool has any bearing on its popularity is hubris of the highest order.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.70.34|172.68.70.34]] 10:11, 2 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Just added two new categories for this comic: [[:Category:Volcanoes]] and [[:Category:Nuclear weapons]]. They were long overdue with 22 and 25 comics respectively after I searched through for relevant words. This is the fourth with Supervolcanoes mentioned. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 10:58, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
There are presumably many more people than wells (citation needed). If everybody fell down a well, the people in any particular well would be piled on top of each other, and the ones at the top should be able to climb out. Then they can help the people below them. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:22, 31 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
"Since Randall is just reading but not changing the patch notes, a web browser, PDF viewer, or word processing program such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word might have been used."... Uhhhh, just because he's not changing the release notes doesn't mean he isn't using something like Notepad, which to me seems the most likely unless it's an App Store, about just as likely that it's a web browser on the upgrade's website. Also, not to be pedantic (okay, to be pedantic, LOL!), Adobe ACROBAT Reader wouldn't be a "word processing program". I could see calling the writer program Adobe Acrobat that, but the more widespread READER is exactly that, just a reader, no processing. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:05, 1 February 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Am I the only one that thinks the link to Lassie is extremely tenuous? It seems far more likely to be referencing the general trope of falling down a well, such as this [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThrownDownAWell]] or even some previous comics, such as 568. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 03:55, 3 February 2020 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2055:_Bluetooth&diff=1857642055: Bluetooth2020-01-10T02:14:51Z<p>PotatoGod: The old link to the Josiah speaker gives a 404, and archive.org doesn't have it archived. I added the closest think to a canonical link I could find, but welcome an archived copy of the original page if anyone can find it.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2055<br />
| date = October 5, 2018<br />
| title = Bluetooth<br />
| image = bluetooth.png<br />
| titletext = Bluetooth is actually named for the tenth-century Viking king Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, but the protocol developed by Harald was a wireless charging standard unrelated to the modern Bluetooth except by name.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Bluetooth}} is a technology invented in the mid 1990s and intended for devices to connect wirelessly over a relatively short range for the purpose of transmitting information and/or audio. For example, a headset that connects via Bluetooth could be connected to a computer that's also Bluetooth-enabled, and then whatever would normally come out of the computer's speakers would come out the headset's ear pieces instead, and whatever was spoken into the headset's microphone would be transmitted to the computer's audio input system as if coming in through the computer's microphone. For this to work, the two devices need to be paired, which means they need to know the unique identification number of the other device and have been given permission to communicate with it, as well as knowing what kind of data exchanges are both possible and allowed. Pairing is not always a smooth process, especially given the somewhat limited methods some of these devices have for user interaction. For example, headsets typically don't have screens and user interfaces that make it easy to select what computer or other device you want them to connect to, so you're often confronted by blinking lights and/or sounds to make it through the pairing process, with each device having its own method for initiating or accepting a pairing request.<br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] is talking to [[White Hat]] about {{w|Bluetooth}} and wireless connectivity. He asks if it has become easier to stream audio via Bluetooth since he last used it. White Hat then jests that it has become an easy-to-use and streamlined service, where connecting devices is easy, and he gives some examples of how easy it is to use. Cueball is excited about this, until White Hat reveals that he was lying and that Bluetooth is still as hard to use as ever. Cueball then invokes the name of "Josiah Bluetooth", a fictitious person implied to have invented the eponymous Bluetooth. "Josiah" is an old-timey name and suggests the amusing idea that in the 1700s or 1800s a hardy inventor named Josiah Bluetooth came up with the idea for wireless audio. (Note that while there is no "Josiah Bluetooth" person, there is a "[https://www.provenance.org/stories/yair-neuman-ceramic-bluetooth-speaker Josiah]" Bluetooth ceramic speaker.)<br />
<br />
This comic also references the common problem of audio playing through the wrong device when Bluetooth is activated.<br />
<br />
The title text is another misdirection joke because while the first part of the sentence is true (Bluetooth was indeed named after a tenth-century Viking king), it goes on to make the silly claim that King Harald himself developed a wireless charging standard. This is a reference to the {{w|Qi_(standard)|Qi wireless power transfer standard}} that, like Bluetooth, is a well-branded industry standard with a catchy name and wide adoption that also does not work quite as well as promised even 10 years after its first release. (It could also be a reference to Medieval Vikings charging into battle, which is, by most accounts, usually a fairly wireless affair (assuming one discounts chainmail armor). In this case, the standard could be a pun as a standard also denotes a royal or military flag.)<br />
<br />
Specifically, the Viking king referenced in the title text, {{w|Harald Bluetooth|Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson}}, usually called Harald Bluetooth, was a ruler of Denmark and Norway who died in 985 or 986. Jim Kardach of Intel named the Bluetooth protocol after him, apparently as he united the various Norse tribes of Denmark into a single kingdom just as Bluetooth unites communication protocols. The {{w|Bluetooth#Logo|Bluetooth logo}} unites the two Norse {{w|runes}} corresponding to "H" and "B" for Harald Bluetooth.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball and White Hat are talking, Cueball is holding a cell phone and wireless headphones.]<br />
:Cueball: I haven’t used a wireless/bluetooth thingy in like ten years. Is audio stuff still a nightmare?<br />
:White Hat: Nah, it’s great now.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom in on White Hat, Cueball is off-screen.]<br />
:White Hat: You tap devices together twice to link them and they flash in sync. (It pairs using accelerometer timing and sound.) Tap them three times to disconnect.<br />
:White Hat: You can pair multiple inputs and outputs and it handles it smoothly.<br />
:Cueball (off screen): Nice!<br />
:White Hat: It just works. Sound comes from where you expect.<br />
:Cueball (off screen): Wonderful.<br />
<br />
:[Zoom out to White Hat and Cueball facing each other.]<br />
:White Hat: Haha, just kidding, it’s a nightmare.<br />
:Cueball: ''Noooooo!''<br />
:White Hat: When I connect to my car, music starts blasting from my headphones while the car repeatedly plays a “New connection!” chime.<br />
:Cueball: ''This is not what Josiah Bluetooth intended!''<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
Though it has been around since 2001<!-- the specification was proposed in 1989 but first interoperable implementations didn't appear until 2000-->, Bluetooth is a well known subject since 2016 when Apple announced the removal of the 3.5 mm headphone jack in their latest smartphone, the {{w|iPhone 7}}. Apple believes the future of audio lies in Bluetooth earphones, but others argue that the technology is not advanced enough to replace wired earphones. The debate continues as other companies have followed suit in removing headphone jacks.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]<br />
[[Category:Computers]]<br />
[[Category:Smartphones]]</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2055:_Bluetooth&diff=185763Talk:2055: Bluetooth2020-01-10T02:03:44Z<p>PotatoGod: Minor fixes</p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
Wireless charging standard may be a pun on the word "charging." Vikings were certainly known for "charging" into battle, and so Harald may indeed have invented a "wireless charging standard" or a standardized way for his Vikings to enter a battle. If so, it was unlikely to have used wires. {{unsigned|Tomkonrad}}<br />
: That's just what I was thinking! [[User:Asimong|Asimong]] ([[User talk:Asimong|talk]]) 07:38, 9 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
: Or maybe it's a "wireless charging _standard_" i.e. a flag signal which says "CHAAAARGE!!!!". The term "standard" would be somewhat off and anachronistic, though, but the general idea of giving a kind of visual signal to tell the troops to charge seems legit, imho. Albeit, in that time those signals were most commonly acoustic rather than visual. But I like the idea of playing with the word "standard" besides the word "charge" [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:47, 8 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Uh, I don't know anything really about Bluetooth, but do they really use accelerometer timing? That doesn't sound right... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.88|172.68.90.88]] 17:34, 5 October 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf<br />
: If you read it again, you should notice that WhiteHat admits that he's lying. Bluetooth doesn't pair that way. He was joking. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:05, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
:: Some of them do pair this way...sort of, their accelerometers tell them they've been picked up and get ready for close range communication (like a couple inches) that exchange information for their bluetooth settings[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.190|162.158.75.190]] 19:47, 7 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
My headphones use NFC to connect to my phone, I just have to hold the two devices together and they connect! Except they don't, in 90% of cases it doesn't react or I have to move it around a lot. But at least I can just turn the headphones and bluetooth on my phone on and they connect! Unless I have used the headphones for a different device previously, then I need to manually initiate the connection on my phone. Or just randomly when it isn't in a connection-making mood right now. But at least they work on all devices with Bluetooth! Except on my old laptop and my desktop PC (with bluetooth dongle), there it either has a horrible audio quality or completely freezes the system. But at least… No. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:37, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
: My tablet connects to any Bluetooth audio device, no problem; as long as I make it "Forget" every other device in its pairing list first, otherwise it tries to pair to a device which isn't even around. Also, my Mom's car doesn't have GPS navigation or 4G LTE service, but it doesn't seem to have a way to turn off Bluetooth, 4G, or the OnStar system, either. Also, her friend uses a set of Bluetooth speakers to play audio from her Mac, but you can only connect one speaker at a time unless you run a proprietary app which doesn't work very well. Also, neither my phone nor my tablet will transfer any file larger than 1MB by Bluetooth, since a couple system updates over a year ago (Oh, & only a few file types, too). Also, the audio delay when watching videos with Bluetooth audio is so pronounced I have to use a media player with manual A\V synch controls. Also, controlling a "smart TV" by Bluetooth doesn't work anymore for some reason, unless I install a specific app for each TV brand; Infrared still works fine. Also, I've still never had a Bluetooth headset that continues to work when the playback device is in my pocket & I take a step forward. Also, there's a Bluetooth HCI log file stored in my internal memory which gradually grows to hundreds of megs even though I don't have the setting for that log turned on. Also, whenever I turn Location on, or even exit Airplane mode, Bluetooth, WiFi, & NFC all activate briefly, even though I keep them turned off as much as possible; The icons don't light up, but my other devices show the polling attempts in their logs. I got suspicious enough to do a diagnostic & some scans, but aside from the usual usage-tracking from Google, there doesn't seem to be any spyware or malware installed. Bluetooth is awful. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:05, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I miss the jokes in the incomplete discussion banner. Is there really not enough room for both a quip ''and'' the instructions? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.154|108.162.245.154]] 21:16, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[https://www.impossible.com/josiah/ Josiah Bluetooth] [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:25, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I tried to share link over bluetooth to three people. For one, it worked completely flawlessly. Second one got the file but then it got lost somehow and was unable to use the content. Third one ... the phones didn't even see each other. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:20, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This car comes with Bluetooth compatibility. What's Bluetooth? Bluetooth is Bluetooth? What is it? BlUuUuUeEeEeToOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoth [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.70|162.158.78.70]] 13:24, 6 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I’ve actually had a relatively positive experience with Bluetooth lately, at least compared to how it used to be. These days it’s actually useable, airpods work great to pair easily with other apple devices (usually). <br />
<br />
Also where my old car couldn’t be connected to Bluetooth unless you wanted a deafening sound to blare whenever you got a call, and it couldn’t be used to play music, my new car’s media system works pretty well with Bluetooth music, the only annoyance being that when the car is set to a different audio source the phone still tries to route audio to it through Bluetooth, so there is silence when you expect sound from the phone, until you manually change it back to output through its internal speakers.<br />
<br />
Bluetooth is still far from perfect, but it’s actually useable now, a huge leap from a few years ago. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 16:38, 6 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Follow up a year and a half later:<br />
<br />
Nope, Bluetooth routing still sucks in complex situations: when in a phone call over Bluetooth headphones, if I open my car's door to get something out of it (or someone else in my family does so in the garage while I'm in another room), and suddenly my phone call is routed through the car's speakers instead of my headphones, then I have to frantically switch the phone's output back to the headphones and apologize for needing to ask the person on the other end to repeat the last ten seconds of what they said. Happens every time, except sometimes it will go to speakerphone or the phone's internal speakers instead of the when the door is closed again.<br />
<br />
Summary: Bluetooth is great at getting sound from point A to point B, and within an ecosystem (ie Airpods with Apple devices). Outside of those situations, it's a random lottery how it'll behave. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:00, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
It's still hit and miss a lot of times, depending on the devices in question. My friend's car has Bluetooth, and when it worked it worked great. But then every once in a while it would stop working, he'd ask me as his tech friend to try to get it working, and I couldn't... and then he had to take it to the car dealership to get it working. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:45, 6 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
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I think the "Josiah" is a reference to "Josiah Wedgwood," a famous English entrepreneur and potter. Should this be added? {{unsigned|172.68.141.4|00:39, 7 October 2018}}<br />
<br />
:If you think it is a reference, without more, then no it should not be added. If you want to post here what the reasons are (why do you think so?), then we can evaluate them and recommend. But without more, no. Certainly a casual review of {{w|Josiah Wedgwood}} doesn't give any obvious reasons to connect him with "Josiah Bluetooth." p.s.: please sign your posts (with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 02:04, 7 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Years ago I bought a Linux-compatible USB Bluetooth dongle. It had several pages of detailed and complex instructions for Windows and Mac, indicating the exact order of operations - if one connected the device before installing drivers and rebooting, for instance, one would have to dig deep into the OS and remove various automatically-installed components - but I couldn't find any instructions for Linux. Finally I found them - it was one line, "Plug the dongle in". Worked perfectly.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, my very good headphones, which have the wireless connection on the right ear, still lose connection to my laptop if I turn my head to the right... [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 12:00, 7 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The link between "Josiah" and "Josiah Wedgwood" is probably correct. One of the styles that Josiah Wedgwood is famous for is a blue and white design. A quick Internet search gives lots of examples. This is probably the reason that the ceramic Bluetooth speaker mentioned in the explanation text is named "Josiah". They're both making reference to Josiah Wedgwood and his blue and white pottery.[[User:Hjmillman|Hjmillman]] ([[User talk:Hjmillman|talk]]) 12:29, 8 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Yes, sorry I didn't mention his pottery style in the original comment. Wedgwood was famous for doing a lot of R&D to develop a style of pottery that replicated Chinese porcelain with blue/white patterns. The 'Josiah' referenced in the comic is probably a reference to Wedgwood. 23:58, 8 October 2018 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|172.68.141.58}}<br />
: I must agree with JohnHawkinson, that doesn't sound like enough of a link. It sounds like stretching a LOT. I feel it actually probably ISN'T a reference to him. Josiah is just a very old fashioned sounding name, sorry. And as John mentioned, please sign your posts with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:07, 12 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have great trouble believing the statement that Bluetooth was designed for transfer of information "and audio". I suspect the reality is simply that several audio applications have been found (speakers, headphones, handsfree devices for cars...). The audio is the information in those applications, not that audio transfer was part of the original intent of Bluetooth. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:12, 12 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
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Noone mentions, that white hat uses brackets while speaking? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:48, 7 November 2019 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2055:_Bluetooth&diff=185762Talk:2055: Bluetooth2020-01-10T02:00:44Z<p>PotatoGod: 1.5 year update on Bluetooth behavior.</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 />
Wireless charging standard may be a pun on the word "charging." Vikings were certainly known for "charging" into battle, and so Harald may indeed have invented a "wireless charging standard" or a standardized way for his Vikings to enter a battle. If so, it was unlikely to have used wires. {{unsigned|Tomkonrad}}<br />
: That's just what I was thinking! [[User:Asimong|Asimong]] ([[User talk:Asimong|talk]]) 07:38, 9 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
: Or maybe it's a "wireless charging _standard_" i.e. a flag signal which says "CHAAAARGE!!!!". The term "standard" would be somewhat off and anachronistic, though, but the general idea of giving a kind of visual signal to tell the troops to charge seems legit, imho. Albeit, in that time those signals were most commonly acoustic rather than visual. But I like the idea of playing with the word "standard" besides the word "charge" [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:47, 8 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
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Uh, I don't know anything really about Bluetooth, but do they really use accelerometer timing? That doesn't sound right... [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.88|172.68.90.88]] 17:34, 5 October 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf<br />
: If you read it again, you should notice that WhiteHat admits that he's lying. Bluetooth doesn't pair that way. He was joking. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:05, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
:: Some of them do pair this way...sort of, their accelerometers tell them they've been picked up and get ready for close range communication (like a couple inches) that exchange information for their bluetooth settings[[Special:Contributions/162.158.75.190|162.158.75.190]] 19:47, 7 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
My headphones use NFC to connect to my phone, I just have to hold the two devices together and they connect! Except they don't, in 90% of cases it doesn't react or I have to move it around a lot. But at least I can just turn the headphones and bluetooth on my phone on and they connect! Unless I have used the headphones for a different device previously, then I need to manually initiate the connection on my phone. Or just randomly when it isn't in a connection-making mood right now. But at least they work on all devices with Bluetooth! Except on my old laptop and my desktop PC (with bluetooth dongle), there it either has a horrible audio quality or completely freezes the system. But at least… No. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 17:37, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
: My tablet connects to any Bluetooth audio device, no problem; as long as I make it "Forget" every other device in its pairing list first, otherwise it tries to pair to a device which isn't even around. Also, my Mom's car doesn't have GPS navigation or 4G LTE service, but it doesn't seem to have a way to turn off Bluetooth, 4G, or the OnStar system, either. Also, her friend uses a set of Bluetooth speakers to play audio from her Mac, but you can only connect one speaker at a time unless you run a proprietary app which doesn't work very well. Also, neither my phone nor my tablet will transfer any file larger than 1MB by Bluetooth, since a couple system updates over a year ago (Oh, & only a few file types, too). Also, the audio delay when watching videos with Bluetooth audio is so pronounced I have to use a media player with manual A\V synch controls. Also, controlling a "smart TV" by Bluetooth doesn't work anymore for some reason, unless I install a specific app for each TV brand; Infrared still works fine. Also, I've still never had a Bluetooth headset that continues to work when the playback device is in my pocket & I take a step forward. Also, there's a Bluetooth HCI log file stored in my internal memory which gradually grows to hundreds of megs even though I don't have the setting for that log turned on. Also, whenever I turn Location on, or even exit Airplane mode, Bluetooth, WiFi, & NFC all activate briefly, even though I keep them turned off as much as possible; The icons don't light up, but my other devices show the polling attempts in their logs. I got suspicious enough to do a diagnostic & some scans, but aside from the usual usage-tracking from Google, there doesn't seem to be any spyware or malware installed. Bluetooth is awful. [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 19:05, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I miss the jokes in the incomplete discussion banner. Is there really not enough room for both a quip ''and'' the instructions? --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.154|108.162.245.154]] 21:16, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[https://www.impossible.com/josiah/ Josiah Bluetooth] [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:25, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I tried to share link over bluetooth to three people. For one, it worked completely flawlessly. Second one got the file but then it got lost somehow and was unable to use the content. Third one ... the phones didn't even see each other. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 23:20, 5 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This car comes with Bluetooth compatibility. What's Bluetooth? Bluetooth is Bluetooth? What is it? BlUuUuUeEeEeToOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoth [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.70|162.158.78.70]] 13:24, 6 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I’ve actually had a relatively positive experience with Bluetooth lately, at least compared to how it used to be. These days it’s actually useable, airpods work great to pair easily with other apple devices (usually). <br />
<br />
Also where my old car couldn’t be connected to Bluetooth unless you wanted a deafening sound to blare whenever you got a call, and it couldn’t be used to play music, my new car’s media system works pretty well with Bluetooth music, the only annoyance being that when the car is set to a different audio source the phone still tries to route audio to it through Bluetooth, so there is silence when you expect sound from the phone, until you manually change it back to output through its internal speakers.<br />
<br />
Bluetooth is still far from perfect, but it’s actually useable now, a huge leap from a few years ago. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 16:38, 6 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Follow up a year and a half later: Nope, Bluetooth routing still sucks in complex situations: when in a phone call over Bluetooth headphones, if I open my car's door to get something out of it (or someone else in my family does in the garage while I'm in another room), and suddenly my phone call is routed through the car's speakers instead of my headphones, then I have to frantically switch the phone's output back to the headphones and apologize for needing to ask the person on the other end to repeat the last ten seconds of what they said. Happens every time, except sometimes it will go to speakerphone or the phone's internal speakers instead of the when the door is closed again. Summary: Bluetooth is great at getting sound from point A to point B, and within an ecosystem (ie Airpods with Apple devices). Outside of those situations, it's a random lottery how it'll behave. [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 02:00, 10 January 2020 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
It's still hit and miss a lot of times, depending on the devices in question. My friend's car has Bluetooth, and when it worked it worked great. But then every once in a while it would stop working, he'd ask me as his tech friend to try to get it working, and I couldn't... and then he had to take it to the car dealership to get it working. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 20:45, 6 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think the "Josiah" is a reference to "Josiah Wedgwood," a famous English entrepreneur and potter. Should this be added? {{unsigned|172.68.141.4|00:39, 7 October 2018}}<br />
<br />
:If you think it is a reference, without more, then no it should not be added. If you want to post here what the reasons are (why do you think so?), then we can evaluate them and recommend. But without more, no. Certainly a casual review of {{w|Josiah Wedgwood}} doesn't give any obvious reasons to connect him with "Josiah Bluetooth." p.s.: please sign your posts (with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>). [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 02:04, 7 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Years ago I bought a Linux-compatible USB Bluetooth dongle. It had several pages of detailed and complex instructions for Windows and Mac, indicating the exact order of operations - if one connected the device before installing drivers and rebooting, for instance, one would have to dig deep into the OS and remove various automatically-installed components - but I couldn't find any instructions for Linux. Finally I found them - it was one line, "Plug the dongle in". Worked perfectly.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, my very good headphones, which have the wireless connection on the right ear, still lose connection to my laptop if I turn my head to the right... [[User:Cosmogoblin|Cosmogoblin]] ([[User talk:Cosmogoblin|talk]]) 12:00, 7 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The link between "Josiah" and "Josiah Wedgwood" is probably correct. One of the styles that Josiah Wedgwood is famous for is a blue and white design. A quick Internet search gives lots of examples. This is probably the reason that the ceramic Bluetooth speaker mentioned in the explanation text is named "Josiah". They're both making reference to Josiah Wedgwood and his blue and white pottery.[[User:Hjmillman|Hjmillman]] ([[User talk:Hjmillman|talk]]) 12:29, 8 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Yes, sorry I didn't mention his pottery style in the original comment. Wedgwood was famous for doing a lot of R&D to develop a style of pottery that replicated Chinese porcelain with blue/white patterns. The 'Josiah' referenced in the comic is probably a reference to Wedgwood. 23:58, 8 October 2018 (UTC) {{unsigned ip|172.68.141.58}}<br />
: I must agree with JohnHawkinson, that doesn't sound like enough of a link. It sounds like stretching a LOT. I feel it actually probably ISN'T a reference to him. Josiah is just a very old fashioned sounding name, sorry. And as John mentioned, please sign your posts with <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>. :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:07, 12 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I have great trouble believing the statement that Bluetooth was designed for transfer of information "and audio". I suspect the reality is simply that several audio applications have been found (speakers, headphones, handsfree devices for cars...). The audio is the information in those applications, not that audio transfer was part of the original intent of Bluetooth. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:12, 12 October 2018 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Noone mentions, that white hat uses brackets while speaking? --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 15:48, 7 November 2019 (UTC)</div>PotatoGodhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2206:_Mavis_Beacon&diff=180638Talk:2206: Mavis Beacon2019-09-30T08:55:24Z<p>PotatoGod: </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.--> <!--Please DO NOT ADD NEW SECTIONS--><br />
;So the # key, then?<br />
Shifted or not? The implication is that it is, since that's where ‘~’ is. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.41|141.101.99.41]] 18:44, 23 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
: On a typical German QWERTZ layout keyboard, the tilde key '~' can/must be entered via <span style="border: 1px solid black">AltGr</span>+<span style="border: 1px solid black">+</span>; alternatively, <span style="border: 1px solid black">Ctrl</span>+<span style="border: 1px solid black">Alt</span>+<span style="border: 1px solid black">+</span> should work when there is no <span style="border: 1px solid black">AltGr</span> key. On certain "dead key" keyboard layouts, there even is no single and direct '~' key: To type a tilde, one would have to press <span style="border: 1px solid black">AltGr</span>+<span style="border: 1px solid black">+</span> followed directly by a space or to double-tap <span style="border: 1px solid black">+</span> while holding <span style="border: 1px solid black">AltGr</span>. This would mean even more complicated or pretty much impossible key combinations that would be needed to be pressed at the same time. However, holding <span style="border: 1px solid black">AltGr</span> or <span style="border: 1px solid black">Ctrl</span>+<span style="border: 1px solid black">Alt</span> to try and type a tilde would probably cancel out the "single" <span style="border: 1px solid black">Alt</span> key necessary for the comic's secret key code. So, once you've managed to type a tilde, it likely wouldn't count any more for the key combo, making it impossible to type this key combination on such keyboard. --[[User:Passerby|Passerby]] ([[User talk:Passerby|talk]]) 19:26, 23 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
::I've seen many programs provide hotkey instructions calling the grave key the tilde key due to the difficulty of differentiating between the grave key and the apostrophe key. So I'd assume no shifting is required. [[User:CJB42|CJB42]] ([[User talk:CJB42|talk]]) 01:51, 24 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
:::I don't know if Mavis Beacon was ever internationalized, but it was presumably originally designed for full-sized (non-laptop) U.S. QWERTY 101-key keyboards, where the ~ (tilde) is on the same key as the ` (back-tick) character, and which requires the use of the Shift key to activate. If Mavis Beacon was internationalized, and if this boss reward really existed and was unlocked by a particular key combination, one would hope the key combination would take into account different keyboard layouts. I would also assume that it would not require the shift (or other modifier) key, otherwise they would include that particular modifier key among the list of keys in the combination. So, like CJB42 pointed out, while they would say ~ since that's clearly labeled on the keyboard and easier to display, they really mean ` which might otherwise just look like a smudge. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:49, 24 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
The link from Friday's comic to this new one is missing. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 19:21, 23 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
: This page was created by the bot only a short while ago. I may be wrong, but I think those links will be set automagically by such bot at some point after the creation of this page. --[[User:Passerby|Passerby]] ([[User talk:Passerby|talk]]) 19:31, 23 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Currently, the button on Comic #2205 to go to this comic is missing - someone with more technical expertise than me, please fix this [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.134|172.69.22.134]] 21:07, 23 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
:Fixed it - to do it, go to https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2205:_Types_of_Approximation&action=Purge , this works for any page if you change "2205:_Types_of_Approximation" to what it should be. {{unsigned ip|172.68.174.88}}<br />
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<br />
Here on a touchscreen the comic hotlinks to https://www.fonts.com/content/learning/fontology/level-3/numbers/oldstyle-figures [[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.64|172.68.38.64]] 19:12, 24 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
:It is also a link on a PC. It has been added to the explanation. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 08:27, 25 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Unicode<br />
Presumably a lot of this could be achieved with Unicode; any advances on 𝟙𝟚𝟛𝟜𝟝𝟞𝟟𝟠𝟡𝟘? [[User:Sabik|Sabik]] ([[User talk:Sabik|talk]]) 05:07, 24 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Simple means of checking: <pre><br />
>>> import unicodedata as ucd<br />
>>> for i in range(0x110000):<br />
... c = chr(i)<br />
... if ucd.normalize("NFKD", c)[0] in "0123456789":<br />
... print(c, end=", ")<br />
</pre><br />
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It actually spits out <pre>0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, ², ³, ¹, ¼, ½, ¾, ⁰, ⁴, ⁵, ⁶, ⁷, ⁸, ⁹, ₀, ₁, ₂, ₃, ₄, ₅, ₆, ₇, ₈, ₉, ⅐, ⅑, ⅒, ⅓, ⅔, ⅕, ⅖, ⅗, ⅘, ⅙, ⅚, ⅛, ⅜, ⅝, ⅞, ⅟, ↉, ①, ②, ③, ④, ⑤, ⑥, ⑦, ⑧, ⑨, ⑩, ⑪, ⑫, ⑬, ⑭, ⑮, ⑯, ⑰, ⑱, ⑲, ⑳, ⒈, ⒉, ⒊, ⒋, ⒌, ⒍, ⒎, ⒏, ⒐, ⒑, ⒒, ⒓, ⒔, ⒕, ⒖, ⒗, ⒘, ⒙, ⒚, ⒛, ⓪, ㉑, ㉒, ㉓, ㉔, ㉕, ㉖, ㉗, ㉘, ㉙, ㉚, ㉛, ㉜, ㉝, ㉞, ㉟, ㊱, ㊲, ㊳, ㊴, ㊵, ㊶, ㊷, ㊸, ㊹, ㊺, ㊻, ㊼, ㊽, ㊾, ㊿, ㋀, ㋁, ㋂, ㋃, ㋄, ㋅, ㋆, ㋇, ㋈, ㋉, ㋊, ㋋, ㍘, ㍙, ㍚, ㍛, ㍜, ㍝, ㍞, ㍟, ㍠, ㍡, ㍢, ㍣, ㍤, ㍥, ㍦, ㍧, ㍨, ㍩, ㍪, ㍫, ㍬, ㍭, ㍮, ㍯, ㍰, ㏠, ㏡, ㏢, ㏣, ㏤, ㏥, ㏦, ㏧, ㏨, ㏩, ㏪, ㏫, ㏬, ㏭, ㏮, ㏯, ㏰, ㏱, ㏲, ㏳, ㏴, ㏵, ㏶, ㏷, ㏸, ㏹, ㏺, ㏻, ㏼, ㏽, ㏾, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 𝟎, 𝟏, 𝟐, 𝟑, 𝟒, 𝟓, 𝟔, 𝟕, 𝟖, 𝟗, 𝟘, 𝟙, 𝟚, 𝟛, 𝟜, 𝟝, 𝟞, 𝟟, 𝟠, 𝟡, 𝟢, 𝟣, 𝟤, 𝟥, 𝟦, 𝟧, 𝟨, 𝟩, 𝟪, 𝟫, 𝟬, 𝟭, 𝟮, 𝟯, 𝟰, 𝟱, 𝟲, 𝟳, 𝟴, 𝟵, 𝟶, 𝟷, 𝟸, 𝟹, 𝟺, 𝟻, 𝟼, 𝟽, 𝟾, 𝟿, 🄀, 🄁, 🄂, 🄃, 🄄, 🄅, 🄆, 🄇, 🄈, 🄉, 🄊</pre><br />
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So unless you're mis-using characters which are not supposed to be numbers (which would change the screenreader experience from annoying in this case to actually unintelligible and is therefore ill-advisable), that's probably the closest you'd get. --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.139|141.101.104.139]] 09:35, 24 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
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;Trochees<br />
To tie this to a recurring theme in Mr. Munroe's comics... "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - Heroes on the half shell." [[User:Ryanker|Ryanker]] ([[User talk:Ryanker|talk]]) 20:14, 23 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
: "Number Maven Mavis Beacon" also fits such a pattern. [[User:Enfield|Enfield]] ([[User talk:Enfield|talk]]) 17:56, 25 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
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Is it worth mentioning "Typing of the Dead" and its sequel?--[[Special:Contributions/162.158.34.210|162.158.34.210]] 14:53, 24 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
:It appears you have. So perhaps the former but not the latter? ;-) {{unsigned ip|172.68.47.66}}<br />
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I just wish to say hello to all others here who first experienced Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor back in the day. It was one of the few 'games' with graphics (that weren't CGA!) that was on that early PC of mine, albeit in monochrome (green on black) because of the limitations of that Hercules graphics card/chip/whatever-it-was. That and a 'Digger' game (a clone/ripoff of DigDug, it seems). Ah, nostalgia. I wonder if I can still use my old Psion Xchange suit? Time to dig up a working 5¼” drive and fit it to whatever ATAPI-enabled Mobos I can find... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.61|162.158.154.61]] 17:32, 25 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
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;Playing the same game for 30 years is rare [citation needed]<br />
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[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Solitaire Windows Solitaire] was introduced on 22 May 1990. So we are less than a year from having a game that many people could have been playing for 30 years. [[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]]) 03:52, 29 September 2019 (UTC)<br />
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I like this one! I've often been irritated by the lack of a concept of capital numbers, and this is a great design. Get on it, Unicode consortium! 😜 (oh, and don't forget the arbitrary-length snakes!) [[User:PotatoGod|PotatoGod]] ([[User talk:PotatoGod|talk]]) 08:54, 30 September 2019 (UTC)</div>PotatoGod