Editing 2636: What If? 2 Countdown

<noinclude>:''For other instances of this title, see [[What If (disambiguation)]].</noinclude>
{{comic
| number    = 2636
| date      = June 22, 2022
| title     = What If? 2 Countdown
| image     = what_if_2_countdown.png
| titletext = If you don't end the 99 Bottles of Beer recursion at N=0 it just becomes The Other Song That Never Ends.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic takes the idea of {{w|advent calendar}}s to the extreme. It uses absurd and obscure ways to measure the amount of time until [[Randall]]'s new book [https://xkcd.com/whatif2 ''What if? 2''] is released, with esoteric units and esoteric numbers. See explanation of each day in the [[#Table of the calendar countdown|table below]]. Some concepts that appear multiple times throughout the calendar are:

* '''{{w|SI prefixes}}''', which can be applied to the beginning of a unit's name to multiply or divide the unit by powers of 10 or 1,000. This is standard for units like meters and grams, but is rarely applied to measurements of time other than when a unit of less than one second is needed, most commonly in various fields of science and engineering such as physics and electronics.
* The '''{{w|Gettysburg Address}}''', a famous speech delivered by U.S. president Abraham Lincoln in 1863, where he began by referring to the signing of the Declaration of Independence taking place "four score and seven years ago". A score is a dated term for the number 20, so "four score and seven" is equivalent to 87.
* A '''dog year''' is traditionally considered to be one-seventh the length of a normal human year, since a dog's overall lifespan is roughly one-seventh of a typical human's. The comic applies this to other units of time, such as minutes and months, each of which is also one-seventh the length of the standard unit. The number seven (traditionally a "lucky number") is also used in many of the numbers quoted in the calendar.
* Other comparative durations of time that are not normally or usefully applied to day-length multiples. At the top end, there is the age of the universe, at the other there is {{w|Planck units#Planck time|Planck-time}} – with entire durations of periods of human history and the time needed to watch popular TV/film franchises in-between – most of which require a non-trivial multiplier or divisor to bring them to the necessary scale required. 
* A '''{{w|baker's dozen}}''' is 13, or one more than a normal dozen. Here, the "baker's" prefix can be applied to any unit by adding an extra one of its constituent parts, like an extra hour added to a day.
* '''{{w|Irrational numbers}}''' like {{w|pi}} (3.14159...), {{w|Euler's number}} or ''e'' (2.71828...), the {{w|golden ratio}} (1.61803...), and the {{w|square root of 2}} (1.41421...). These are all interesting numbers because of their mathematical properties, but very impractical to use as arbitrary measurements of time because they have an endless series of non-repeating decimal digits.
* The teenage dating game '''{{w|Seven minutes in heaven}}'''. 
* Rotational and orbital periods of various bodies in the Solar System.
* The song {{w|99 Bottles of Beer}} is also used twice in the calendar, as the one after a full week and then for the final day before release.

The title text refers to the recursive time period on the final day before release, September 12, where the 99 Bottles of Beer song is sung 99 times, but with one less verse every time (so 99 verses the first time, 98 verses the second, 97, 96 ... 2 and 1 the last). If you don't stop when you reach N=0 bottles, the repetition never ends, so that time interval becomes infinite. He then calls it "The Other Song That Never Ends", comparing it to ''{{w|The Song That Never Ends}}''. That song is a repetitive children's song, which is specifically intended to go on forever. The difference is that the Beer song has a natural stopping point at 0, while ''The Song That Never Ends'' is [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiEz97RkZT5AhXpk4sKHRs8C2wQyCl6BAgLEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dxz6OGVCdov8&usg=AOvVaw2dI8Q_thXRfS6MUtq1NerU completely repetitive].

===Table of the calendar countdown===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Days left !! Date !! Duration specified !! Duration in days !! Explanation
|-
| 83 || Jun 22 || π<sup>e</sup> millidecades || 82.03&nbsp;days || π ≈ 3.14159, ''e'' ≈ 2.718, so π<sup>e</sup> is about 22.459. A millidecade is 1/1,000 decade, or 1/100 year, or 3.652425 days. Multiplying these results is 82.03 days.
|-
| 82 || Jun 23 || 7 megaseconds || 81.02 days || 7,000,000 seconds. 60*60*24 = 86,400 seconds in a day, so 7,000,000/86,400 ≈ 81.02 days
|-
| 81 || Jun 24 || ''e'' lunar months || 80.27 days || A lunar month ≈ 29.53059 days, ''e'' ≈ 2.718, so 29.53059*2.718 ≈ 80.26 days.
|-
| 80 || Jun 25 || 60 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris || 79.5 days || {{w|Foucault's pendulum}} demonstrates Earth's revolution, with the one at the latitude of Paris completing a full rotation every 31.8 hours.<!-- no need to give the whole history and operation of Foucault's pendulum here; that's what the Wikipedia link is for --><!-- (60 x 31.8) / 24 hours in a day = 79.5 days, not the 79.67 I found here. Even using the 31.78 value I found is still 79.45 -->
|-
| 79 || Jun 26 || 8 milligenerations || 78.89 days || A generation is in general 22-33 years, with a reasonable mid-point of 27; and 8 x 0.001 (milli) x 365.2425 (accounting for leap years) x 27 ≈ 78.89 days
|-
| 78 || Jun 27 || 777,777 dog minutes || 77.16 days || A popular myth is that dogs age seven times faster than humans, so one dog minute equals 1/7 human minutes. 
|-
| 77 || Jun 28 || 7! episodes of ''Jeopardy!'' (skipping ads) || 77+ days || 7! = 7x6x5x4x3x2x1 = 5040. The standard episode of ''Jeopardy'' is 22-26 minutes, skipping ads. At 22 minutes each the total is 110,880 minutes, or exactly 77 days.
|-
| 76 || Jun 29 || 5,000 repeats of ''99 Bottles of Beer'' || 76.39 days || Each verse of {{w|99 Bottles of Beer}} is "''N'' bottles of beer on the wall, ''N'' bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, ''N-1'' bottles of beer on the wall." The entire song contains 99 verses. Randall apparently sings this rather slowly at around 72 bpm, taking about 13 seconds per verse. It can be done somewhat faster as [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FITjBet3dio shown here], where the 99 verses take less than 17.5 minutes for 10.6 second per verse. Then it would only take two months, or 61 days – 15 days too few.
|-
| 75 || Jun 30 || 5 baker's fortnights || 75 days || A {{w|baker's dozen}} is a dozen (12) plus one extra item. Randall has generalized this to adding one to any unit. A fortnight is 14 days (or more properly "{{w|Fortnight|fourteen ''nights''}}", by its original use), so a baker's fortnight is 15 days. 5x15 is 75 days.
|-
| 74 || Jul 1 || √2 dog years || 73.79 days || See day 78 (Jun 27). 1.4142 &times; (365 / 7)
|-
| 73 || Jul 2 || π millivics (1/1000th of Queen Victoria's reign) || 72.97 days || {{w|Queen Victoria}} ruled between 20 June 1837 and 22 January 1901 (23,226 days). 3.14159 &times; 23.226
|-
| 72 || Jul 3 || 42 drives from NYC to LA (Google Maps estimate) || 71.75 days || According to Google Maps, the drive from New York City to Los Angeles via I-80 W (2789 miles or 4489 km) takes 41 hours.
|-
| 71 || Jul 4 || 1,000 viewings of ''Groundhog Day''|| 70.14 days || Using {{w|Groundhog Day (film)|Groundhog Day's}} 101-minute run time. 
|-
| 70 || Jul 5 || 100,000 minutes || 69.44 days || 1,440 minutes per day
|-
| 69 || Jul 6 || 1/10th of Martian year || 68.70 Earth days || Martian sidereal and tropical years both round to 687.0 Earth days
|-
| 68 || Jul 7 || 1,234,567 sound-miles || 67.63 days || The speed of sound in air depends on the temperature. 15°C or 59°F gives the value 340 m/s and the travel time of 67.6349058 days.
|-
| 67 || Jul 8 || 2<sup>π<sup>e</sup></sup> seconds || 66.74 days || 2^(π^e) = 5,766,073 seconds. The order of operations for multiple exponentiations without parentheses is top-first.
|-
| 66 || Jul 9 || 2<sup>16</sup> beats (Swatch Internet Time) || 65.54 days || A "{{w|.beat}}" is equal to 1/1,000 day.
|-
| 65 || Jul 10 || 1,000 ISS orbits || 64.58 days || Each orbit of the ISS takes 90-93 minutes. Here a value of 93 minutes is used.
|-
| 64 || Jul 11 || 🎵🎶🎵 Five hundred twenty five thousand (base seven) minutes|| 62.88 days || This refers to {{w|radix}}-7 arithmetic: 525,000<sub>7</sub> minutes = 90,552<sub>10</sub> minutes (5 &times; 7^5 + 2 &times; 7^4 + 5 &times; 7^3). Also references the opening and recurring line "Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes" from {{w|Seasons of Love}}, a song from the musical {{w|Rent (musical)|''Rent''}}, which is also referenced in [[1047: Approximations]]. "Base seven" has the same rhythm as "six hundred".
|-
| 63 || Jul 12 || 10<sup>50</sup> Planck times || 62.38 days || 10^50 x 5.39 x 10^-44 seconds. The powers of 10 can be simplified, thus 5.39 &times; 10^6
|-
| 62 || Jul 13 || 4,000 episodes of ''The Office'' (skipping ads)|| 61.11 days || {{w|The Office (British TV series)|''The Office''}} was originally a {{w|BBC}} television show which had no commercial breaks, so Randall must be referring to the later {{w|The Office (American TV series)|US version}}, which is logical as he's American. This US "half-hour" comedy format contains 22 minutes of content (including the title sequence) and eight minutes of ads. There are only 201 distinct episodes of the US version, so watching 4,000 episodes would require a lot of re-watching. <!-- When you get here, note that the original The Office was on the BBC in the UK and had no ads and thus filled its allocated broadcasting slot, give or take intro/follow-on announcements... Only the US adaptation/remake has ads to be skipped. So, link the 'correct' one (from Randall's POV, at least). NiceGuy1: It IS correct, in that it's correctly the one he meant. :) -->
|-
| 61 || Jul 14 || Four score and seven kilominutes || 60.42 days || 87 x 1,000 minutes
|-
| 60 || Jul 15 || 2 lunar months || 59.06 days || There are a number of different ways to define the {{w|lunar month}}. The most common is the synodic month because it relates to the phases of the moon, and it's approximately 29.53 days.
|-
| 59 || Jul 16 || Half a day on Venus || 58.38 Earth days || A Venus synodic day is 116 days 18 hours.
|-
| 58 || Jul 17 || 5 megaseconds || 57.87 days || 5,000,000 seconds
|-
| 57 || Jul 18 || 30 microLits (1/1,000,000th of the time since the invention of literature) || 57.21 days || 3200 BCE is the approximate date of pre-Sumerian proto writing as given in {{w|History of writing|Wikipedia's article on the history of writing}}. 5,222 years &times; 30 &times; 10<sup>-6</sup>.
|-
| 56 || Jul 19 || 1,000 viewings of ''Run Lola Run'' || 55.57 days || Using {{w|Run Lola Run|the movie's}} run time of 80 minutes.
|-
| 55 || Jul 20 || One million sound-miles || 54.78 days || The speed of sound in air depends on the temperature. 15 °C or 59 °F gives the value 340 m/s and the travel time of 54.7843137 days.
|-
| 54 || Jul 21 || 30 Ionian months || 53.07 Earth days || Orbital period of Io around Jupiter is approximately 1.77 days.
|-
| 53 || Jul 22 || One dog year || 52.18 days || See day 78 (Jun 27). 365.2425 / 7
|-
| 52 || Jul 23 || 60 viewings of ''Star Wars Episodes I-IX'' || 51.75 days || According to [https://dorksideoftheforce.com/2021/05/04/how-long-to-watch-every-star-wars-movie/ Fansided] the combined running times are 20 hours 42 minutes.
|-
| 51 || Jul 24 || 1/100,000,000,000th of the universe's age || 50.40 days || The universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old.
|-
| 50 || Jul 25 || 5 milli-generations || 49.3 days || See day 79 (Jun 26). 5 &times; (27 &times; 365.2425) / 1,000
|-
| 49 || Jul 26 || 10,000 games of ''7 minutes in Heaven'' or seven games of ''10,000 minutes in Heaven'' || 48.61 days || {{w|Seven minutes in heaven}} is an Anglo-culture teenager game, occuring in several movies. 10,000 minutes in Heaven is almost a week of making out (or doing whatever) in a closet, so this game is unlikely.{{Citation needed}}
|-
| 48 || Jul 27 || φ<sup>e<sup>π</sup></sup> minutes || 47.41 days || Phi (the golden ratio) to the power of e to the power of pi. 1.618 ^ (2.718 ^ 3.14159) = 68,284.14 minutes
|-
| 47 || Jul 28 || 4 megaseconds || 46.30 days || 4,000,000 seconds
|-
| 46 || Jul 29 || 2<sup>16</sup> minutes || 45.51 days || 65,536 minutes
|-
| 45 || Jul 30 || e<sup>e<sup>e</sup></sup> seconds || 44.15 days || 3,814,279.10 seconds
|-
| 44 || Jul 31 || π fortnights|| 43.98 days || 3.14159 x 14 days
|-
| 43 || Aug 1 || One devil's spacewalk (666 orbits of the ISS) || 43.01 days || See day 65 (Jul 10). 666 is the {{w|number of the beast}}. 666 &times; 93 minutes.
|-
| 42 || Aug 2 || 1 kilowatt-hour per watt || 41.66 days || 1,000 hours
|-
| 41 || Aug 3 || e<sup>π</sup> Ionian months || 40.93 Earth days || Orbital period of Io around Jupiter is 1.769137786 days. 2.718 ^ 3.14159 &times; 1.769
|-
| 40 || Aug 4 || 30 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris || 39.75 days || Refer to Day 80 (Jun 25). Half of that day's 79.5 days, 30 &times; 31.8 hours <!-- (30 x 31.8) / 24 hours in a day = 39.75 days, not the 39.84 I found here. Even using the 31.78 value I found is still 39.725 -->
|-
| 39 || Aug 5 || ''e'' fortnights || 38.06 days ||2.71828 x 14 days
|-
| 38 || Aug 6 || π<sup>π</sup> baker's days (25 hours) || 37.98 days || See day 75 (Jun 30). 3.14159 ^ 3.14159 &times; 25 <!-- Incorrectly had the exponent as e -->
|-
| 37 || Aug 7 || One deciyear || 36.52 days || One tenth of one year
|-
| 36 || Aug 8 || 7! milliweeks || 35.28 days || 5,040 × 0.001 weeks 
|-
| 35 || Aug 9 || 100,000 plays of the ''Jeopardy!'' "Think" music || 34.72 days || ''Think'' is the music played while the contestants try to answer the Final Jeopardy question; it is 30 seconds long. 30 &times; 100,000 seconds
|-
| 34 || Aug 10 || 1000 basketball games (game time) || 33.33 days || Uses the NBA game time of four 12-minute quarters, or 48 minutes
|-
| 33 || Aug 11 || 777 hours || 32.38 days || 24 hours per day
|-
| 32 || Aug 12 || One millilincoln (1/1000 of fourscore and seven years) || 31.78 days || {{w|Abraham Lincoln}}'s {{w|Gettysburg Address}} begins with the famous phrase "Four score and seven years ago". 1 score = twenty. <!-- in this case, of years, but 'years' is already after the "four score and seven", so redundant and somewhat wrong -->
|-
| 31 || Aug 13 || 1,000 episodes of ''60 Minutes'' (skipping ads) || 30.56 days || A television hour is between 42 and 44 minutes, with the remaining time used by ads. This uses a television 'hour' containing 44 minutes of content and 16 minutes of ads.
|-
| 30 || Aug 14 || All of ''Star Trek'', consecutively || 28.55 days || According to [https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-every-tv-episode-movie/ CBR] <!--[https://redshirtsalwaysdie.com/2021/01/22/take-far-longer-watch-star-trek-think/ RedShirtsAlwaysDie.com] --> of January 21, 2021, this consists of: <!-- The link provided is an article referencing a more detailed article from CBR, so providing the more detailed link. As far as I can tell, only Strange New Worlds is producing episodes during the course of this calendar, so replacing the following note with the details: *Note well: dozens of additional ''Star Trek'' franchise episodes have been produced since, and more are presently scheduled to be released through June, July and August, so this value is somewhat indeterminate over the scope of the countdown.-->

:3,950 minutes of The Original Series
:528 minutes of The Animated Series
:7,832 minutes of The Next Generation
:7,920 minutes of Deep Space 9
:7,740 minutes of Voyager
:4,116 minutes of Enterprise
:250 minutes of Lower Decks, Season 1
:4,725 minutes of Discovery, the first 3 seasons
:450 minutes of Picard, Season 1
:150 minutes of Short Treks
:688 minutes of The Original Series films
:448 minutes of The Next Generation films
:381 minutes of the three rebooted universe films

In the year and a half since publishing that article, there have been:
:250 minutes of Lower Decks, Season 2
:585 minutes of Discovery, Season 2
:450 minutes of Picard, Season 2
:237 minutes of Prodigy, the first half of Season 1
:411 minutes of Strange New Worlds, up to and including June 23, the day after this comic (8 out of 10 episodes of Season 1)

The last two episodes of Strange New Worlds, taking the franchise until July 7, would add roughly 0.035 of a day each, a negligible difference.
|-
| 29 || Aug 15 || 777,777 nanocenturies || 28.41 days || 777,777 × 10<sup>-9</sup> × 100 years.
|-
| 28 || Aug 16 || One sidereal lunar month || 27.3 days || The time it takes moon to return to the same position relative to the fixed stars
|-
| 27 || Aug 17 || 6 dog months || 26.14 days || See day 78 (Jun 27). A month averaging 30.5 days / 7
|-
| 26 || Aug 18 || π<sup>π</sup> kilominutes || 25.32 days || 36,462.16 minutes
|-
| 25 || Aug 19 || 7 games of 7! minutes in Heaven || 24.5 days || 7 x 5040 (7 {{w|factorial}}) minutes. See also day 49 (Jul 26).
|-
| 24 || Aug 20 || 50 viewings of the extended ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy || 23.82 days || ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' extended version is 208 minutes, ''The Two Towers'' is 226 minutes, and ''The Return of the King'' is 252 minutes for its extended version, according to [https://fictionhorizon.com/how-long-are-all-the-lord-of-the-rings-and-the-hobbit-movies-combined/ FictionHorizon.com] 
|-
| 23 || Aug 21 || A drive from NYC to LA where you keep remembering new things you forgot and have to go back 6 times || 22.21 days || See day 72 (Jul 3). This is for 6 round-trips and 1 one-way trip, so 13 trips at 41 hours each.<!-- is this a reference to something? -->
|-
| 22 || Aug 22 || ''It's a Small World'' sung at 1/10,000th speed || 21.06 days || {{w|It's a Small World}} is a song that was composed for the attraction of the same name at various {{w|Disney}} theme parks and plays continuously at them in various languages. The song lasts 12–15 minutes, depending on the language. However, Randall seems to be using a single iteration of the song, such as this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxRW-duSCLA YouTube video] of 3:02, posted by Disney themselves. As such, it's 3:02 &times; 10,000.
|-
| 21 || Aug 23 || 500 hours || 20.83 days || 24 hours per day, or 0.041678 days per hour
|-
| 20 || Aug 24 || √2 fortnights || 19.80 days || 1.4142 × 14 days
|-
| 19 || Aug 25 || Time it would take Vanessa Carlton to walk 1,000 miles || 18.94 days || {{w|Vanessa Carlton}} is an American singer, and {{w|A Thousand Miles}} is her most successful song. Randall estimates her walking speed at about 2.2 miles/hour. <!-- Why does he estimate this? Where does he get this value? It seems like there must be some correlation with the length of the song -->
|-
| 18 || Aug 26 || 100,000 breaths || 17.36* days || The normal respiratory rate for adults is typically 12-20 breaths per minute, or about 3-5 seconds each. *However, the day length here is for 15 seconds/breath, so Randall may be a practitioner of [https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00353/full slow breathing]. 
|-
| 17 || Aug 27 || √2 megaseconds || 16.37 days || 1.4142 × 1,000,000 seconds
|-
| 16 || Aug 28 || π<sup>π<sup>π</sup></sup> πcoseconds || 15.51 days || 1.3402 × 10<sup>18</sup> picoseconds (i.e., 10<sup>-12</sup> seconds), making a joke how the mathematical "pi" is written with the character "π" by using it to spell "picoseconds". This is probably related to the fact that the prefix "pico" is often mis-{{citation needed}}-pronounced as "PIE-co" rather than "PICK-o".
|-
| 15 || Aug 29 || One baker's fortnight (15 days) || 15 days || See day 75 (Jun 30)
|-
| 14 || Aug 30 || One baker's dozen (13) baker's days (25 hours) || 13.54 days || 325 hours; see day 75 (Jun 30)
|-
| 13 || Aug 31 || 300 hours || 12.5 days || 0.041678 days per hour
|-
| 12 || Sep 1 || One million seconds || 11.57 days || 86,400 seconds per day
|-
| 11 || Sep 2 || One nonstop bike ride from NYC to LA || 10.54 days || Google maps estimates the trip at 253 hours
|-
| 10 || Sep 3 || <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>1,000</sub>th of a generation || 9.86 days || See day 79 (Jun 26). A generation being taken as 27 years.
|-
| 9 || Sep 4 || 777,777 seconds || 9.002 days || 1.15741 &times; 10<sup>-5</sup> days per second
|-
| 8 || Sep 5 || 100 viewings of ''Groundhog Day'' || 7.01 days || See Day 71 (Jul 4). 
|-
| 7 || Sep 6 || 100 games of ''Lincoln Kissing'' (fourscore and seven minutes in Heaven) || 6.04 days || 8,700 minutes
|-
| 6 || Sep 7 || One pico-universe-lifetime || 5.04 days || See Day 51 (Jul 24). 13.8 billion years, "pico" meaning to divide by 1 trillion, thus 13.8 / 1,000.
|-
| 5 || Sep 8 || The ''Baby Shark'' chorus for a family of 50,000 sharks || 4.63 days || The chorus lasts about 8 seconds per 'person'
|-
| 4 || Sep 9 || One centiyear || 3.65 days || 365.2425 days/100
|-
| 3 || Sep 10 || Cyndi Lauper's ''Time After Time'' played 1,000 times || 2.79 days || Based on a length of 4 minutes, 1 second
|-
| 2 || Sep 11 || ''Speed'' (1994) played at one frame per second || 1.9 days || {{w|Speed (1994 film)}} has runtime of 116 minutes = 6,960 seconds = 167,040 film frames at standard frame rate of 24 frames/second
|-
| 1 || Sep 12 || F(99) where F(N) means sing all the verses of ''N Bottles of Beer On the wall'' followed by F(N-1) || 0.76 days || Each iteration contains ''N'' verses. ''N + N-1 + N-2 ... + 1'' equals ''N * (N+1) / 2'', so 99 recursions = 4950 verses. Using the same 13-second (72 bpm) rate as Jun 29, this is close to 18 hours. Probably refers to [[Donald Knuth]]'s article {{w|The Complexity of Songs}}. This F(99) song is referenced in the title text, see [[#Explanation|explanation]] above.
|-
| 0 || Sep&nbsp;13 || ''What If? 2'' release day || N/A || Book launched!
|}

==Transcript==
:[The comic is a calendar that counts down to a specific date, like a Christmas calendar starting on June 2nd and ending on September 13th (2022). Each day is represented with a large square and there are 12 weeks for a total of 84 days.  The days belonging to a particular month are surrounded by a thicker frame than between days from the same month. The first day of each month plus the very first day has the date given with three letters representing the month and the day number. This is written at the top right corner in a frame. All other days either only have the number for the day in the frame in the corner, or, if there are too much text on the day, no number is written. A single day has the number without the frame around it. The very last day notes what the countdown is for and there are three large stars places around the text, as well as smaller and larger dots, likely representing more stars in the entire field. All other days have text on all white background. The text represents a time that fits the time span from that day until the final day. The calendar begins on a Wednesday, and since the calendar week begins on a Sunday, there are three days missing to the left in the top row, and similarly four days are missing to the right in the bottom row as the last day is a Tuesday. Above the calendar is a large heading with a subheading below:]
:<big>Countdown to ''What if? 2''</big>
:(Preorder at xkcd.com/whatif2 to get it at the end of the countdown)

:[The date given, either as written or else mentioned if not written in comic, and then follows the text on that day:]
:Jun 22
::π<sup>e</sup> millidecades 
:23
::7 megaseconds 
:24
::e lunar months 
:25
::60 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris 
:26
::8 milligenerations 
:27
::777,777 dog minutes 
:28
::7! episodes of ''Jeopardy!'' (skipping ads) 
:29
::5,000 repeats of ''99 Bottles of Beer'' 
:30
::5 baker's fortnights (15 days) 
:Jul 1
::√2 dog years 
:[Date left out on the 2nd.]
::π millivics (1/1000th of Queen Victoria's reign)  
:3
::42 drives from NYC to LA (Google Maps estimate) 
:4
::1,000 viewings of ''Groundhog Day''
:5
::100,000 minutes 
:6
::1/10th of Martian year 
:7
::1,234,567 sound-miles 
:8
::2<sup>π<sup>e</sup></sup> seconds 
:9
::2<sup>16</sup> beats (Swatch Internet Time) 
:10
::1,000 ISS orbits 
:11
::[Four musical notes are shown at the top.]
::Five hundred twenty five thousand (base seven) minutes
:12
::10<sup>50</sup> Planck times 
:13
::4,000 episodes of ''The Office'' (skipping ads) 
:14
::Four score and seven kilominutes 
:15
::2 lunar months 
:16
::Half a day on Venus 
:17
::5 megaseconds 
:[Date left out on the 18th.]
::30 microLits (1/1,000,000th of the time since the invention of literature) 
:19
::1,000 viewings of ''Run Lola Run'' 
:20
::One million sound-miles 
:21
::30 Ionian months 
:22
::One dog year 
:23
::60 viewings of ''Star Wars Episodes I-IX''
:24
::1/100,000,000,000th of the universe's age 
:25
::5 milli-generations 
:[Date left out on the 26th.]
::10,000 games of ''7 minutes in Heaven'' or 7 games of ''10,000 minutes in Heaven'' 
:27
::φ<sup>e<sup>π</sup></sup> minutes 
:28
::4 megaseconds 
:29
::2<sup>16</sup> minutes 
:30
::e<sup>e<sup>e</sup></sup> seconds 
:31
::π fortnights 
:Aug 1
::One devil's spacewalk (666 orbits of the ISS) 
:2
::1 kilowatt-hour per watt 
:3
::e<sup>π</sup> Ionian months 
:4
::30 rotations of Foucault's pendulum in Paris 
:5
::e fortnights 
:6
::π<sup>e</sup> baker's days (25 hours) 
:7
::One deciyear 
:8
::7! milliweeks 
:9
::100,000 plays of the ''Jeopardy!'' "Think" music 
:10
::1000 basketball games (game time) 
:11
::777 hours 
:12
::One millilincoln (1/1000 of fourscore and seven years) 
:13
::1,000 episodes of ''60 Minutes'' (skipping ads) 
:14
::All of ''Star Trek'', consecutively
:15
::777,777 nanocenturies 
:16
::One sidereal lunar month 
:17
::6 dog months 
:18
::π<sup>π</sup> kilominutes 
:19
::7 games of ''7! minutes in Heaven'' 
:20
::50 viewings of the extended ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy 
:[Date left out on the 21th.]
::A drive from NYC to LA where you keep remembering new things you forgot and have to go back 6 times 
:[Date left out on the 22nd.]
::''It's a Small World'' sung at 1/10,000th speed 
:23
::500 hours 
:24
::√2 fortnights 
:[Date left out on the 25th.]
::Time it would take Vanessa Carlton to walk 1,000 miles 
:26
::100,000 breaths 
:27
::√2 megaseconds 
:28
::π<sup>π<sup>π</sup></sup> πcoseconds 
:29 [The date is not inside a small frame as all other dates shown.]
::One baker's fortnight (15 days) 
:30
::One baker's dozen (13) baker's days (25 hours) 
:31
::300 hours 
:Sep 1
::One million seconds 
:2
::One nonstop bike ride from NYC to LA 
:3
::<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>1,000</sub>th of a generation 
:4
::777,777 seconds 
:5
::100 viewings of ''Groundhog Day'' 
:[Date left out on the 6th.]
::100 games of ''Lincoln Kissing'' (Fourscore and seven minutes in Heaven) 
:7
::One pico-universe-lifetime 
:8
::The ''Baby Shark'' chorus for a family of 50,000 sharks 
:9
::One centiyear 
:10
::Cyndi Lauper's ''Time After Time'' played 1,000 times 
:[Date left out on the 11th.]
::''Speed'' (1994) played at one frame per second 
:[Date left out on the 12th.]
::F(99) where F(N) means sing all the verses of ''N Bottles of Beer On the wall'' followed by F(N-1) 
:13
::''What If? 2'' release day

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:What If?]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]