xkcd

xkcd #3119: Flettner Rotor

Title text:

"And in maritime news, the Coast Guard is on the scene today after an apparent collision between two lighthouses."

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3119/

explainxkcd for #3119

xkcd #3118: iNaturalist Animals and Plants

Title text:

Washington, DC: Eastern gray squirrel, Amur honeysuckle. Puerto Rico: Crested anole, sea grape. US as a whole: Mallard, eastern poison ivy.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3118/

explainxkcd for #3118

xkcd #3117: Replication Crisis

Title text:

Maybe encouraging the publication of null results isn't enough--maybe we need a journal devoted to publishing results the study authors find personally annoying.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3117/

explainxkcd for #3117

xkcd #3116: Echo Chamber

Title text:

This is almost as bad as the time I signed up for a purely partisan fishing expedition.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3116/

explainxkcd for #3116

xkcd #3115: Unsolved Physics Problems

Title text:

'Tin pest' makes more sense to me. Tin just doesn't want to be locked down in a shape like that. I get it. But why would any metal want to grow hair??

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3115/

explainxkcd for #3115

xkcd #3114: Building a Fire

Title text:

That was quicker than usual! The cabin's sprinkler system often makes it really hard to keep anything lit.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3114/

explainxkcd for #3114

xkcd #3113: Fix This Sign

Title text:

We're building on our earlier success getting web developers to pay to change the backslashes in our displayed payment URL to forward slashes.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3113/

explainxkcd for #3113

xkcd #3112: Geology Murder

Title text:

After determining that his body was full of pipes carrying iron-rich fluid, our current theory is that the dagger-shaped object precipitated within the wound.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3112/

explainxkcd for #3112

xkcd #3111: Artificial Gravity

Title text:

Low gravity can cause bone loss, so we're pleased to report that, since we initiated capsule motion, the number of bones in each crew member has been steadily increasing.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3111/

explainxkcd for #3111

xkcd #3110: Global Ranking

Title text:

Starting a meta-leaderboard for tracking who holds the record for ranking behind the most distinct people on an online leaderboard.

Transcript:

[Cueball is seated at a desk, and uses a laptop. White Hat is standing right behind him.]
Cueball: I'm ranked 7,145,000^th^ globally on this chess platform.
Cueball: It's hard to be ranked that low in any activity.

[Zoom on Cueball talking]
Cueball: Few pastimes even have 7 million rated players. Until the Internet, it wasn't really possible. You could be this bad, but only unofficially.

[Cueball is now facing White Hat]
Cueball: So in a sense, I'm worse at chess than anyone was at anything for most of human history.
White Hat: Why are you still doing it?

[Cueball is back on the laptop]
Cueball: Well, no human has ever had this many friends to play with.
White Hat: That person is calling you some very obscene names.
Cueball: Our friendship is complicated.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3110/

explainxkcd for #3110

xkcd #3109: Dehumidifier

Title text:

It's important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.

Transcript:

[A store salesman, Hairy, is showing Cueball a dehumidifier, with a "SALE" label on it. Several other unidentified devices, possibly other dehumidifier models, are shown in the store as well.]

Salesman: This dehumidifier model features built-in WiFi for remote updates.
Cueball: Great! That will be really useful if they discover a new kind of water.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3109/

explainxkcd for #3109

xkcd #3108: Laser Danger

Title text:

To combat the threat, many airlines are installing wing-mounted spray bottles.

Transcript:

Megan: Shining laser pointers at planes is a federal crime. It's incredibly dangerous.
Cueball: Oh, because it can blind the pilot?
Megan: That's one reason...

[A plane is shown, with a green laser pointer aimed at it.]

[The laser disappears. A cat, approximately the same size as the plane, pounces on the plane and sends it tumbling.]

Source: https://xkcd.com/3108/

explainxkcd for #3108

xkcd #3107: Weather Balloons

Title text:

Once you add the balloons into the model, it makes forecasting easier overall--the forecast is always 'cold and dark, with minimal solar-driven convection.'

Transcript:

[A graph is shown. The X axis is labeled Number of Weather Balloon Launches Per Day. It's logarithmic, with ticks in powers of 10, and values shown at 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 1 million, 1 billion, and 1 trillion. The Y axis is labeled Weather Model Accuracy, no values are shown. The plot starts above the mark for 1 balloon, at about 40% of the maximum value of the curve, it quickly rises through a point labelled "Current Rate", at about 4000 launches per day and 85% of the maximum. The maximum value is reached at 100 million, plateaus until 10 billion, and then reduces even more rapidly down to perhaps 15% maximum accuracy above the 10 trillion mark.]

Source: https://xkcd.com/3107/

explainxkcd for #3107

xkcd #3106: Farads

Title text:

'This HAZMAT container contains radioactive material with activity of one becquerel.' 'So, like, a single banana slice?'

Transcript:

[Cueball holds a stick while talking with Megan and White Hat.]
Cueball: This stick is one meter long.
Megan: Cool.
White Hat: That's a nice stick.

[Cueball holds a smallish rock.]
Cueball: This rock weighs one pound.
Megan: I'd believe it.
White Hat: Looks like a normal rock.

[Cueball holds a small battery.]
Cueball: This battery is one volt.
Megan: Seems fine.
White Hat: Might need a recharge.

[Cueball holds a capacitor while Megan and White Hat panic.]
Cueball: This capacitor is one farad.
Megan: Aaaaa! Be careful!!
White Hat: Put it down!!

Source: https://xkcd.com/3106/

explainxkcd for #3106

Original static webpage version: https://what-if.xkcd.com/147/

xkcd #3105: Interoperability

Title text:

We're getting a lot of complaints from commuters who were routed onto a coaster, but the theme park patrons who spent hours stuck on an intercity line are also not happy.

Transcript:

[A close-up shot of Black Hat from the shoulders up]
Black Hat: Compatibility and interoperability are so important.

[A zoom out reveals that Black Hat is standing in front of and pointing at a diagram showing a commuter subway car and a roller coaster car, and the tracks they both run on. Standing next to him are Cueball and Hairbun]
Black Hat: For example, most subway rails are 143.5 cm apart. But many roller coasters use a narrower 110 cm gauge.

[This panel shows only Black Hat]
Black Hat: For the last few years, our company has been quietly retrofitting roller coasters to use 143.5 cm tracks.

[Black Hat now has his fists raised]
Black Hat: Soon, we can begin phase 2.
Voice from off-panel: Maybe interoperability is actually bad.
Black Hat: If you listen to the destination announcement while boarding, you'll be fine.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3105/

explainxkcd for #3105

xkcd #3104: Tukey

Title text:

Numbers can be tricky. On the day of my 110th birthday, I'll be one day younger than John Tukey was on his.

Transcript:

[Text formatted as a block quote]

"Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often vague, than an exact answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise."

John W. Tukey
The Future of Data Analysis (1962)

Caption below the comic:
Happy approximate birthday to John Tukey, author of my favorite statistics quote, who was born 110.000 years ago sometime this week.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3104/

explainxkcd for #3104

xkcd #3103: Exoplanet System

Title text:

Sure, this exoplanet we discovered may seem hostile to life, but our calculations suggest it's actually in the accretion disc's habitable zone.

Transcript:

Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com

Source: https://xkcd.com/3103/

explainxkcd for #3103

[desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???

https://explainxkcd.com/3102/

xkcd #3101: Good Science

Title text:

If you think curiosity without rigor is bad, you should see rigor without curiosity.

Transcript:

[Miss Lenhart is standing in front of a whiteboard with some scribbles on it.]
Miss Lenhart: I'm supposed to give you the tools to do good science.

[Miss Lenhart is now standing in front of Jill and Cueball, who are seated at classroom desks.]
Miss Lenhart: But what are those tools?
Miss Lenhart: Methodology is hard and there are so many ways to get incorrect results.
Miss Lenhart: What is the magic ingredient that makes for good science?

[Miss Lenhart headshot.]
Miss Lenhart: To figure it out, I ran a regression with all the factors people say are important:
[A list, presented in a sub-panel that Miss Lenhart is pointing to:]
Outcome variable:

• correct scientific results

Predictors:

• collaboration
• skepticism of others' claims
• questioning your own beliefs
• trying to falsify hypotheses
• checking citations
• statistical rigor
• blinded analysis
• financial disclosure
• open data
  [presumably the list goes on, as it runs off the visible part of the panel]

[Another Miss Lenhart headshot.]
Miss Lenhart: The regression says two ingredients are the most crucial:

1. genuine curiosity about the answer to a question, and
2. ammonium hydroxide

[Miss Lenhart, standing, and Jill, seated at desk]
Jill: Wait, why did ammonia score so high? How did it even get on the list?
Miss Lenhart: ...and now you're doing good science!

Source: https://xkcd.com/3101/

explainxkcd for #3101

Oh my god it's real

https://emojikitchen.dev/

xkcd #3100: Alert Sound

Title text:

With a good battery, the device can easily last for 5 or 10 years, although the walls probably won't.

Transcript:

[A loud sound appears out of nowhere in the upper left part of the panel, around the word are many small lines going away from it and before the word there is a warning emoji. In the lower right corner Cueball is sitting in an office chair at his desk in front of his computer. He is holding his hands to his head and begins by shouting and then talking.]
⚠ Boop!
Cueball: Aaaaa!
Cueball: I heard it again!
Cueball: Where is that coming from!?
[Caption below the panel:]
It turns out living well is only the second best revenge. The best revenge is making a tiny hole in someone's wall and dropping in a battery-powered capsule that, every 6-12 hours, plays the alert sound of a USB device connecting.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3100/

explainxkcd for #3100