https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Zzyzx&feedformat=atomexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T12:08:48ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2826:_Gold&diff=3249042826: Gold2023-10-05T02:35:57Z<p>Zzyzx: There's nothing to suggest that Cueball is actually saying this is the origin of the tradition, as opposed to just highlighting a cool coincidence.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2826<br />
| date = September 8, 2023<br />
| title = Gold<br />
| image = gold_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 695x272px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = It can be expensive to hire a professional spectroscopist for your wedding, but the quality of the spectra you get is worth it.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by neutron stars in a mostly-closed relationship! Do NOT anger them OR delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
In this comic, [[Cueball]] points out how fitting it is that {{w|wedding ring}}s are usually made of {{w|gold}}. Gold, as the comic states, is most commonly created by {{w|r-process}} {{w|nucleosynthesis}} in the mergers of {{w|neutron star}}s; something which could be seen as analogous to a marriage. About 94% of the gold on Earth was created this way, with the rest made by {{w|supernova nucleosynthesis}}.[https://www.science.org/content/article/neutron-star-mergers-may-create-much-universe-s-gold][https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.05463]<br />
<br />
Wedding receptions sometimes have a ''theme'', which is used to style the decorations and activities of the party. If the couple has a shared interest in something in popular culture (especially if this is how they met), they might use that as the theme. [[Megan]] suggests that "Binary Neutron Star Merger" would be a fun theme; this would probably only be true for astronomers or cosmologists. <br />
<br />
[[Cueball]] adds that an activity at such a wedding would be ejecting the bouquet at relativistic speeds; this is a reference to the traditional activity of the bride throwing her bouquet into the crowd, and whoever catches it is predicted to be the next to get married. The collision of neutron stars ejects material with enormous amounts of energy. The ejected bouquet would therefore be traveling "{{w|Relativistic speed|relativistically}}" (i.e. at a high fraction of the speed of light). If you caught such a bouquet while at rest relative to the merger point, [https://what-if.xkcd.com/1 you would be destroyed by the energy], so everyone tries not to catch it in that fashion. Of course, as shown in the ''[[What If?]]'' link above, everyone in the room and the surroundings would be vaporized if such a feat was possible.<br />
<br />
Continuing with the cosmological theme, the title text suggests that the wedding photographer would be a spectroscopist. {{w|Spectroscopy}}, which determines the composition of materials by splitting its light into a spectrum and analyzing the wavelengths that are strong and those that are missing, is a common way to study {{w|stars}}, {{w|nebulae}}, and other astronomical phenomena. After the relativistic bouquet was thrown, he would be able to make a nice spectroscopy of the entire wedding ceremony if he stood far enough away. He could, of course, not present it to the bride, as she was part of the light being emitted. On the other hand, neutron stars that get married like this also do not survive. And anyway that is also the case with lots of marriages.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[Cueball holding some small sparkling thing, implied to be a gold wedding ring]<br />
:Cueball: It kinda makes sense that we use gold for wedding rings. <br />
<br />
:[Frame shifts to Cueball's head]<br />
:Cueball: Because a lot of the universe's gold was probably produced by R-process nucleosynthesis when pairs of neutron stars spiraled together and merged. <br />
:Cueball: So gold exists because two neutron stars got married. <br />
<br />
:[Megan walks in from side towards Cueball]<br />
:Megan: "Binary neutron star merger" would be a fun wedding theme. <br />
:Cueball: Everyone has to try '''''not''''' to catch the relativistically-ejected bouquet.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Cosmology]]<br />
[[Category:Romance]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2658:_Coffee_Cup_Holes&diff=292674Talk:2658: Coffee Cup Holes2022-08-13T00:47:09Z<p>Zzyzx: </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 confused for a moment. That's a coffee ''mug''. And the correct answer is either one (the handle) or none (because below the macroscopic level (and above the theoretical sub-Planck scale of string-theory loops) it's increasingly not even mostly holes but very, very barely anything 'solid' jostling about in empty space giving no real impediment to any theoretical quantum-scale cheesewire without even being cut through). A coffee ''cup'' has no holes (regardless) if you don't count any form of sippy-lid it might have. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.13|172.70.85.13]] 22:25, 12 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Actually, the mug has two at the macro level (the hole that makes up the handle and the hole on the top). There could conceivably be more shallow holes inside the mug where the handle connects to the cup. At a plank-length level, the atoms could be viewed as holes in the vacuum bending space time around it.<br />
::You're not a topologist, certainly. And a ''hydrogen-nucleus'' is approximately 10^20 times the planck-length. The whole atom on the order of 10,000 times larger, and the constiuent quarks 'only' 1,000th, or so, smaller, with the differences being the space betweenn that anything that cares isn't going to consider much of an obstruction. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.155|172.70.162.155]] 23:43, 12 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
:There is no "hole" at the top - at best it count as an indention in the surface {{unsigned ip|172.70.211.134|23:38, 12 August 2022}}<br />
::Hole has multiple meanings. A hole in the ground doesn't have to go all the way through the Earth. The point of panel three is that we don't know what definition the question is using, which makes it impossible to answer correctly.[[User:Zzyzx|Zzyzx]] ([[User talk:Zzyzx|talk]]) 00:47, 13 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Mug_and_Torus_morph.gif] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.179.4|172.70.179.4]] 23:54, 12 August 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
For something to be a hole, you need to consider what is capable of passing through the hole. For instance, a mesh screen might have no holes that my fingers can pass through, but it is full of holes for water or air to pass through. And while atoms might be mostly space, other atoms can't usually just pass through that space, although high-energy particles may. Also, the space can be considered filled with forces, which may act as barriers to certain things. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.171|172.70.130.171]] 00:36, 13 August 2022 (UTC)</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2623:_Goofs&diff=2767402623: Goofs2022-05-24T00:29:53Z<p>Zzyzx: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2623<br />
| date = May 23, 2022<br />
| title = Goofs<br />
| image = goofs.png<br />
| titletext = The film is set in 2018, but when Commander Bremberly chases the hologram through Times Square, there's a billboard for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Depending on the date, that billboard would have been advertising either Infinity War or this movie.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
IMDb is the {{w|Internet Movie Database}}, a website that contains detailed information about movies and TV shows. One of the sections in many entries is "Goofs". This may list bloopers, inconsistencies, implausible actions, anachronisms, etc. in the movie. The comic makes fun of this with several goofs that simply point out differences between something in the movie and reality; but since the movie is fiction (in this case, a science fiction film that includes a space detective, a cybernetic dog, blimp drones, and a hologram kissing scene), it's not expected to exactly mirror reality.<br />
<br />
In the first goof, the street doesn't actually exist in the city in which the movie is set. Unless the address is important to the plot (Manhattan has a number of streets with well-known characters, e.g. the main theatre district is on Broadway, Fifth Avenue is a major shopping district, and Wall Street is known for large financial institutions), screenwriters often just make up street names and it might actually be expedient to 'rename' a setting in many cases, to avoid the actual collision of fictional and actual setting such as having {{w|A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street|"A Nightmare On <Your Streetname>"}}.<br />
<br />
In the second example, they point out that there's no real harpoon store at the location where the characters obtain a harpoon in the movie, and the nearest actual harpoon store doesn't have a display window like the one in the movie. Movies usually take liberties with details like this for plot expediency, it's not considered a goof. Manhattan does not appear to have ''any'' notable harpoon stores,{{Citation needed}} with or without the kind of frontage described. <!-- Note that the 'goof in the goof list' goes better in the #Goofs section, but we can still have a bit of fun here, right? ;) --><br />
<br />
In the third example, the background of a scene is of an apartment in Downtown Vancouver (a cheap and popular filming location that frequently stands in for other cities). The goof points out that the real-life apartment does not belong to the character who supposedly lives in it. Most movie characters do not exist in reality{{citation needed}}, and many scenes are set in fictional locations that are completely separate from their real-life filming locations. As such, this is only a "goof" if the scene is taken entirely literally.<br />
<br />
The title text describes an actual anachronism. The film is set in 2018, but there's a billboard for the movie ''{{w|Avengers: Age of Ultron}}''. That movie came out in 2015, while the next Avengers film, ''{{w|Avengers: Infinity War}}'', came out in 2018. Assuming the movie was filmed before 2018, the filmmakers wouldn't have known what films would be current at the time it would be released, and certainly not the artwork they'd be using to promote them. They could have chosen to set it 3 years earlier, but again, unless the specific date is significant to the plot, it's common to set a film at about the same time it's released but with a bare minimum of fakery by trying not to show ''unimportant'' newspaper dates, etc, so that set-dressing and props-department budgets aren't excessive. Generic advertisements for fictional (or {{w|Last Action Hero|parody}}) films might be put over egregiously obvious existing material, physically or in post-production editing, as might references to major brands – perhaps replaced by those agreed with from {{w|product placement}} partners.<br />
<br />
The title text also mentions the possibility of a self-reference – the billboard could be for this film itself since it's being released at the same time it's set. This assertion that {{w|Blazing Saddles|in-universe self-reference}} is plausible for a movie production is likely another example of the goof's writer failing to understand the basic "premise of fiction". Most movies do not exist within the fictional world they portray, and many audiences would find self-reference to be a far greater obstacle to suspending disbelief than an ad for the wrong Avengers movie.<br />
<br />
===Goofs===<br />
There is no entry for a film featuring an agent Glennifer on IMDB. Randall is clearly failing to do basic research.<br />
<br />
On the real IMDb, each item in the Goofs section would be listed under a category such as "Errors in geography" (which might apply to the three goofs listed in the main cartoon) or "Anachronisms" (which might apply to the goof in the title text). However, no such category is displayed here.<br />
<br />
On real Goofs pages, the information below each entry includes a public feedback listing (X of Y found this interesting) and a link entitled "Share this". In the comic, only unintelligible squiggles are included in their place, which really breaks the immersion of the purported "webpage". Of course, on a real IMDb page, all of the text would also be in the Verdana font, not Randall's handwriting.<br />
<br />
The comic features two entries with a yellow background, which is impossible. On IMDb, entries alternate between having white and gray backgrounds and only turn yellow when the mouse hovers over them.<br />
<br />
On IMDb, the number of goofs is located in a navigation box between the header and the goofs list. In the comic, the number is placed in the header, and there is no navigation box at all.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[An excerpt from an Internet Movie Database web page showing a list of goofs from a film. Each item has some small illegible text below it, which on the real IMDb would say something like "7 of 72 found this interesting | Share this". The first and third items have a faint yellow-tinted background. The third item is only partially visible at the bottom of the "screen".]<br />
:[Heading:]<br />
:'''Goofs (78)'''<br />
:[List:]<br />
:The space detective's office is on Chestnut Ave, but Lower Manhattan has no street by that name. Agent Glennifer pursues the cybernetic dog onto what is clearly Ludlow Street.<br />
:The agents destroy the blimp drones in Union Square with harpoons from a store display rack. The nearest harpoon store is several blocks away and has no outdoor displays.<br />
:The apartment in the background of the hologram kissing scene actually exists in downtown Vancouver. We called the owners, who confirmed they had no residents named [...]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
:Sometimes the IMDB "Goofs" section really seems to struggle with the whole premise of fiction.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2623:_Goofs&diff=2767282623: Goofs2022-05-23T23:33:48Z<p>Zzyzx: Missed that this was already covered in the next paragraph. Reverted.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2623<br />
| date = May 23, 2022<br />
| title = Goofs<br />
| image = goofs.png<br />
| titletext = The film is set in 2018, but when Commander Bremberly chases the hologram through Times Square, there's a billboard for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Depending on the date, that billboard would have been advertising either Infinity War or this movie.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
IMDb is the {{w|Internet Movie Database}}, a web site that contains detailed information about movies and TV shows. One of the sections in many entries is "Goofs". This may list bloopers, inconsistencies, implausible actions, anachronisms, etc. in the movie. The comic makes fun of this with several goofs that simply point out differences between something in the movie and reality; but since the movie is fiction (in this case, a science fiction film which includes a space detective, a cybernetic dog, blimp drones, and a hologram kissing scene), it's not expected to exactly mirror reality.<br />
<br />
In the first goof, the street doesn't actually exist in the city in which the movie is set. Unless the address is important to the plot (Manhattan has a number of streets with well known character, e.g. the main theatre district is on Broadway, Fifth Avenue is a major shopping district, Wall Street is known for large financial institutions), screenwriters often just make up street names and it might actually be expedient to 'rename' a setting in many cases, to avoid the actual collision of fictional and actual setting such as having {{w|A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street|"A Nightmare On <Your Streetname>"}}.<br />
<br />
In the second example, they point out that there's no real harpoon store at the location where the characters obtain a harpoon in the movie, and the nearest actual harpoon store doesn't have a display window like the one in the movie. Movies usually take liberties with details like this for plot expediency, it's not considered a goof. Manhattan does not appear to have ''any'' notable harpoon stores,{{Citation needed}} with or without the kind of frontage described. <!-- Note that the 'goof in the goof list' goes better in the #Goofs section, but we can still have a bit of fun here, right? ;) --><br />
<br />
In the third example, the background of a scene is an apartment in Downtown Vancouver (a cheap and popular filming location that frequently stands in for other cities). The goof points out that the real-life apartment does not belong to the character who supposedly lives in it. Most movie characters do not exist in reality, and many scenes are set in fictional locations that are completely separate from their real-life filming locations. As such, this is only a "goof" if the scene is taken entirely literally.<br />
<br />
The title text describes an actual anachronism. The film is set in 2018, but there's a billboard for the movie ''{{w|Avengers: Age of Ultron}}''. That movie came out in 2015, while the next Avengers film, ''{{w|Avengers: Infinity War}}'', came out in 2018. Assuming the movie was filmed before 2018, the filmmakers wouldn't have known what films would be current at the time it would be released, and certainly not the artwork they'd be using to promote the.. They could have chosen to set it 3 years earlier, but again, unless the specific date it significant to the plot, it's common to set a film at about the same time it's released but with a bare minimum of fakery by trying not to show ''unimportant'' newspaper dates, etc, so that set-dressing and props-department budgets aren't excessive. Generic advertisements for fictional (or {{w|Last Action Hero|parody}}) films might be put over egregiously obvious existing material, physically or in post-production editing, as might references to major brands – perhaps replaced by those agreed with from {{w|product placement}} partners.<br />
<br />
The title text also mentions the possibility of a self-reference – the billboard could be for this film itself, since it's being released at the same time it's set. This assertion that {{w|Blazing Saddles|in-universe self-reference}} is plausible for a movie production is likely another example of the goof's writer failing to understand the basic "premise of fiction". Most movies do not exist within the fictional world they portray, and many audiences would find self-reference to be a far greater obstacle to suspending disbelief than an ad for the wrong Avengers movie.<br />
<br />
===Goofs===<br />
There is no entry for a film featuring an agent Glennifer on IMDB. Randall is clearly failing to do basic research.<br />
<br />
On the real IMDb, each item in the Goofs section would be listed under a category such as "Errors in geography" (which might apply to the three goofs listed in the main cartoon) or "Anachronisms" (which might apply to the goof in the title text). However, no such category is displayed here.<br />
<br />
On real Goofs pages, the information below each entry includes a public feedback listing (X of Y found this interesting) and a link entitled "Share this". In the comic, only unintelligible squiggles are included in their place, which really breaks the immersion of the purported "webpage".<br />
<br />
The comic features two entries with a yellow background, which is impossible. On IMDb, entries alternate between having white and gray backgrounds, and only turn yellow when the mouse hovers over them.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[An excerpt from an Internet Movie Database web page showing a list of goofs from a film. Each item has some small illegible text below it, which on the real IMDb would say something like "7 of 72 found this interesting | Share this". The first and third items have a faint yellow tinted background. The third item is only partially visible at the bottom of the "screen".]<br />
:[Heading:]<br />
:'''Goofs (78)'''<br />
:[List:]<br />
:The space detective's office is on Chestnut Ave, but Lower Manhattan has no street by that name. Agent Glennifer pursues the cybernetic dog onto what is clearly Ludlow Street.<br />
:The agents destroy the blimp drones in Union Square with harpoons from a store display rack. The nearest harpoon store is several blocks away and has no outdoor displays.<br />
:The apartment in the background of the hologram kissing scene actually exists in downtown Vancouver. We called the owners, who confirmed they had no residents named [...]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below panel:]<br />
:Sometimes the IMDB "Goofs" section really seems to struggle with the whole premise of fiction.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2623:_Goofs&diff=2767272623: Goofs2022-05-23T23:32:54Z<p>Zzyzx: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2623<br />
| date = May 23, 2022<br />
| title = Goofs<br />
| image = goofs.png<br />
| titletext = The film is set in 2018, but when Commander Bremberly chases the hologram through Times Square, there's a billboard for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Depending on the date, that billboard would have been advertising either Infinity War or this movie.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
IMDb is the {{w|Internet Movie Database}}, a web site that contains detailed information about movies and TV shows. One of the sections in many entries is "Goofs". This may list bloopers, inconsistencies, implausible actions, anachronisms, etc. in the movie. The comic makes fun of this with several goofs that simply point out differences between something in the movie and reality; but since the movie is fiction (in this case, a science fiction film which includes a space detective, a cybernetic dog, blimp drones, and a hologram kissing scene), it's not expected to exactly mirror reality.<br />
<br />
In the first goof, the street doesn't actually exist in the city in which the movie is set. Unless the address is important to the plot (Manhattan has a number of streets with well known character, e.g. the main theatre district is on Broadway, Fifth Avenue is a major shopping district, Wall Street is known for large financial institutions), screenwriters often just make up street names and it might actually be expedient to 'rename' a setting in many cases, to avoid the actual collision of fictional and actual setting such as having {{w|A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street|"A Nightmare On <Your Streetname>"}}.<br />
<br />
In the second example, they point out that there's no real harpoon store at the location where the characters obtain a harpoon in the movie, and the nearest actual harpoon store doesn't have a display window like the one in the movie. Movies usually take liberties with details like this for plot expediency, it's not considered a goof. Manhattan does not appear to have ''any'' notable harpoon stores,{{Citation needed}} with or without the kind of frontage described. <!-- Note that the 'goof in the goof list' goes better in the #Goofs section, but we can still have a bit of fun here, right? ;) --><br />
<br />
In the third example, the background of a scene is an apartment in Downtown Vancouver (a cheap and popular filming location that frequently stands in for other cities). The goof points out that the real-life apartment does not belong to the character who supposedly lives in it. Most movie characters do not exist in reality, and many scenes are set in fictional locations that are completely separate from their real-life filming locations. As such, this is only a "goof" if the scene is taken entirely literally.<br />
<br />
The title text describes an actual anachronism. The film is set in 2018, but there's a billboard for the movie ''{{w|Avengers: Age of Ultron}}''. That movie came out in 2015, while the next Avengers film, ''{{w|Avengers: Infinity War}}'', came out in 2018. Assuming the movie was filmed before 2018, the filmmakers wouldn't have known what films would be current at the time it would be released, and certainly not the artwork they'd be using to promote the film. They could have chosen to set it 3 years earlier, but again, unless the specific date it significant to the plot, it's common to set a film at about the same time it's released but with a bare minimum of fakery by trying not to show ''unimportant'' newspaper dates, etc, so that set-dressing and props-department budgets aren't excessive. Generic advertisements for fictional (or {{w|Last Action Hero|parody}}) films might be put over egregiously obvious existing material, physically or in post-production editing, as might references to major brands – perhaps replaced by those agreed with from {{w|product placement}} partners. The goof also suggests that the movie should have displayed its own poster instead. Most movies are set in worlds where they do not exist, because the alternative would be an incredibly confusing situation where the movie's "real events" are somehow perfectly represented in a movie within the movie. As a result, this suggestion is incredibly strange, unless the movie already has heavy meta elements.<br />
<br />
The title text also mentions the possibility of a self-reference – the billboard could be for this film itself, since it's being released at the same time it's set. This assertion that {{w|Blazing Saddles|in-universe self-reference}} is plausible for a movie production is likely another example of the goof's writer failing to understand the basic "premise of fiction". Most movies do not exist within the fictional world they portray, and many audiences would find self-reference to be a far greater obstacle to suspending disbelief than an ad for the wrong Avengers movie.<br />
<br />
===Goofs===<br />
There is no entry for a film featuring an agent Glennifer on IMDB. Randall is clearly failing to do basic research.<br />
<br />
On the real IMDb, each item in the Goofs section would be listed under a category such as "Errors in geography" (which might apply to the three goofs listed in the main cartoon) or "Anachronisms" (which might apply to the goof in the title text). However, no such category is displayed here.<br />
<br />
On real Goofs pages, the information below each entry includes a public feedback listing (X of Y found this interesting) and a link entitled "Share this". In the comic, only unintelligible squiggles are included in their place, which really breaks the immersion of the purported "webpage".<br />
<br />
The comic features two entries with a yellow background, which is impossible. On IMDb, entries alternate between having white and gray backgrounds, and only turn yellow when the mouse hovers over them.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[An excerpt from an Internet Movie Database web page showing a list of goofs from a film. Each item has some small illegible text below it, which on the real IMDb would say something like "7 of 72 found this interesting | Share this". The first and third items have a faint yellow tinted background. The third item is only partially visible at the bottom of the "screen".]<br />
:[Heading:]<br />
:'''Goofs (78)'''<br />
:[List:]<br />
:The space detective's office is on Chestnut Ave, but Lower Manhattan has no street by that name. Agent Glennifer pursues the cybernetic dog onto what is clearly Ludlow Street.<br />
:The agents destroy the blimp drones in Union Square with harpoons from a store display rack. The nearest harpoon store is several blocks away and has no outdoor displays.<br />
:The apartment in the background of the hologram kissing scene actually exists in downtown Vancouver. We called the owners, who confirmed they had no residents named [...]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below panel:]<br />
:Sometimes the IMDB "Goofs" section really seems to struggle with the whole premise of fiction.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2623:_Goofs&diff=2767232623: Goofs2022-05-23T23:05:45Z<p>Zzyzx: Added detail on the third goof, added an additional joke goof to the goofs section.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2623<br />
| date = May 23, 2022<br />
| title = Goofs<br />
| image = goofs.png<br />
| titletext = The film is set in 2018, but when Commander Bremberly chases the hologram through Times Square, there's a billboard for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Depending on the date, that billboard would have been advertising either Infinity War or this movie.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF- Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
IMDb is the {{w|Internet Movie Database}}, a web site that contains detailed information about movies and TV shows. One of the sections in many entries is "Goofs". This may list bloopers, inconsistencies, implausible actions, anachronisms, etc. in the movie. The comic makes fun of this with several goofs that simply point out differences between something in the movie and reality; but since the movie is fiction (in this case, a science fiction film which includes a space detective, a cybernetic dog, blimp drones, and a hologram kissing scene), it's not expected to exactly mirror reality.<br />
<br />
In the first goof, the street doesn't actually exist in the city in which the movie is set. Unless the address is important to the plot (Manhattan has a number of streets with well known character, e.g. the main theatre district is on Broadway, Fifth Avenue is a major shopping district, Wall Street is known for large financial institutions), screenwriters often just make up street names and it might actually be expedient to 'rename' a setting in many cases, to avoid the actual collision of fictional and actual setting such as having {{w|A_Nightmare_on_Elm_Street|"A Nightmare On <Your Streetname>"}}.<br />
<br />
In the second example, they point out that there's no real harpoon store at the location where the characters obtain a harpoon in the movie, and the nearest actual harpoon store doesn't have a display window like the one in the movie. Movies usually take liberties with details like this for plot expediency, it's not considered a goof. Manhattan does not appear to have ''any'' notable harpoon stores,{{Citation needed}} with or without the kind of frontage described. <!-- Note that the 'goof in the goof list' goes better in the #Goofs section, but we can still have a bit of fun here, right? ;) --><br />
<br />
In the third example, the background of a scene is an apartment in Downtown Vancouver (a cheap and popular filming location that frequently stands in for other cities). The goof points out that the real-life apartment does not belong to the character who supposedly lives in it. Most movie characters do not exist in reality, and many scenes are set in fictional locations that are completely separate from their real-life filming locations. As such, this is only a "goof" if the scene is taken entirely literally.<br />
<br />
The title text describes an actual anachronism. The film is set in 2018, but there's a billboard for the movie ''{{w|Avengers: Age of Ultron}}''. That movie came out in 2015, while the next Avengers film, ''{{w|Avengers: Infinity War}}'', came out in 2018. Assuming the movie was filmed before 2018, the filmmakers wouldn't have known what films would be current at the time it would be released, and certainly not the artwork they'd be using to promote the.. They could have chosen to set it 3 years earlier, but again, unless the specific date it significant to the plot, it's common to set a film at about the same time it's released but with a bare minimum of fakery by trying not to show ''unimportant'' newspaper dates, etc, so that set-dressing and props-department budgets aren't excessive. Generic advertisements for fictional (or {{w|Last Action Hero|parody}}) films might be put over egregiously obvious existing material, physically or in post-production editing, as might references to major brands – perhaps replaced by those agreed with from {{w|product placement}} partners.<br />
<br />
The title text also mentions the possibility of a self-reference – the billboard could be for this film itself, since it's being released at the same time it's set. This assertion that {{w|Blazing Saddles|in-universe self-reference}} is plausible for a movie production is likely another example of the goof's writer failing to understand the basic "premise of fiction". Most movies do not exist within the fictional world they portray, and many audiences would find self-reference to be a far greater obstacle to suspending disbelief than an ad for the wrong Avengers movie.<br />
<br />
===Goofs===<br />
There is no entry for a film featuring an agent Glennifer on IMDB. Randall is clearly failing to do basic research.<br />
<br />
On the real IMDb, each item in the Goofs section would be listed under a category such as "Errors in geography" (which might apply to the three goofs listed in the main cartoon) or "Anachronisms" (which might apply to the goof in the title text). However, no such category is displayed here.<br />
<br />
On real Goofs pages, the information below each entry includes a public feedback listing (X of Y found this interesting) and a link entitled "Share this". In the comic, only unintelligible squiggles are included in their place, which really breaks the immersion of the purported "webpage".<br />
<br />
The comic features two entries with a yellow background, which is impossible. On IMDb, entries alternate between having white and gray backgrounds, and only turn yellow when the mouse hovers over them.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
:[An excerpt from an Internet Movie Database web page showing a list of goofs from a film. Each item has some small illegible text below it, which on the real IMDb would say something like "7 of 72 found this interesting | Share this". The first and third items have a faint yellow tinted background. The third item is only partially visible at the bottom of the "screen".]<br />
:[Heading:]<br />
:'''Goofs (78)'''<br />
:[List:]<br />
:The space detective's office is on Chestnut Ave, but Lower Manhattan has no street by that name. Agent Glennifer pursues the cybernetic dog onto what is clearly Ludlow Street.<br />
:The agents destroy the blimp drones in Union Square with harpoons from a store display rack. The nearest harpoon store is several blocks away and has no outdoor displays.<br />
:The apartment in the background of the hologram kissing scene actually exists in downtown Vancouver. We called the owners, who confirmed they had no residents named [...]<br />
<br />
:[Caption below panel:]<br />
:Sometimes the IMDB "Goofs" section really seems to struggle with the whole premise of fiction.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Comics with color]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2604:_Frankenstein_Captcha&diff=2300062604: Frankenstein Captcha2022-04-09T01:07:39Z<p>Zzyzx: Added more factions to the debate. I left the screening section alone because it still reflects the most common reasons why people do or don't call the monster "Frankenstein."</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2604<br />
| date = April 8, 2022<br />
| title = Frankenstein Captcha<br />
| image = frankenstein_captcha.png<br />
| titletext = The distinction between a ship and a boat is a line drawn in water.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by Rated Argh -Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic strip is a play on the meanings (and misunderstanding) of the name "Frankenstein". ''{{w|Frankenstein}}; or, the Modern Prometheus'' is a 1818 novel by Mary Shelley about a medical student called Victor Frankenstein who creates an artificial life-form. The man he creates once describes himself as "the Adam of your (Frankenstein's) labour" in the book, and strictly speaking is properly known as "Frankenstein's ''monster''" (or perhaps "creation" or "son"), but is often erroneously called "Frankenstein" himself.<br />
<br />
The Captcha shown in the comic instructs the user to select all tiles containing Frankenstein. The tiles include both a reanimated corpse resembling Frankenstein's monster and a scientist yelling, "It's alive!” who is clearly intended to be Victor Frankenstein. The problem arises from the contrast between various definitions of the term Frankenstein. Going just off the book's text, the monster has no name, so the correct answer to the Captcha is just the left square of the third row. However, modern people often call the monster Frankenstein out of mistake or indifference, and some even argue that the monster should inherit its creator's surname. And in comic [[1589]], Randall created a version of the story where Frankenstein was the monster's name, and the doctor was unnamed. Also, if the images in the squares are scenes from the famous {{w|Frankenstein (1931 film)|1931 film}} starring {{w|Boris Karloff}} as The Monster, then they could be correctly said to be "containing ''Frankenstein''”—that is, the work. Because of the ambiguity regarding what Frankenstein refers to, this would not be a good CAPTCHA because many people solving it would use an incorrect definition of Frankenstein and therefore get it wrong. (However, it would be effective in screening for people who know that Frankenstein technically refers to the scientist, not the monster—or, if one also had to mark the boxes depicted Frankenstein's monster, screening for people who don't know.)<br />
<br />
This comic strip could also reference [[1897]], which would imply that someone had actually created a Frankenstein's monster which needs to be located.<br />
<br />
Many of the other tiles appear to be pictures of entities that inspire similar pedantry. For example, there is a picture of a turtle (or possibly a tortoise, or a reference to the Voight-Kampff test used in a manner analogous to CAPTCHA), a ship (or possibly a boat), Link (the name given to each of several protagonists that appear across generations and timelines, throughout the {{w|Legend of Zelda}} video games, who many erroneously refer to as Zelda), a pond (or possibly a lake, or a {{w|mirage}}), a squash or pumpkin (often subject to the ''fruit or vegetable'' debate), an erupting volcano (with lava, or is it magma?), and an asteroid or planet (or is it a dwarf planet?). Other tiles seem to be inspired by images that commonly occur in actual captchas, like the STOP sign or the traffic light. However, at least some of these may also be meant to fall into the category of entities that inspire pedantry, for example: because traffic lights can also be called traffic signals or stoplights; many people thinking that the shape of a stop sign is a hexagon, not an octagon; and the definition of a sandwich (previously discussed as a “random semi-ironic obsession” in [[1835]]). <br />
<br />
The title text refers to the fact that if you draw a picture of a boat/ship on calm water (a straight line), it is usually assumed to be on a lake or pond and is thus a boat, but if it is on wavy water (as in the comic), it's assumed to be on the sea and is thus a ship{{citation needed}}. The phrase "a line drawn in water" is an idiom for something ephemeral. Ironically, it has persisted for a long time and dates back at least to the early Buddhists. (e.g. [https://suttacentral.net/an3.132/en/sujato?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin| AN 3.132] & [https://suttacentral.net/an7.74/en/sujato?layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin| AN 7.74]). The title text is also a pun on the common idiom "drawing a line in the sand."<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
> TO CONTINUE, PLEASE CLICK ALL SQUARES CONTAINING FRANKENSTEIN<br />
<br />
Pictured (Starting from top left)<br />
<br />
Row 1<br />
* Tortoise (or turtle)<br />
* Ship (or boat)<br />
* Frankenstein's monster (often mistaken as Frankenstein) waking up from a slab, while lightning strikes.<br />
::Monster: GRRR<br />
* Link from Legend of Zelda series (often mistaken as Zelda, aka Toon Link in SSB)<br />
<br />
Row 2<br />
* Lake (or pond), possibly a mirage, in the Egyptian desert<br />
* Megan<br />
* Lava (or magma)<br />
* Squash or pumpkin (fruit vs vegetable)<br />
<br />
Row 3<br />
* A mad scientist (Victor Frankenstein) throwing a switch while lightning strikes outside<br />
::Frankenstein: It's alive!<br />
* Sandwich<br />
* Stop sign<br />
* Girl running away from Frankenstein's monster<br />
::Girl: Monster!<br />
<br />
Row 4<br />
* Rocket (spaceship) flying by an asteroid or Pluto (dwarf planet)<br />
* Cueball and Ponytail standing next to each other<br />
* Traffic light (also called a stoplight, possibly mistaken as stop sign?)<br />
* Frankenstein's monster<br />
<br />
:[Caption below the panel]:<br />
:Oh no.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:CAPTCHA]]<br />
[[Category:Fiction]]<br />
[[Category:Animals]]<br />
[[Category:Food]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2576:_Control_Group&diff=226431Talk:2576: Control Group2022-02-03T03:07:59Z<p>Zzyzx: </p>
<hr />
<div><!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.--><br />
This is my first explanation, feel free to improve upon it. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 00:30, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Ran into your edit when I tried to submit mine, hah.<br />
I don't actually like Know Your Meme that much but I'm not sure where else I could source that joke. Maybe it's unnecessary. [[User:Obw|Obw]] ([[User talk:Obw|talk]]) 00:36, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Sorry about that. Thanks for expanding my explanation, especially the description of the "study" aspect. I think the joke is fine, though we'll see what others think. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 00:43, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Your explanation of the title text actually helped me understand the joke there! I added a bit more to flesh out the explanation [[User:Obw|Obw]] ([[User talk:Obw|talk]]) 00:45, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
:Thanks! Your edits definitely helped clear up the study terminology. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 00:50, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Is the text exceptionally large for an xkcd comic? I was seeing if my browser was zoomed in, but the previous comics are all a normal size [[Special:Contributions/172.70.134.215|172.70.134.215]] 00:55, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
:I noticed that, too. It looks about 1.5 times larger than normal. I don't think it means anything, though; Randall probably just made the image the wrong size by accident. [[User:KirbyDude25|KirbyDude25]] ([[User talk:KirbyDude25|talk]]) 01:00, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
:The image is the size normally used for the _2x version. In this case, the main image is the same size as the _2x version for some reason. Normal image: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/control_group.png; 2x image: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/control_group_2x.png; Normally the _2x version is double size for hi-DPI displays. I'm hoping that will get fixed and we'll get the normal size back. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:11, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
::This size is way better though. Do people still use low-res monitors? When I check the website, it shows up as 478 x 613 pixels, which is absurdly small, even for a webcomic. - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.153|172.70.130.153]] 01:33, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::The site standard is to give the standard version, for various reasons not just confined to monitor (or, in my case, tablet) resolution. It doesn't happen here, but the double-wide version of some comics would often make my device shrink the rest of the page to make the image fit within the width.<br />
:::: Why is the "standard" version so tiny? If anything, they should make the <1mp version mobile-only, and the standard should be desktop/hd - [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.122|172.70.131.122]] 03:03, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
:::(Ironically, my device seems to load the _2x in the original published context, in normal non-huge comics, ''without'' changing the xkcd site dimensions, so maybe there's a CSS solution to that, as well as it clearly heing the reason for the current problem due to hard-coded pixel-widths adding up to less than necessary to wholey contain the image-width.)<br />
:::If the _2x version is necessary to see details (not the case here), a link to that version is given. Or if it has been uploaded as well, I suppose. But anyone can go to the source and get the _2x if they want it. But for this comic it adds little value. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 02:57, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
::::Is there some way to make it DEFAULT to the 2x version (here or on xkcd.com) without some kind of addons or external scripts? I didn't see any settings, and I don't want to register an account. - [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.166|162.158.74.166]] 03:05, 3 February 2022 (UTC)<br />
<br />
<br />
Anyone know why the title text doesn't show properly? For me, the rows are on separate lines on xkcd.com but display on the same line over here, ruining the effect. Is there a hidden break character that's not displaying in the source? [[User:Zzyzx|Zzyzx]] ([[User talk:Zzyzx|talk]]) 03:07, 3 February 2022 (UTC)</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2487:_Danger_Mnemonic&diff=2148812487: Danger Mnemonic2021-07-10T10:12:20Z<p>Zzyzx: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2487<br />
| date = July 9, 2021<br />
| title = Danger Mnemonic<br />
| image = danger_mnemonic.png<br />
| titletext = It's definitely not the time to try drinking beer before liquor.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a DRUNKEN SAILOR'S POISON IVY SNAKE. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This is a mash-up of three different common sayings: "red touches yellow, dead fellow. Red touches black, happy Jack," "leaves of three, leave them be; berries white, poisonous sight" and "red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight."<br />
<br />
The combination of the three sayings make it sound somewhat like an ominous prophecy, citing odd, specific conditions under which some unknown disaster will occur- in which case, you probably should get out of there.<br />
<br />
The adult refers to three different sayings that remind people how to recognize dangerous things or situations. If all are true at once, then things must be especially bad. The sayings are:<br />
<br />
*'''Red touches yellow, kills a fellow.''' This is a saying for how to recognize a venomous coral snake, which has red, black, and yellow stripes, with the red and yellow stripes adjacent. A nonvenomous king snake also has red, black, and yellow stripes, but the black stripes separate the red and yellow ones.<br />
*'''Leaves of three, leave them be''' is used to identify poison ivy from its many lookalikes, such as the Virginia creeper in [[443: Know Your Vines]].<br />
*'''Red sky at morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight.''' The {{w|Red sky at morning|mnemonic}} predicts bad/good weather conditions based on a particularly red sunrise/sunset. It is predictive at {{w|middle latitudes}} where the prevailing winds go from west to east. Regions of higher air pressure will cause a particularly red sky at sunrise/sunset, so a red sky in the evening indicates a high pressure system is coming in from the west with its calmer weather, while a red sky in the morning indicates a low pressure front coming in (usually with rain/rougher weather). In some countries (such as the United Kingdom), the saying mentions shepherds rather than sailors.<br />
<br />
The title text refers to the myth of '''Beer before liquor, never been sicker; liquor before beer, you're in the clear''', or one of various other colloquial folk variations that clearly already inspired [[2422: Vaccine Ordering]]. Unlike the first three mnemonics which are genuinely useful for avoiding danger, this one does not have any truth behind it - unless the order affects how ''much'' you drink. Besides that, the title text is a warning against getting drunk around deadly snakes and poison oak in bad weather.<br />
<br />
Also see [[2038: Hazard Symbol]] for another combination of danger warnings.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
:[Blondie talking to two children: a younger looking Hairy and Science Girl]<br />
<br />
: Blondie: Now, remember:<br />
: Blondie: If red touches yellow amid leaves of three under a red sky at morning, <br />
: Blondie: you should probably just get out of there.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=977:_Map_Projections&diff=213458977: Map Projections2021-06-16T01:08:38Z<p>Zzyzx: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 977<br />
| date = November 14, 2011<br />
| title = Map Projections<br />
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]<br />
| image = map_projections.png<br />
| titletext = What's that? You think I don't like the Peters map because I'm uncomfortable with having my cultural assumptions challenged? Are you sure you're not... ::puts on sunglasses:: ...projecting?<br />
}}<br />
{{TOC}}<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Map projection}}, or how to represent the spherical Earth surface onto a flat support (paper, screen...) to have a usable map, is a long-time issue with very practical aspects (navigation, geographical shapes and masses visualization, etc.) as well as very scientific/mathematical ones, involving geometry or even abstract algebra among other things. There is no universal solution to this problem: Any 2D map projection will always distort in a way the spherical reality. Many projections have been proposed in various contexts, each intending to minimize distortions for specific uses (for nautical navigation, for aerial navigation, for landmass size comparisons, etc.) but having drawbacks from other points of view. Some of them are more frequently used than others in mass media and therefore more well-known than others, some are purely historical and now deprecated, some are very obscure, etc.<br />
<br />
[[Randall]] suggests here the idea that someone's "favorite" map projection can reveal aspects of their personality, then goes through a series of them to show what they can mean. <br />
<br />
He may actually believe that all map projections are in a way bad. This could be inferred from the fact that he much later began publishing a series of [[:Category:Bad Map Projections|Bad Map Projections]], starting with [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]], which was Bad Map Projection #107 on his list, and was followed up by #79: [[1799: Bad Map Projection: Time Zones]]. The projections below could be #1-#12 on that list, although the last one, where Randall hates those that love it, might be somewhat further down the list.<br />
<br />
===Mercator===<br />
[[File:MercatorProjection.jpg|frame|The Mercator projection]]<br />
The {{w|Mercator projection}} was introduced by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. The main purpose of this map is to preserve compass bearings; for example 13 degrees east of north will be 13 degrees clockwise from the ray pointing toward the top of the map, at every point. A mathematical consequence is the mapping is conformal, i.e. if two roads meet at a certain angle on the surface of the Earth, they will meet at that same angle on the map. It also follows that at every point the vertical and horizontal scales are the same, so locally i.e. considering only a small part of the map, geographical features (shapes, angles) are well represented, which helps a lot in recognizing them on-the-field, or for local navigation in that small part only. For this reason, that projection (or a close variant) is used in several online mapping services (such as Google Maps when this comic was published, but they switched to a globe, see below), which means that it is frequently encountered by the general public. A straight line on the map corresponds to a course of constant bearing (direction), which was very useful for nautical navigation in the past (and thus made that projection very well-known).<br />
<br />
However, from a global point of view, this projection is radically incorrect in how it shows the size of landmasses (for instance, Antarctica and Greenland seem gigantic), and furthermore, it always excludes a small region around each pole (otherwise the map would be of infinite height), so it doesn't provide a complete solution for the problem of map projection. The comic implies that people who like that projection aren't very interested with map issues, and typically use what they are offered without thinking much about it.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Van der Grinten===<br />
[[File:VanDerGrintenProjection.jpg|frame|The Van der Grinten projection]]<br />
The {{w|Van der Grinten projection}} is not much better than the Mercator. It was adopted by {{w|National Geographic}} in 1922 and was used until they updated to the Robinson projection in 1988.<br />
<br />
The Van der Grinten projection is circular as opposed to the Mercator projection. The fictional person believes a circular map is more fitting to the real Earth's three-dimensional spherical nature because both are round. This belief fails to recognize that a two-dimensional circle has very little in common with the surface of a sphere, and thus this projection still causes a vast distortion of space and area. Because of this, Randall implies the Van der Grinten enthusiast to be optimistic and childishly simple-minded (e.g. "you like circles").<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Robinson===<br />
[[File:RobinsonProjection.jpg|frame|The Robinson projection]]<br />
The {{w|Robinson projection}} was developed by {{w|Arthur H. Robinson}} as a map that was supposed to look nice and is often used for classroom maps. National Geographic switched to this projection in 1988, and used it for ten years, switching to the {{w|Winkel tripel projection|Winkel-Tripel}} in 1998.<br />
<br />
{{w|The Beatles}} was a rock band that enjoyed great commercial success in the 1960s, and are widely considered the best act ever in the genre of popular music. The Beatles, coffee, and running shoes are all things that are very commonly enjoyed and largely uncontroversial, as well as being comforting. Liking these specific things suggests an ordinary, easygoing lifestyle paralleled by the projection.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Dymaxion===<br />
[[File:DymaxionProjection.jpg|frame|The Dymaxion projection]]<br />
Also called the Fuller Map, the {{w|Dymaxion map}} takes a sphere and projects it onto an icosahedron, that is a polyhedron with 20 triangular faces. It is far easier to unwrap an icosahedron than it is to unwrap a sphere into a 2D object and has very little skewing of the poles. {{w|Buckminster Fuller}} was an eccentric futurist who believed, for example, that world maps should allow no conception of "up" or "down". He was therefore more than happy to defy people's expectations about maps in the pursuit of mathematical accuracy.<br />
<br />
Randall associates the projection to geek subculture and niche markets:<br />
*{{w|Isaac Asimov}} was an American science-fiction writer, who (as well as publishing many textbooks) is considered the father of the modern concept of robots. He invented the {{w|Three Laws of Robotics}}. He also worked on more than 500 books throughout his career.<br />
*{{w|XML}} is the eXtensible Markup Language. It is used to represent data in a format that machines can read and understand, as well as being human-readable. In practice, XML is cumbersome to read.<br />
*{{w|Vibram FiveFingers|Toed shoes}} are a [[1065: Shoes|favorite]] of Randall's to pick on. In society they are seen as a {{w|geek}} clothing item.<br />
*Brought to the world by {{w|Dean Kamen}}, the {{w|Segway PT}} was supposed to be a device that changed the way cities were built. In reality, most jurisdictions have put in place rules specifically against Segways, making them a frustration to own and use within the law (in some states in Australia, it is illegal to use them on public footpaths or roads). Also, the former owner of {{w|Segway Inc.}}, the late {{w|Jimi Heselden}}, accidentally rode his Segway off a cliff in 2010.<br />
*At the time of comic release, 3D goggles, nowadays widely known as {{w|Virtual reality headset|VR headsets}}, were considered a gimmick at best. The original idea is as old as 3D graphics, but it never really took off until mid-2010s. Earlier products were very unwieldy and offered poor graphics quality, so no one took this technology seriously.<br />
*{{w|Dvorak Simplified Keyboard|Dvorak}} is an alternate keyboard layout to {{w|QWERTY}}. According to legend, QWERTY was invented to help keep manual typewriters from jamming (by placing the most used keys far from each other) but Dr. {{w|August Dvorak}} performed many studies and found the mathematically optimal keyboard layout to reduce finger travel for right handed typists. While some claim Dvorak is technically better than QWERTY, QWERTY had become the standard. Most keyboards were laid out in QWERTY format, but a lot of software exists to remap the keys to DVORAK for those interested in typing faster. Retraining the brain to use Dvorak takes perhaps a week. It has become a [[:Category:Dvorak|recurrent theme]] on xkcd.<br />
**It seems likely that Randall looked at this comic when he made the [[1784: Bad Map Projection: Liquid Resize]], and given that he then released a comic about Dvorak, [[1787: Voice Commands]], the week after that, it seem like this old comic may also have inspired that Dvorak reference, see this [[1787: Voice Commands#Trivia|trivia item]].<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Winkel-Tripel===<br />
[[File:Winkel-TripelProjection.jpg|frame|The Winkel Tripel projection]]<br />
Proposed by Oswald Winkel in 1921, the {{w|Winkel tripel projection}} tried to reduce a set of three (German: Tripel) main problems with map projections: area, direction, and distance. The {{w|Kavrayskiy VII projection|Kavrayskiy projection}} is very similar to the Winkel Tripel and was used by the USSR, but very few in the Western world know of it.<br />
<br />
The comic links this projection to {{w|hipster}} subculture. The hipster stereotype is to avoid conforming to mainstream fashions. "Post-" refers to a variety of musical genres such as {{w|post-punk}}, {{w|post-grunge}}, {{w|post-minimalism}}, etc. that branch off of other genres.<br />
<br />
;Trivia<br />
*In German "Winkel-Tripel-Projektion" means Winkel's triple projection, and therefore the hyphen shouldn't be there: "Winkel Tripel" or "Winkel tripel".<br />
*This projection was later used in [[2242: Ground vs Air]].<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Goode Homolosine===<br />
[[File:GoodeHomolosineProjection.jpg|frame|The Goode Homolosine projection]]<br />
The {{w|Goode homolosine projection}} takes a different approach to skewing a sphere into a roughly circular surface. An orange peel can be taken from an orange and flattened with fair success; this is roughly the procedure that {{w|John Paule Goode}} followed in creating this projection. Randall is suggesting that people who like this map also prefer relatively easy solutions to other things in life, despite those solutions having nuanced problems that are more difficult to address.<br />
<br />
Common people make arguments that if normal people would run the United States, then the US wouldn't be in the trouble it is. This is from the belief that career politicians are simply out to make money and will only act in the interest of their constituency when their continued easy life is threatened (usually around election time).<br />
<br />
Airline food is another, much maligned, problem. How do you store enough food to feed people on long airplane trips? What kind of food can be served in an enclosed, low-air-pressure environment? The common solution is to use some kind of prepackaged, reheated meal. Randall is saying that the people in favor of the Goode Homolosine wonder why the airlines don't simply order meals from the restaurants in the airport, store that food, and serve it, rather than using bland reheated food. However, this seemingly-obvious solution ignores how being in an airplane dulls your sense of taste. Airplane food is actually overseasoned for eating on the ground, meaning that if airlines switched to restaurant food it would probably taste even blander.<br />
<br />
Older cars burned oil like mad fiends, and oil back then would become corrosive to the innards of an engine, so oil had to be changed often. But, with the introduction of synthetic motor oil and better designed engines, new cars only need their oil changed about every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. A common conspiracy theory is that modern automobile oil manufacturers still recommend that car owners change their oil every 3,000-5,000 miles to "drum" up more business, even though that frequency is unnecessary.<br />
<br />
All of these references suggest that people who like the Goode Homolosine projection are fans of easy solutions to problems. However, the solutions would not necessarily work in practice. For instance: the restaurants might have trouble making enough food for the whole plane, and it could get cold before being served; the air conditions [http://www.nbcnews.com/health/one-reason-airline-food-so-bad-your-own-tastebuds-6C10823522 aboard planes] can affect taste, so airlines say they optimize for this; there is no such thing as a "normal" person, and if there were, he/she would have virtually no chance at actually getting into government office; and the Goode Homolosine projection, while mostly resembling a flattened orange peel as suggested by the earlier analogy, does indeed cut down on distortion, but also has serious problems of its own, such as leaving huge gaps of nothingness between the continents, making distances across the oceans difficult to visualize.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Hobo–Dyer===<br />
[[File:Hobo-DyerProjection.jpg|frame|The Hobo–Dyer projection]]<br />
The {{w|Hobo–Dyer projection}} was commissioned by Bob Abramms and Howard Bronstein and was drafted by Mick Dyer in 2002. It is a modified {{w|Behrmann projection}}. The goal was to be a more visually pleasing version of the Gall–Peters.<br />
<br />
As is discussed in the Gall–Peters explanation, the Gall–Peters was developed to be equal area, so that economically disadvantaged areas can at least take comfort in the fact that their country is represented correctly by area on maps.<br />
<br />
Randall associates the Hobo–Dyer projection to "crunchy granola" — a stereotype associated with vegetarianism, environmental activism, anti-war activism, liberal political leanings, and some traces of {{w|hippie}} culture.<br />
<br />
With feminism becoming mainstream and alternative genders being more widely accepted, some have begun to invent gender-neutral pronouns so that when referring to a person whose gender is not known they cannot be offended by being referred to by the wrong pronouns. In {{w|Middle English}} 'they' and 'their' were {{w|Singular they|accepted genderless pronouns that could replace 'he', 'she'}} as well as be used to represent a crowd, but this usage is considered by some to be grammatically incorrect because of the plural/singular debate ([https://www.merriam-webster.com/video/the-awkward-case-of-his-or-her stupid Victorian Grammarians!]). There have been {{w|gender-neutral pronoun#Invented pronouns|many attempts at popularizing invented gender-neutral pronouns}} and they are beginning to achieve some degree of success in the mainstream.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Plate Carrée===<br />
[[File:PlateCarreeProjection.jpg|frame|The Plate Carrée projection]]<br />
Also known as the {{w|Equirectangular projection}}, it has been in use since, apparently, 100 AD. The benefit of this projection is that latitude and longitude can be used as x,y coordinates. This makes it especially easy for computers to graph data on top of it.<br />
<br />
According to the comic, the projection appeals to people who find much beauty in simplicity.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===A Globe!===<br />
[[File:GlobeProjection.jpg|frame|The Globe "projection"]]<br />
In any good discussion there has to be at least one smart-ass. This is a comic about map projections, that is, the science of taking a sphere and flattening it into 2 dimensions. The smart-ass believes that we shouldn't even try: a sphere is, tautologically, the perfect representation of a sphere.<br />
<br />
To quote ''{{w|The Princess Bride}}'': "Yes, you're very smart. Shut up."<br />
<br />
A globe is, of course, the "map projection" used by {{w|Google Earth}}, and recently by other mapping software (including Google Maps) as computers and phones get increasingly powerful 3D graphics.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Waterman butterfly===<br />
[[File:WatermanButterflyProjection.jpg|frame|The Waterman Butterfly projection]]<br />
Similar to the Dymaxion, the {{w|Waterman butterfly projection}} turns a sphere into an octahedron, and then unfolds the net of the octahedron, which was devised by mathematician {{w|Waterman polyhedron|Steve Waterman}} based upon the work of {{w|Bernard J.S. Cahill}}.<br />
<br />
Bernard Cahill published a [http://www.genekeyes.com/B.J.S._CAHILL_RESOURCE.html butterfly map] in 1909. Steve Waterman probably has the only extant "ready to go" map following the same general principles, though Gene Keys may not be far behind. Waterman has a poem with graphics in a similar vein to this xkcd comic that is worth reading.[http://web.archive.org/web/20120118095915/http://watermanpolyhedron.com/worldmap.html]<br />
<br />
[https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/pcr.2016.48.issue-4/pcr-2016-0014/pcr-2016-0014.pdf Polyhedral projections] like Cahill, Dymaxion or Waterman typically offer better accuracy of size, shape and area than flat projections, at the expense of compass directionality, connectedness, and other complications.<br />
<br />
The joke is that the person responding deeply understands map projections; anyone who knows of this projection is a person that Randall would like to get to know.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Peirce quincuncial===<br />
[[File:PeirceQuincuncialProjection.jpg|frame|The Peirce Quincuncial projection]]<br />
The {{w|Peirce quincuncial projection}} was devised by {{w|Charles Sanders Peirce}} in 1879 and uses {{w|complex analysis}} to make a {{w|conformal mapping}} of the Earth, that conforms except for four points which would make up the midpoints of sides and lie on equator (the equator is represented by a square and the corners connect the sides in the middle.)<br />
<br />
{{w|Inception}} was a 2010 movie about {{w|meta}} {{w|lucid dream}}ing. It has a complex story that is difficult to follow and leaves the viewer with many questions at the end, and almost needs to be watched multiple times to be understood.<br />
<br />
The human brain is not well developed to deal with oddly obvious things. One example is that everyone has a skeleton, but everyone is surprised to see a part of their body represented by an X-ray. Another is the fascinating complexity of the human hand, a machine which is amazingly complex, driven by a complex interplay of electrical and chemical signals; yet is the size of the hand and so useful. A fascination with or fixation on {{tvtropes|ContemplatingYourHands|such thoughts}} is often associated with an altered state of mind brought on by marijuana consumption. Therefore, Randall may be implying that this map would appeal to stoners.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Gall–Peters===<br />
[[File:Gall-PetersProjection.jpg|frame|The Gall–Peters projection]]<br />
The {{w|Gall–Peters projection}} is mired in controversy, surprisingly for a map. {{w|James Gall}}, a 19th-century clergyman, presented this projection in 1855 before the {{w|British Association for the Advancement of Science}}. In 1967, the filmmaker {{w|Arno Peters}} created the same projection and presented it to the world as a "new invention" that put poorer, less powerful countries into their rightful proportions (as opposed to the Mercator). Peters played the marketing game and got quite a few followers of his map by saying it had "absolute angle conformality," "no extreme distortions of form," and was "totally distance-factual" in an age when society was very concerned about social justice. All of these claims were in fact false. The Mercator projection distorts size in favor of shape, and Gall-Peters distorts shape in favor of size, being especially inaccurate at the equator and the poles.<br />
<br />
The implication is that the fans of this map are pompously concerned with social justice, and willing either to lie or convey marketing mistruths to promote that cause. Alternatively Randall just dislikes this map projection so much due to the above mentioned inaccuracies, that he hates anyone who likes it.<br />
<br />
{{clear}}<br />
<br />
===Title text===<br />
The title text makes a joke that goes to the familiar meme from ''{{w|CSI: Miami}}'', in which the star, David Caruso starts a sentence, then puts on his sunglasses and ends the sentence with a corny pun. In this case, the pun is on {{w|map projection}} and {{w|projection (psychology)|projection}} in psychology. Psychological projection is an unconscious defense mechanism wherein a person who is uncomfortable with their own impulses denies having them and attributes them to other people, and blames these people for these impulses. The Sunglasses internet meme has been used [[:Category:Puts on sunglasses|in other comics]] as well.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:What your favorite<br />
:'''Map Projection'''<br />
:says about you<br />
:[All of these are organized as Title, a copy of the particular projection underneath, and what it says about you under that.]<br />
<br />
:*Mercator<br />
:**You're not really into maps.<br />
:*Van der Grinten<br />
:**You're not a complicated person. You love the Mercator projection; you just wish it weren't square. The Earth's not a square, it's a circle. You like circles. Today is gonna be a good day!<br />
:*Robinson<br />
:**You have a comfortable pair of running shoes that you wear everywhere. You like coffee and enjoy The Beatles. You think the Robinson is the best-looking projection, hands down.<br />
:*Dymaxion<br />
:**You like Isaac Asimov, XML, and shoes with toes. You think the Segway got a bad rap. You own 3D goggles, which you use to view rotating models of better 3D goggles. You type in Dvorak.<br />
:*Winkel-Tripel<br />
:**National Geographic adopted the Winkel-Tripel in 1998, but you've been a W-T fan since ''long'' before "Nat Geo" showed up. You're worried it's getting played out, and are thinking of switching to the Kavrayskiy. You once left a party in disgust when a guest showed up wearing shoes with toes. Your favorite musical genre is "Post–".<br />
:*Goode Homolosine<br />
:**They say mapping the Earth on a 2D surface is like flattening an orange peel, which seems enough to you. You like easy solutions.You think we wouldn't have so many problems if we'd just elect ''normal'' people to Congress instead of Politicians. You think airlines should just buy food from the restaurants near the gates and serve ''that'' on board. You change your car's oil, but secretly wonder if you really ''need'' to.<br />
:*Hobo-Dyer<br />
:**You want to avoid cultural imperialism, but you've heard bad things about Gall-Peters. You're conflict-averse and buy organic. You use a recently-invented set of gender-neutral pronouns and think that what the world needs is a revolution in consciousness.<br />
:*Plate Carrée <small>(Equirectangular)</small><br />
:**You think this one is fine. You like how X and Y map to latitude and longitude. The other projections overcomplicate things. You want me to stop asking about maps so you can enjoy dinner.<br />
:*A Globe!<br />
:**Yes, you're very clever.<br />
:*Waterman Butterfly<br />
:**Really? You know the Waterman? Have you seen the 1909 Cahill Map it's based— ...You have a framed reproduction at home?! Whoa. ...Listen, forget these questions. Are you doing anything tonight?<br />
:*Peirce Quincuncial<br />
:**You think that when we look at a map, what we really see is ourselves. After you first saw ''Inception'', you sat silent in the theater for six hours. It freaks you out to realize that everyone around you has a skeleton inside them. You ''have'' really looked at your hands.<br />
:*Gall-Peters<br />
:**I ''hate'' you.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Maps]]<br />
[[Category:Dvorak]]<br />
[[Category:Puts on sunglasses]]<br />
[[Category:Puns]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2372:_Dialect_Quiz&diff=1999592372: Dialect Quiz2020-10-16T06:46:46Z<p>Zzyzx: /* Explanation */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2372<br />
| date = October 14, 2020<br />
| title = Dialect Quiz<br />
| image = dialect_quiz.png<br />
| titletext = Do you make a distinction between shallots, scallops, and scallions? If you use all three words, do they all have different meanings, all the same, or are two the same and one different?<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by a LIGHTBULB EATER and Delaware Line painter. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
<br />
This comic is a parody of online quizzes that offer to compare the user's dialect of American English with others around the country. These quizzes generally contain questions about word usage, names for certain objects, and pronunciations that vary between different regions of the US. There are also quizzes about broader English dialects, but this comic focuses on commonly cited differences between American dialects.<br />
<br />
The earliest quiz of this type to be widely disseminated online was the [http://dialect.redlog.net/ Harvard Dialect Survey], conducted in the early 2000s by Bert Vaux and Scott Golder. The survey created maps of the distribution of various word usage (such as pop/soda/Coke for a fizzy drink) and was a relatively early example of widely shared Internet "viral" content. In 2013, Josh Katz of the New York Times created [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/upshot/dialect-quiz-map.html a new version] based on the Harvard survey, which became the Times' [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/-em-the-new-york-times-em-most-popular-story-of-2013-was-not-an-article/283167/ most popular content of 2013] and spread the idea to many more people. Many of the questions in this comic directly derive from entries in those surveys.<br />
<br />
Randall's previous two comics have been about election predictions, leading up to the 2020 US General Presidential Election. A prominent predictor of the election results is Nate Silver, who runs the FiveThirtyEight website. [https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1315348221565206530 @NateSilver538 posted his results] of taking the New York Times version of the survey on October 11, 2020... just three days before this comic was posted. [[2371: Election Screen Time]] specifically suggests that Randall may be spending too much time obsessing over new posts and content from the election predictors. It's coincidental, but likely, that Nate Silver's tweet inspired Randall's post: he was reminded of the 2013 feature from the Times.<br />
<br />
{| border =1 width=100% cellpadding=5 class="wikitable"<br />
! # !! Question !! Answers !! Explanation<br />
|-<br />
! 1<br />
|How do you address a group of two or more people?<br />
|style="width: 15%;"|<br />
* A) You<br />
* B) Y'all<br />
* C) I have not been around two or more people for so long that I can't remember<br />
| Reference to the first question of the Times quiz: "How would you address {{w|You#Informal_plural_forms|a group of two or more people}}?" (with options including "you all", "you guys", "y'all", etc.). Option C may reference the significant decrease in human interaction and social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Alternatively, it may suggest that some xkcd readers are particularly introverted.<br />
|-<br />
! 2<br />
| How do you pronounce "Penelope"?<br />
|<br />
* A) Rhymes with "Antelope"<br />
* B) Rhymes with "Develop"<br />
| Both the options for this are wrong, making it the first of many quiz questions it is impossible to answer correctly.<br />
<br />
Neither Option A's "PEN-e-lohp" /ˈpɛnɪˌloʊp/ and Option B's "pe-NELL-up" /pɪˈnɛləp/ are a typical pronunciation of this name (beyond mispronunciations). In English, the only correct way to pronounce this name is "pe-NELL-o-pee" /pəˈnɛləpi/, which is not listed. (Penelope is a proper name, but usually encountered in literature rather than as the name of a neighbor, and is therefore less subject to dialect shifts.)<br />
|-<br />
! 3<br />
| What do you call the scientific field that studies the stars?<br />
|<br />
* A) Astrology<br />
* B) Agronomy<br />
* C) Cosmetology<br />
| The actual answer is {{w|Astronomy}}, which is not listed. {{w|Astrology}} is the pseudo-scientific "study" of the influence of the stars and planets on our lives, including horoscopes (often confused with Astronomy due to its similar name), {{w|Agronomy}} ''is'' scientific but instead studies agriculture, and {{w|Cosmetology}} is the study of cosmetics and makeup (with a name close to {{w|Cosmology}}, a branch of Astronomy). The last may also be referring to the (occasionally makeup-heavy) faces of movie and television "stars".<br />
|-<br />
! 4<br />
| How do you pronounce "genre"?<br />
| <br />
* A) Gone-ra<br />
* B) Juh-neer<br />
* C) Jen-er-uh<br />
| Reference to a question found on some quizzes: "How do you pronounce ''genre''? ZHAHN-ruh, or JAHN-ruh?"<br />
<br />
A majority of (American) English speakers pronounce "genre" as either "'''ZH'''AHN-ruh" /ˈʒɑnrə/ (beginning with the "zh" sound found in "trea'''s'''ure") or "'''J'''AHN-ruh" /ˈdʒɑnrə/ (beginning with the "j" sound in "justice"). Neither of these are listed, and none of the quiz's pronunciation options are common. However, they are close to other words: ''GONE-ra'' /ˈgɑnrə/ sounds like {{w|gonorrhea}} /ˌgɑnəˈriə/, ''juh-NEER'' /dʒəˈnɪər/ is the way the second and third syllables of ''engineer'' are are pronounced, and ''JEN-er-uh'' /ˈdʒɛnərə/ is a word (genera), the plural of {{w|genus}}.<br />
|-<br />
! 5<br />
| You pronounce "Google" with a high-pitched yelp on the...<br />
| <br />
* A) First syllable<br />
* B) Second syllable<br />
| Reference to general questions regarding differences in pronunciation of words. "Google" is not generally pronounced with a high-pitched yelp on either syllable.{{Citation needed}} {{w|Yahoo!}}, on the other hand, has advertised its services with a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm5FE0x9eY0 high-pitched yodeling jingle], with the high-pitched yelp on the second syllable (as opposed to {{w|Goofy}}'s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-70mtXw35c iconic holler], with the high yelp on the first syllable).<br />
|-<br />
! 6<br />
| What do you call the thing on the wall at school that you drink water from?<br />
|<br />
* A) Gutter pipe<br />
* B) Drainpipe<br />
| Reference to a quiz question in the Harvard and Times quizzes, "What do you call the thing from which you might drink water in a school?" Answers included "drinking fountain", "water fountain", and "bubbler". However, the question in this comic implies that school children (or at least the quiz maker) drink out of {{w|Rain gutter|gutter pipes}} or drain pipes, which are used to collect rainwater and/or {{w|sewage|should absolutely not be drunk from.}}<br />
|-<br />
! 7<br />
| How do you pronounce the name for a short silent video file?<br />
|<br />
* A) Animated give<br />
* B) Animated gift<br />
| Reference to the "{{w|Gif}}" pronunciation debate, with people split between pronouncing it "gif" (with the hard G sound in "graphics") or "jif" (with the soft G sound in "giraffe"). Both options presented in this quiz use the hard G sound, but neither option uses the commonly-agreed on pronunciation for the ending of the word, “if”.<br />
|-<br />
! 8<br />
| What do you call the baseball-sized garden bugs that, when poked, glow brightly and emit a warbling scream?<br />
| <br />
* A) What?<br />
* B) Lawn buddies<br />
| Reference to a question in the Harvard and Times quizzes: "What do you call the {{w|Armadillidiidae|small gray bug}} that curls up into a ball when it’s touched?" (options include "roly-poly," "pill-bug", "potato bug", "doodle bug", etc.). Another question common to these sorts of quizzes regards the {{w|Firefly|Lampyridae}} family of bioluminescent insects, variously called "fireflies," "glowworms," or "lightning bugs" (although these insects emit their light spontaneously, as a mating signal, and not in response to external stimuli such as being poked). However, there are no common "baseball-sized garden bugs," let alone bioluminescent ones that emit a warbling scream,{{Citation needed}} though a {{w|Madagascar_hissing_cockroach|cockroach}} that can approach this size does famously make a loud noise. May also be a reference to what "potato bug" means to people in the eastern part of the United States and {{w|Jerusalem cricket|what it means}} to people in the western part of the United States.<br />
|-<br />
! 9<br />
| What do you call the misleading lines painted by disgruntled highway workers to trick cars into driving off the road?<br />
| <br />
* A) Prank lines<br />
* B) Devil's Marks<br />
* C) Fool-me lines<br />
* D) Fauxguides<br />
* E) Delaware lines<br />
| Reference to the fact that some quiz questions ask about road features, such as "verge/berm/parking strip/curb strip" and "roundabout/traffic circle". However, these particular road lines, if they have ever been made, aren't common enough to warrant different names. The Delaware Line was a formation within the Continental Army. May also just be a dig at Delaware. Devil's Marks may be a takeoff of [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Devil%27s%20Strip Devil's Strip]<br />
<br />
Misleading lines on the road were also mentioned in [[1958: Self-Driving Issues]].<br />
|-<br />
! 10<br />
| What do you call the blue-green planet in the outer Solar System?<br />
| <br />
* A) Uranus<br />
* B) Neptune<br />
| This question references the two common pronunciations of Uranus: "YURR-ə-nəss" and "yoo-RAY-nəss" (which sounds like the phrase "{{tvtropes|UranusIsShowing|Your anus}}", a favorite joke of little kids). The original pronunciation is "oo-ra-noos", both u's pronounced the same way, but this is not a common pronunciation among the general public. It also references the fact that Uranus and Neptune are both blue-ish colored planets in the outer solar system and are often confused by people who don't know much about them. Uranus is closer to being the correct answer - it could plausibly be described as cyan, a color intermediate between blue and green - while Neptune is a deep, unambiguous blue.<br />
|-<br />
! 11<br />
| What do you call this tool?<br />
[[File:CloveHammer.png|150px]]<BR>(image of a claw hammer)<br />
| <br />
* A) Banger<br />
* B) Nail axe<br />
* C) Wood mage wand<br />
* D) I'm familiar with this tool but have no specific word for it<br />
* E) I have never seen it before <br />
| The only name most people would ever call this tool is a "hammer".<br />
<br />
The last two options reference options in many quiz questions along the lines of "I'm familiar with this but have no specific word for it" and "I am not familiar with this" (such as on the pill-bug/roly-poly question on the real quiz). These may appear as options to questions that ask about something that might not exist everywhere, or something which many may not have a word for (for example, some areas of the United States have a name for "sunshowers," while most don't). However, it's a bit absurd for these options to be present for this question (and this question alone), as virtually all users in an English dialect test would be expected to know what a hammer is. This also serves as a bit of reverse perspective on "When the only the only tool you have is a hammer ..."<br />
|-<br />
! 12<br />
| What do you call a long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff?<br />
|<br />
* A) A long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff<br />
* B) A longwich<br />
* C) A salad hot dog<br />
| Reference to a common dialect quiz question: "What do you call a {{w|Submarine sandwich|long sandwich}}?" with options typically including "sub", "hoagie", "hero", etc.<br />
<br />
The hot dog answer could refer to the common online discussion: "Is a hot dog a sandwich?"<br />
|-<br />
! 13<br />
| What do you call the scaly many-legged animal often found in attics?<br />
| <br />
* A) Lightbulb eater<br />
* B) I have no special name for them<br />
* C) I've never looked in my attic<br />
| Another reference to the frequent appearance of quiz questions asking what users call various creepy crawlies. <br />
<br />
{{w|Millipedes}} best fit the description. They have many legs, though rarely if ever a thousand of them, as their name (from the Latin word for "thousand feet") suggests. The hard rings that separate an individual's body into segments give the animal a scaly appearance. And of the thousands of species, only a few have common names, hence "no special name for them". The reference to "lightbulb eater" is obscure, but may refer to the tendency of millipedes to congregate in large numbers in dark crevices. Perhaps Randall found some in empty (no bulb) light fixtures in his attic. <br />
<br />
Or maybe it is just the sort of spooky monster that lives in the dark and makes you afraid to check the attic (or basement).<br />
<br />
Normally, questions about uncommon things would include an "I've never seen one" option, like option E in the hammer question. Instead, this question has "I've never looked in my attic" as an option, implying that these creatures are present in all attics, and anyone who doesn't know them is simply unaware of the monster dwelling in their own attic.<br />
|-<br />
! 14<br />
| What do you say when someone around you sneezes?<br />
| <br />
* A) "What was that?"<br />
* B) "Oh, wow."<br />
* C) [Quietly] "Yikes."<br />
| Reference to a question on some quizzes about which of several words/phrases you say in response to a sneeze, with usual answers including "bless you", "God bless you", and "{{w|Gesundheit}}" (from the German word for 'health').<br />
<br />
This question may also be referencing the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}} in answer C (and possibly answer B). Sneezing isn't a primary symptom of COVID-19, but most people are hyper-aware of possibly contracting the disease from the people around them so sneezes are treated with suspicion and it's seen as rude to sneeze openly.<br />
<br />
It is also possible that a person who has been able to catch a sneeze-producing condition has also caught COVID-19 and, while the sneeze itself isn't ''caused'' by it, the air and various airway fluids so forcefully projected are a possible infective vector with that little extra frisson of concern, given the current situation.<br />
|-<br />
! Title Text<br />
| colspan=2 | Do you make a distinction between shallots, scallops, and scallions? If you use all three words, do they all have different meanings, all the same, or are two the same and one different?<br />
| Phrased similarly to questions like, on the Times quiz, "How do you pronounce the words Mary, merry, and marry?" Options included "all three are pronounced the same", "all three are pronounced differently," or all three combinations of two being the same and one different. Refers to the naming confusion around {{w|scallions}} and {{w|shallots}} - also known as 'eschalots' - but with the unrelated but similar-sounding {{w|scallops}} substituted in the middle.<br />
<br />
'Shallots', 'scallions' and 'eschalots' are names used in different dialects, for various species and cultivars of onion used in cooking, either as a small bulb (especially [[wikipedia:shallot|Allium cepa var. Aggregatum]]) or as a green leaf (especially [[wikipedia:Allium_fistulosum|Allium fistulosum]]). In many dialects, the green leaf type is called a 'scallion' and the bulb a 'shallot'. In at least one dialect (NSW Australia) the green leaf type is called a 'shallot' and the bulb an 'eschalot'. This causes confusion in recipes posted online. The word 'shallot' is also pronounced with emphasis on either the first or second syllable, as refered to in question 5. Despite the answer options offered, there is no evidence of dialects which use all three terms, or where 'shallot' and 'scallion' are interchangeable.<br />
<br />
{{w|Scallops}} are invertebrate marine animals similar to oysters and clams, frequently harvested for food. In some regions of the UK and Australia potato {{w|fritters}} are also called 'scallops'. The word 'scallop' itself can be pronounced either as /ˈskɒləp/ or /ˈskæləp/, and its spelling has varied over time in a similar way to that of 'shallot'. However, these are difficult to confuse with shallots or scallions.<br />
|}<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
<br />
[Box with title at the top]<br />
:<big>Dialect Quiz</big><br />
[Smaller subtitle underneath]<br />
:Compare answers with your friends!<br />
<br />
[Quiz is divided into two columns. Answers to questions are indicated by a letter followed by a closed parentheses, such as A). These letters are greyed out]<br />
<br />
[Column 1:]<br />
<br><br />
How do you address a group of two or more people? <br />
:A) You<br />
:B) Y'all<br />
:C) I have not been around two or more people for so long that I can't remember<br />
<br />
How do you pronounce "Penelope"? <br />
:A) Rhymes with "Antelope"<br />
:B) Rhymes with "Develop"<br />
<br />
What do you call the scientific field that studies the stars? <br />
:A) Astrology<br />
:B) Agronomy<br />
:C) Cosmetology<br />
<br />
How do you pronounce "genre"? <br />
:A) Gone-ra<br />
:B) Juh-neer<br />
:C) Jen-er-uh<br />
<br />
You pronounce "Google" with a high-pitched yelp on the... <br />
:A) First syllable<br />
:B) Second syllable<br />
<br />
What do you call the thing on the wall at school that you drink water from? <br />
:A) Gutter pipe<br />
:B) Drainpipe<br />
<br />
How do you pronounce the name for a short silent video file? <br />
:A) Animated give<br />
:B) Animated gift<br />
<br />
What do you call the baseball-sized garden bugs that, when poked, glow brightly and emit a warbling scream? <br />
:A) What?<br />
:B) Lawn buddies<br />
<br />
[Column 2:]<br />
<br><br />
What do you call the misleading lines painted by disgruntled highway workers to trick cars into driving off the road? <br />
:A) Prank lines<br />
:B) Devil's Marks<br />
:C) Fool-me lines<br />
:D) Fauxguides<br />
:E) Delaware lines<br />
<br />
What do you call the blue-green planet in the outer Solar System? <br />
:A) Uranus<br />
:B) Neptune<br />
<br />
What do you call this tool?<br />
<br><br />
[Image of a claw hammer] <br />
:A) Banger<br />
:B) Nail axe<br />
:C) Wood mage wand<br />
:D) I'm familiar with this tool but have no specific word for it<br />
:E) I have never seen it before<br />
<br />
What do you call a long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff? <br />
:A) A long sandwich with meats and lettuce and stuff<br />
:B) A longwich<br />
:C) A salad hot dog<br />
<br />
What do you call the scaly many-legged animal often found in attics? <br />
:A) Lightbulb eater<br />
:B) I have no special name for them<br />
:C) I've never looked in my attic<br />
<br />
What do you say when someone around you sneezes? <br />
:A) "What was that?"<br />
:B) "Oh, wow."<br />
:C) [Quietly] "Yikes."<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
<br />
*The xkcd Twitter account posted a [https://twitter.com/xkcd/status/1316484953480323072 series of Twitter polls] asking the questions in this comic.<br />
*Shallots, scallops, and scallions ran against each other in [[1529: Bracket]]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Language]]<br />
[[Category:COVID-19]]</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:550:_Density&diff=194343Talk:550: Density2020-07-06T21:06:07Z<p>Zzyzx: </p>
<hr />
<div>I'm crying {{unsigned|Lemphek}}<br />
<br />
In ur base seems like all your bases are belongs to us...{{unsigned ip|141.101.107.120}}<br />
<br />
I second the above. 'All your base are belong to us' is an old 2nd gen gaming console meme. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.76|172.68.2.76]] 17:01, 25 January 2017 (UTC) <br />
<br />
I don't think Megan will ever sleep with him again after this, and if I were Cueball, I'd consider this a greater loss than having to raise a babby. [[Special:Contributions/84.224.87.179|84.224.87.179]] 07:56, 29 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Title text<br />
<br />
I think the title text implies that while Cueball relies on 4chan for advice, he hadn't asked them on contraception and he now regrets this omission thinking that it would help him to prevent this situation. This is even funnier since it implies that advices from 4chan are in fact valuable. [[User:Sten|'''S<small>TEN</small>''']] <small>([[User talk:Sten|talk]])</small> 22:26, 21 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Relevant links: {{w|Withdrawal method}} (or {{w|Coitus interruptus}}) and {{w|Emergency contraception}}. Surprisingly, the withdrawal method may be quite effective with a failure rate as low as 4% (chance of pregnancy per year of use) if done correctly. In practice, though, it has a 15-28% failure rate. In comparison, condom use has a 2% failure rate when used correctly and a 10–18% actual failure rate. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.217|108.162.212.217]] 10:06, 22 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:This is completely irrelevant. My point is that if he was regretting asking 4chan, the title text would start ''If only I had '''not''' asked'' but it starts ''If only I had asked'' implying he did not ask. {{unsigned|Sten}}<br />
::Agreed have corrected explain. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:47, 11 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think the "ruined life" part refers more to having an unplanned and unprepared-for baby, a more disruptive consequence than a break his relationship with Megan.. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.236|108.162.208.236]] 11:07, 4 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed have corrected explain. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:47, 11 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is not the meme density record any more.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.6|162.158.49.6]] 15:37, 29 August 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't there a reference to 'all your base are belong to us' in there too? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.91|162.158.111.91]] 09:09, 22 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In ur base references the 'I'm in ur base, killing all ur dude's' meme.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.126|172.68.65.126]] 03:58, 17 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed, the "in" makes that pretty clear. I've edited to match. I'm fine with the Zero Wing explanation as an alternative, but I'm leaving it out unless someone thinks it's more likely. -- [[User:Zzyzx|Zzyzx]] ([[User talk:Zzyzx|talk]])<br />
<br />
Needs more memes, uwu [[Special:Contributions/172.68.244.168|172.68.244.168]] 05:05, 19 February 2020 (UTC)</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:550:_Density&diff=194342Talk:550: Density2020-07-06T21:05:28Z<p>Zzyzx: </p>
<hr />
<div>I'm crying {{unsigned|Lemphek}}<br />
<br />
In ur base seems like all your bases are belongs to us...{{unsigned ip|141.101.107.120}}<br />
<br />
I second the above. 'All your base are belong to us' is an old 2nd gen gaming console meme. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.2.76|172.68.2.76]] 17:01, 25 January 2017 (UTC) <br />
<br />
I don't think Megan will ever sleep with him again after this, and if I were Cueball, I'd consider this a greater loss than having to raise a babby. [[Special:Contributions/84.224.87.179|84.224.87.179]] 07:56, 29 April 2013 (UTC)<br />
<br />
;Title text<br />
<br />
I think the title text implies that while Cueball relies on 4chan for advice, he hadn't asked them on contraception and he now regrets this omission thinking that it would help him to prevent this situation. This is even funnier since it implies that advices from 4chan are in fact valuable. [[User:Sten|'''S<small>TEN</small>''']] <small>([[User talk:Sten|talk]])</small> 22:26, 21 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Relevant links: {{w|Withdrawal method}} (or {{w|Coitus interruptus}}) and {{w|Emergency contraception}}. Surprisingly, the withdrawal method may be quite effective with a failure rate as low as 4% (chance of pregnancy per year of use) if done correctly. In practice, though, it has a 15-28% failure rate. In comparison, condom use has a 2% failure rate when used correctly and a 10–18% actual failure rate. -- [[Special:Contributions/108.162.212.217|108.162.212.217]] 10:06, 22 February 2014 (UTC)<br />
<br />
:This is completely irrelevant. My point is that if he was regretting asking 4chan, the title text would start ''If only I had '''not''' asked'' but it starts ''If only I had asked'' implying he did not ask. {{unsigned|Sten}}<br />
::Agreed have corrected explain. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:47, 11 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
I think the "ruined life" part refers more to having an unplanned and unprepared-for baby, a more disruptive consequence than a break his relationship with Megan.. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.208.236|108.162.208.236]] 11:07, 4 March 2015 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed have corrected explain. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 13:47, 11 June 2015 (UTC)<br />
<br />
This is not the meme density record any more.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.49.6|162.158.49.6]] 15:37, 29 August 2016 (UTC)<br />
<br />
Isn't there a reference to 'all your base are belong to us' in there too? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.91|162.158.111.91]] 09:09, 22 May 2017 (UTC)<br />
<br />
In ur base references the 'I'm in ur base, killing all ur dude's' meme.<br />
[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.126|172.68.65.126]] 03:58, 17 November 2017 (UTC)<br />
:Agreed, the "in" makes that pretty clear. I've edited to match. I'm fine with the Zero Wing explanation as an alternative, but I'm leaving it out unless someone thinks it's more likely.[[User:Zzyzx|Zzyzx]] ([[User talk:Zzyzx|talk]])<br />
<br />
Needs more memes, uwu [[Special:Contributions/172.68.244.168|172.68.244.168]] 05:05, 19 February 2020 (UTC)</div>Zzyzxhttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=550:_Density&diff=194340550: Density2020-07-06T20:57:03Z<p>Zzyzx: Changed meme source, see discussion.</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 550<br />
| date = March 2, 2009<br />
| title = Density<br />
| image = density.png<br />
| titletext = If only I had asked 4chan for ideas for what I should do to prevent this!<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
This comic depicts a sex scene with [[Cueball]] in bed together with [[Megan]], and a sentence being spoken by Cueball. The sentence's overt meaning suggests Megan doesn't wish to become pregnant, but Cueball has prematurely or unintentionally {{w|ejaculated}} inside her. The sentence contains five popular (at the time) {{w|Internet meme|memes}}:<br />
*'''[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/xzibit-yo-dawg Yo Dawg]''': With the full meme having the form "Yo Dawg, I herd you like (noun X), so I put an (noun X) in your (noun Y) so you can (verb Z) while you (verb Z)", this is the largest meme used in the sentence, and lays out the overall structure of the sentence. The greeting at the beginning can be changed to "Sup Dawg" as in this comic.<br />
*'''[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-herd-u-like-mudkips I herd u liek Mudkips]''': The misspelling of words "herd" (heard) and "liek" (like) come from this meme. While this meme is usually used with {{w|Mudkip}} (a {{w|Pokémon}}), in this case the noun has been replaced by something she didn't like.<br />
*'''[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-is-babby-formed How is babby formed?]''': The expression "forming babby" (with the misspelling of "baby") comes from this meme. This meme comes from a question that was originally asked on Yahoo! Answers. The full question was "how is babby formed / how girl get pragnent". This meme was also referenced in the title text of [[481: Listen to Yourself]] and in [[522: Google Trends]].<br />
*'''[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-accidentally I Accidentally]''': This meme carries the pattern of omitting an important verb, leaving the reader wondering what had happened accidentally. In this case the omitted verb is presumably "came" or "ejaculated". This meme was referenced again in [[997: Wait Wait]].<br />
*'''[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/in-ur-base In your base]''': This references the Starcraft meme "im in ur base, killing ur d00ds." It also might be used for its relation to {{w|baseball metaphors for sex}}, which was also referenced in [[540: Base System]]).<br />
<br />
In plain English, the sentence roughly means:<br />
: ''Hey girl, I heard that you don't want to have a baby but I accidentally came inside you.''<br />
<br />
The comic then goes to describe the pros and cons of the situation. "Ruined life" is listed as a major downside, as he may have caused a girl to become pregnant against her wishes, and may have to father a child with her. The usage of memes in response to the situation also conveys an uncaring attitude that is likely to put a damper on their relationship even if she did not get pregnant. On the other hand, it is noted that the sentence could set a new record for the density of memes (most memes packed into the fewest number of words) which can be considered a positive. This explains the title of the comic, though it will be a very superficial and meaningless record, especially when weighed against the downsides.<br />
<br />
The reason Cueball chose to construct the sentence with so many memes is not clear. Since the comic lists "ruined life" as one of the cons of this scene, it would seem that the accident, as well as the subsequent use of memes, were not planned. It's possible that Cueball had too many memes in his head and couldn't think of anything else to say amid the nervous tension. If this were another character, say Black Hat, then it would be easier to believe that the entire night could have been staged just to give him an opportunity to use the sentence and set a record.<br />
<br />
The title text references {{w|4chan}}, a site known for its memes, {{w|Troll (Internet)|trolls}} and other assorted Internet clutter, and sarcastically implies that any advice they might give would in any way be at all helpful. Due to its population of trolls and other unhelpful sorts, advice given by 4chan would normally be useless at best and actively detrimental at worst; however, the title text implies that Cueball regrets that he did not ask 4chan for advice, and maybe have used them for this earlier.<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball is in a bed with Megan.]<br />
:Cueball: Sup dawg, I herd you didn't liek forming babby, but I accidentally in your base.<br />
:[Below the frame:]<br />
:Cons: Ruined life.<br />
:Pros: Sentence set the new meme density record.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Sex]]</div>Zzyzx