xkcd

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

xkcd #3099: Neighbor-Source Heat Pump

Title text:

The installation of the pipes on the inside of the insulation can be challenging, especially when the neighbor could come home at any minute.

Transcript:

[Two houses are shown next to each other. They have almost identical facades with a base, two windows on either side of a door and a chimney to the right on the roof. But next to the left house there is a small box with two light-blue pipes going from the house to the box. From the bottom of the box two similar light-blue pipes goes a bit down under ground, the left further than the right, and then they bend to the right and goes under the neighboring house to the right. The upper pipe closest to the ground is shown to enter the wall of the right house, going almost up to the roof, and then bending sharply around going down below ground. Then it goes under ground to the other side of the house and do the same in the right wall, going up and down. Where it goes under ground, it connects to the the other pipe that has gone all the way straight under the house.]

[Caption below the panel:]
A covertly-installed Neighbor-Source Heat Pump takes advantage of the fact that your neighbor keeps their house cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3099/

explainxkcd for #3099

xkcd #3098: Trojan Horse

Title text:

Ultimately, history would imperfectly record the story of the Foal of Troy.

Transcript:

[A horse is facing Cueball and Ponytail, who are standing in front of an entrance below a tower.]
[In an inset panel, Cueball is talking to Megan and Hairy.]
Cueball: When the Greeks departed, they left behind a horse as a gift.

[Hairbun is standing behind a horse, with Cueball standing in front.]
We took it as a gesture of peace, but it carried a secret payload.

[A smaller horse is standing behind the horse from previous panel, which is looking behind at it.]
One night, from within the horse, another, smaller horse emerged!

[Close-up on Cueball.]
Cueball: Our guards have been unable to determine the inner horse's objective, but it has begun to show an interest in our oats.
Off-panel voice 1: An attack on Troy's food supply!
Off-panel voice 2: How dare they!?

Source: https://xkcd.com/3098/

explainxkcd for #3098

xkcd #3097: Bridge Types

Title text:

Pontoon bridges are just linear open-sided waterbeds.

Transcript:

Bridge Types

[A 4x4 matrix of 16 ways to cross the same rectangular hole in the ground]

Plank [shows a plank laid over the hole]

Rope [shows a rope bridge with rope guardrail]

Truss [shows a truss bridge with a triangular truss above the bridge deck]

Trestle [shows a trestle bridge]

Arch [shows stone arches supporting a straight deck]

Suspended Arch [shows a single arch, with the bridge deck suspended from it]

Draw [shows a truss bridge, with one half opened like an unrealistic draw bridge]

Suspension [shows the bridge deck suspended from a cable strung between two pillars and the shores]

Filler [shows the hole filled with dirt and stones]

Budget Overrun [shows a bridge deck suspended by cables from an artistically shaped pillar]

Jump [shows two ramps at the edges of the hole, and a skateboarder jumping across the hole]

Halfhearted [shows a ramp at each side of the hole that leads down to the bottom]

Waterbed [shows the hole filled with water, two fish and an octopus, a wobbly covering, and two stick figures crossing]

L'Engle [shows the hole warped such that the opposite shores meet]

Fun [shows a loop-de-loop rollercoaster bridging the hole, and a skateboarder using it to get across]

Repurposed Elevator [shows an elevator tower, rotated sideways as a whole, laid across the hole. 2 stick figures using the elevator are also rotated.]

Source: https://xkcd.com/3097/

explainxkcd for #3097

Original static webpage version: https://what-if.xkcd.com/111/

xkcd #3096: Check Engine

Title text:

They say it's probably safe to keep orbiting for a while, but if it stays on or starts flashing we might have to call someone.

Transcript:

[A pattern in the form of a "check engine" light (as displayed on a car's instrument panel) is shown on the surface of the Sun, in the bottom right quarter. The pattern has a pictogram of a motor on the top and the text "Check Engine" below it, both in orange inside a black square, matching the orange color of the Sun.]

[Caption below the panel:]
This new sunspot cluster has raised concern among astronomers

Source: https://xkcd.com/3096/

explainxkcd for #3096

xkcd #3095: Archaea

Title text:

Under the two-domain system, anyone who punches you is technically an Archaean pathogen.

Transcript:

[Cueball, Megan, and White Hat are standing in a lab in front of a root-like phylogeny diagram, looking at it. Behind them is a desk with a microscope on it. There is a pile of items behind it and one item in front. From the plate on the microscope where the sample is, there is a star burst and a line going up to the text said by the sample.]
Cueball: It's weird how, despite being one of the main branches of the tree of life, no Archaea species are known to cause disease in humans.
Megan: Personally, I think it's because those gross methane breathers are too weird and incompetent to figure out how to hurt us even if they wanted to.
Archaea sample: Hey!

[Caption below the panel:]
Bad news: After overhearing a conversation in our lab, Archaea has finally started harming humans.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3095/

explainxkcd for #3095

xkcd #3094: Mass Spec

Title text:

Patients at least found it to be an improvement over Millikan's incredibly messy and unpleasant oil drop suspension procedure.

Transcript:

[Ponytail, wearing a lab coat, is giving a balloon to Cueball. Behind Cueball, there is a ramp on the ground, a magnet hanging from the ceiling, and a target on a poster on the wall.]
Ponytail: Rub this balloon against your head, then go jump past that magnet toward the target on the wall.

[Caption below the panel:]
Before the bathroom scale was invented, the only way to weigh people was mass spectrometry.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3094/

explainxkcd for #3094

xkcd #3093: Drafting

Title text:

A 5% efficiency gain at the cost of a 99% efficiency loss

Transcript:

[A rocket with two boosters is launching going towards the top right corner. It has a two-stage core and two boosters, and they produce three flames from their exhaust and beneath these flames is a large exhaust plume fanning out behind the rocket most of the way towards the bottom of the panel. A smaller rocket is following the first rocket. It is very close to the first rocket, so most of the smaller rocket is inside the exhaust plume from the larger rocket. The smaller rocket does not have boosters, but still produces three smaller flames from its exhaust. Beneath these flames the smaller rocket also leaves a large but slimmer exhaust plume that exits the panel at the bottom left corner.]

[Caption below the panel:]
Aerospace tip: Although the technique reduces atmospheric drag for many types of vehicles, you should never try to improve rocket launch efficiency through drafting.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3093/

explainxkcd for #3093

xkcd #3092: Baker's Units

Title text:

169 is a baker's gross.

Transcript:

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

Source: https://xkcd.com/3092/

explainxkcd for #3092

Title text:

Applying renormalization to bullies successfully transformed Pete & Pete's Endless Mike into Finite Mike.

Transcript:

Cueball poking an atom. Megan looks at it with a hand on her chin]
Cueball: Hey, electron!
Cueball: Stop hitting yourself!
Cueball: Stop hitting yourself!
Megan: ...Wait.

[Caption below the panel:]
Renormalization actually started out as an effort to bully electrons.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3091/

explainxkcd for #3091

Title text:

Turning in other directions can be accomplished by using a magnetized centerboard and ocean currents, since a current flowing through a magnetic field induces a Laplace force.

Transcript:

[Four panels show a schematic sail boat, seen from above, to indicate how it can sail into the wind. In the first panel the boat is heading straight up in the panel. The sail is fixed at the bow and describes a slight curve going to the right of the boat and then curving to the left, ending close to the stern. The rudder can be seen behind the boat. Five arrows, pointing towards 4:30 on a clock face, are drawn at the top left part of the boat, indicating the direction of the wind. There is a frame above the drawing of the boat with text. And then the arrows are labeled, and small lines going to the sail and the hull of the boat connects with two more labels:]
How sailboats use physics to sail upwind:
Wind
Boat
Sail

[In the second panel the boat is drawn similar to panel 1, but the wind arrow have been changed to showing how the wind now blows past the sail on either side. This is done with two lines of three arrows that goes on either side of the sail, and the second and third arrow bends to follow the curve of the sail. Charged ions are shown across both sides of the sail with positive on the left side of the sail, (over the hull of the boat) and negative on the right side, over the sea to the right and behind the boat. The positive charges are small + signs in circles and the negative minus signs in circles. Above the drawing there is the following text:]
1. Wind passing over the sail strips away electrons via the triboelectric effect.

[In the third panel the boat has turned towards right and has been moved closer to the bottom of the panel (this could be to acomodate more text above though). The entire hull is now covered in positive charges. A large broad dashed vector is shown going in the direction of the wind. The arrow is not over the boat but on either side of it, with the arrow head ending right of the stern of the boat. Two thin arrows are shown above the end of the force vector. A short solid arrow, that points along the same direction as the large arrow. And then a dashed arrow is drawn perpendicular to the first of these thin arrows (pointing along 1:30 on a clock face. Above the drawing there is the following text:]
2. The positively charged boat is blown downwind; its movement in Earth's magnetic field produces a Lorentz force.

[In the fourth panel the boat has turned even more towards right and is back to the same height in the panel as the first two panels. The entire hull is still covered in positive charges. The broad dashed vector is still shown, but after starting in the wind direction it can be seen to turn slightly upwards before reaching the boat. And then when it comes out the other side of the boat it points in the direction of the bow of the boat, the arrow ending in front and a bit to the right of the boat. The two thin arrows from before are now shown to the left of the boat , with the short solid arrow pointing along the same direction as the start of the large arrow. And then a the dashed arrow drawn perpendicular to the first of these thin arrows pointing in the direction the boat is sailing. Above the drawing there is the following text:]
3. The Lorentz force acts perpendicular to the direction of motion, redirecting the boat upwind.

Source: https://xkcd.com/3090/

explainxkcd for #3090

Scholars are still debating whether the current period is post-postmodern or neo-contemporary.

https://explainxkcd.com/3089/